148 
LOGGING 
chute is sometimes built to facilitate dragging^ They are oc- 
casionally used on gentle slopes if the bottom is rough. 
On the Pacific Coast animal logging has been replaced by 
power skidders except for short hauls on some small operations. 
Skid roads formerly used for animal snaking in the Northwest were 
carefully located, stumps were removed, cuts and fills made and 
the roadbed leveled so that a desirable grade was secured. Skids 
Fig. 30. — A Skipper Road on a West VirgLaia Operation. 
10 feet long and from 10 to 14 inches in diameter were laid across 
the completed grade at 10-foot intervals, and were partly buried 
in the ground so that the horses could step over them easily. 
Wet places in the roadbed were covered with puncheons, split from 
western red cedar, to provide a footing for animals. A "saddle" 
was adzed out of the center of each skid and in this the log rode. 
On curves the skids were longer and were either elevated on the 
inner side of the curve to prevent the tow of logs from crowding 
into the bank or the skids were laid flat and the elevation was 
secured by placing small sloping skids on the inside of the curve. 
The latter was regarded as the better method since tlje small 
1 See page 264. 
