POWER SKIDDING 231 
from the log, returns the Hne for another log. Runs or trails 
are not cut. 
The railroads are laid out in more or less parallel lines from 1200 
to 1400 feet apart and the timber is logged halfway back from 
each side of the track. The road often is placed on the higher 
ground because a better drained track can be secured and the 
timber can be pulled up hill as readily as down. 
A practice sometimes followed is to fell the timber in two 
strips beginning on the back edge of the area and cutting a sec- 
tion from 300 to 400 feet wide. This is skidded before the timber 
on the next strip is cut. The ground is thus kept free from debris 
and the timber can be drawn in easier than where there is slash 
to interfere. Trees are seldom felled with reference to the loca- 
tion of the railroad track although skidding of long logs is simpli- 
fied if they are thrown away from the direction in which they are 
to be pulled, because the top then offers the least interference. 
The necessary swamping is done by the sawyers at the time 
the timber is felled. 
A crew of seventeen or nineteen men and nine animals, either 
horses or mules, is necessary for a four-line machine. 
1 foreman 2 levermen 
1 fireman '2-4 tong unhookers 
4 tong hookers 4 riders 
1 wood chopper 1 wood hauler 
1 night watchman 
The foreman of the crew has general supervision of the opera- 
tion and often acts as the leverman on the loading engine, when 
the skidder is equipped with one. Each leverman operates 
two drums on the skidder. The fireman performs the usual 
duties. The tong unhookers are stationed at the machine and 
detach the tongs or chokers from the logs as they are dragged in, 
and attach the cable to the single-tree for hauling back to the next 
log; they also may act as signalmen, transmitting orders from the 
tong hookers at the stump to the levermen. The tong hookers 
attach the tongs or chokers to the logs, swamp an occasional 
limb when necessary, and control the speed of the log by signals 
to the leverman. The riders, usually negro boys, ride the animals 
from the machine to the next log. The animals drag the cable 
to the desired point and then are brought back to the machine 
to repeat the process. The wood choppers and haulers cut and 
