450 LOGGING 
by feeders, or troughs which are run from the main stream or 
some of its branches. If the water supply is Hmited, every effort 
is made to keep the flume box tight to prevent waste. This is 
not so essential, however, when water can be turned in at fre- 
quent intervals. 
The products are placed in the flume boxes by various means. 
Sawed lumber and crossties are usually shunted into the flume 
from an incline at the tail of the mill. Pulp wood and acid wood 
are frequently rolled or thrown into the box from skidways or 
floated in from ponds; while logs may be rolled in from skidwaj^s, 
floated in from artificial storage ponds, or elevated by log loaders. 
The use of ponds is the simplest and cheapest method, while 
the use of a log loader is the more expensive. 
Flumes are operated by crews that feed the flume; by runners 
who are stationed at points along the route where jams are apt 
to occur; and by laborers who handle the product at the ter- 
minal. The runners usually carry a pick-a-roon to handle the 
floating material.' The size of crew required depends entirely 
on the character of the flume, those with many curves and low 
grades requiring the most runners. 
On the Allen flume in Montana, which is about 16 miles long, 
thirty flume tenders were required for handling al)out 3500 mining 
stulls and logs daily. Four men fed the flume and twenty-sLx 
men patroled it, the greater number being required where the 
flume crossed the Continental Divide on a very low grade. 
On the American Gulch flume in the same section five men 
were required on a flume about one mile long the daily run on 
which averaged from 800 to 1100 mining stulls. Two men fed 
the flume and three men acted as patrols. 
A box log-flume in Oregon, 3^ miles long, has handled an aver- 
age of 150,000 board feet daily, ten men being required to oper- 
ate it."^ 
NOTES TO CHAPTER XXIII 
Page 436. A box flume 3^ miles long for the transportation of logs has been 
used in Oregon. The problem confronting the operator was to transport timber 
out of a rolling plateau region down to a mill several miles distant. Owing to 
the rough character of the country the cost of railroad construction was prohibi- 
tive. The engineering problems encountered were not easy to solve because the 
water supply during the lowest stages didnot exceed 100 miners' inches and ex- 
^ See note on page 450. 
