PLUMES AND FLUMIKG. 23 
to hold material diverted. Several switches or Y's scatter the 
material being shipped over whatever area it is designed to use as 
the storage place until such time as the material is to be manufactured 
or loaded onto railroad cars for transportation elsewhere. Plate V 
shows the general idea of the storage Y's. 
THE USE OF "SNUBS" IN UNLOADING MATERIAL FROM A FLUME. 
The use of a "snub" or temporary block in a flume so constructed 
that it will act as a dam which fills the flume to its utmost capacity 
and forces the material that is to be unloaded at this point to float at 
the highest possible elevation is. often very useful in removing the 
material from the flume, particularly when it is desired to take it out 
over the side onto a loading platform alongside a railroad track, as 
shown in Plate VI, figure 1. The form of construction of a snub 
is shown in figure 6. With short, light material, such as railroad 
crossties, a snub under certain favorable conditions will throw the 
product being handled out of the flume without any assistance, 
although it is always good policy to have a man on hand to be sure 
that there will be no failure in getting the material out of the flume 
lest it cause a serious block or jam that may eventually break down 
the flume, and cause more expense than it would to keep a man on the 
job all the time. A form of snub working unassisted is shown in 
Plate VI, figure 2. 
REINFORCEMENT OF FLUMES AT POINTS WHERE EXTENSIVE LOADING 
IS TO BE DONE. 
Flume construction should usually be strongly reinforced at those 
points from which it is contemplated to do extensive shipping or 
where much material is to be loaded into the flume over the side. 
The constant pounding of material being dropped or thrown into the 
flume and striking on the sides of the V has a tendency to loosen the 
joints unless strengthened, and sometimes to break down the frame- 
work. In order to avoid this danger, it is usually advisable to place 
the bracket arms or frames and their attendant braces at shorter 
intervals or distances from each other at such points. 
Thus, if in the general flume line construction the arms and braces 
were placed at a distance of 8 feet apart, at the point where heavy logs 
or timbers are to be put into the flume it would be good policy to at 
least double the amount of brackets and braces or place them once in 
every 4 feet. If the timber to be loaded into the flume at this point 
were unusually heavy, it might be advisable to reduce the distance 
between the strengthening arms and braces still more. There are 
some cases where it has been found necessary to have the arms and 
braces every 2 feet at those points where the greatest amount of 
heavy material is loaded into the flume (see PL VII, fig. 1). It should 
