SLEDS AND SLED-HAULING 163 
one. Bunks range in length from 8 feet, on small sleds, to 16 
feet on the widest gauge ones, although 10 feet is the average 
length in use in the Northeast and 12 feet in the Lake States. 
A sled used on a Maine operation had runners 10^ feet long, 
4 inches broad, 7 inches high, which were shod with fiat 4-inch 
steel shoes. The gauge was 5| feet. The runners were braced 
near the center by a transverse timber called a bar, which was 
fastened to them by a wrought-iron casting, called a "dexter" 
or "sled knee." A 10-foot bunk was placed over the bar on the 
rear runners and a 10-foot rocker on the bar of the forward sled. 
This rocker turned around a king-pin that passed through it 
and the bar. The forward runners also were strengthened by 
a flat roller rounded on the ends and fitted in circular holes in 
the sled noses. To this roller the sled tongue was mortised. 
When two teams were used for hauling a sled, a false tongue was 
slung on rings under the main pole, projecting ahead far enough 
to accommodate the forward pair of horses. This pole enabled the 
lead team to assist in steering the sled. The rear runners were 
similar to the forward pair, with the omission of the tongue and 
rocker. Two-sleds are made from well-seasoned oak, maple or 
birch. The woodwork on a sled lasts from three to four seasons 
but the runner shoes must be renewed annually or biennially. 
The front and rear sleds are often joined by two ^- or |-inch 
chains attached to the back side of the forward bunk, directly 
over the runners, then crossed and attached to the noses of the 
rear runners. The length of the chains is adjustable so as to 
adapt the distance between the forward and rear bunks to the 
length of logs being hauled. On rough roads, when light 
sleds are used, and when logs of medium and fairl}^ uniform length 
are being hauled, the cross chains may be replaced by a "goose- 
neck," which is a V-shaped pair of thills. They have a hook on 
the apex by which they are attached to a ring on the back side of 
the forward bunk and the divergent ends of the goose-neck are 
fastened to the roller ends of the rear sled. The length of the 
goose-neck is from 16 to 18 feet, which gives a distance of 21 or 
23 feet between the rear bunk and the forward rock(>r. When 
the empty sled is ready to return from the landing to the skid way, 
it is customary to unhook the goose-neck, turn it back on the 
rear pair of runners and couple the sleds closely together by means 
of cross chains. 
