UTILIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF LODGEPOLE PINE. 
15 
Table 8. — Range in cost of production of lodgepole-pine saw timber, railroad ties, and 
mine props in Wyoming and Colorado. 
Operation. 
Saw timber 
(log scale). 
Railroad ties 
(standard 
gauge). 
Mine props 
(all lengths). 
Felling, cutting, and trimming 
Brush piling or lopping 
Skidding 
Hauling to flume, river , railroad, or main road i 
Fluming, driving, railroading, or hauling on main road . 
Milling, piling, and delivering at market 
Loading on cars at market point 
Per thousand 
board feet. 
SI. 00-51. 50 
.25- .50 
. 75- 2. 00 
1. 00- 2. 50 
1. 00- 3. 00 
4. 00- 7. 00 
Per tie. 
$0. 12-$0. 16 
.01- .02 
.01- .04 
.02- .09 
.03- .10 
Per linear foot. 
$0. 0020-10. 0050 
.0005- .0010 
.0005- .0015 
.0010- .0020 
.0010- .0080 
02- .03 
0010- .0020 
Total cost at market 2 . 
00-16. 50 
0060- .0195 
i Includes building winter roads. 
2 Without stumpage or overhead charges. 
The figures which follow show the cost of an operation on private 
lands adjacent to the Arapaho National Forest, in Colorado, where 
600,000 feet of logs were cut into rough boards and dimension 
material. Although in the actual operation no disposal was made of 
brush or debris, an item of 50 cents per thousand board feet has been 
included to make the cost comparable to similar operations on the 
National Forests, where brush piling is required. The stumpage price 
has been arbitrarily placed at $2 per thousand board feet. 
Per thousand 
board feet. 
Felling and bucking into logs (cutting crew of 2 men, who also trim trees) $1. 21 
Piling brush (done by separate crew of 1 or 2 men) 50 
Skidding (skidders do necessary swamping; maximum skid 500 feet; average . 
250 feet) 77 
Hauling logs to mill (haul on sleds; average distance 1\ miles) 84 
Road building (roads for winter hauling only) 13 
Construction of logging camp .13 
Blacksmithing and repairing 11 
Supervision and accounting (includes wages of woods foreman) 30 
Decking at mill 18 
Depreciation of equipment (covers logging equipment only) 02 
Sawing (includes depreciation, taxes, and other charges on sawmill) 2. 25 
Yarding lumber at mill 35 
Hauling lumber to railroad (sled haul 4 miles to railroad) 1. 00 
Loading on cars 50 
Freight to market 2. 75 
Stumpage 2. 00 
Total cost at market. ". 13. 04 
Selling price, mill run at market 15. 00 
Net profit (15 per cent on the operating cost) per thousand board feet. . . 1. 96 
The following appraisal of conversion costs and stumpage prices 
for a block of pure lodgepole pine on one of the National Forests in 
Wyoming may be taken as typical of the larger operations. This 
sale would involve the cutting within a period of 5 years of approxi- 
mately 45,000,000 board feet, of which about 33,000,000 feet is suit- 
able for ties and the remainder for saw timber. 
