168 LOGGING 
the sled runners from sinking into the mud. An average day's 
work for one man is to cut poles for and build from 6 to 8 rods 
of corduroy. 
When roads are built on side slopes, the upper side is cut down 
and the lower side raised, by laying long skids parallel to the 
outer edge of the road and placing short transverse skids on 
them. The space between the skids may be filled with brush, 
or left vacant and snow allowed to fill the interstices. On roads 
where the traffic is heavy the slope is either cut down enough 
to make a solid roadway, or else an abutment of logs is built 
on the low side. 
Roads which are to be iced must be more carefully graded than 
snow roads because a solid base is required to support the ice 
coating, otherwise it will break up under heavy loads. Stumps, 
rocks, and other obstructions in the line of ruts, also interfere with 
the operation of the rut cutter. An iced road, therefore, must be 
carefully graded, stumps grubbed or blasted, rocks removed and 
low spots filled with earth. The appearance of the roadbed 
previous to the fall of snow should be comparatively smooth. 
The additional cost of the roadbed for an iced road as compared 
to a snow road may be 100 per cent or more. However they are 
more efficient on long hauls since heavier loads can be moved 
than on snow roads. Two general types of iced roads are used, 
namely, the rut road and the trough road. The former represents 
the earliest type of iced road used in the United States, and it 
was probably first developed in the Lake States. On the early 
roads the ruts were cut with an ax, but this method was soon 
abandoned since a rut cutter^ makes a smoother channel and the 
cost of the road is less. 
The advantages of a rut road over a snow road is that the fric- 
tional resistance is reduced and the rut serves to hold the sled in place 
on the road, thus preventing the runners from sluing. Rut 
roads require more attention for maintenance than snow roads 
because they must be kept free from manure; sprinkled at fre- 
quent intervals, often daily; and the ruts may have to be cut 
out two or more times per week. In the Lake States ruts often 
are cut in the soil, which gives a solid bed. It cannot be done 
successfully in stony soil, however, so that intmany regions the 
ruts are cut in the snow and later built up with ice. The first 
1 See Fig. 46. 
