Highways and Highway Transportation

by George R. Chatburn

© Underwood and Underwood

A LUMBER LOG TRUCK

Used in the Northwest

In order that the better methods of lumbering and forest management could be successfully carried out it became necessary to supply roads of such a character that transportation would not be unduly burdensome. If the trees to be cut were to be selected hither and yon, getting the logs and wood from the tops would be a much more expensive process than the mere rolling of boles to the stream and leaving the slash to decay or burn. The Government, realizing this, is now expending millions of dollars on the forest roads making them usable not only by teams but by trucks and automobiles.

The truck and trailer have rapidly made their way in the logging and lumbering industries. By the use of the trailer and the Government-made good roads the truck is able to haul logs of almost any length down from the logging grounds. Trucks and tractors are utilized in the forests, too, for snaking logs and pulling stumps. In places where the grades are steep or on the interior where the roads have not yet penetrated causeways have been built of timber; these usually being cross-ties, and under trussing across draws, with lengthwise planks for the wheels to run on and side planks or logs to keep the machine on the track. Down this causeway by means of a two-wheeled semi-trailer, immense logs are transported. As they are sometimes very steep, chains on the wheels are necessary to prevent slipping and assist in braking.

The average load that a logging truck and trailer will haul is from 3000 to 5000 feet. Larger loads are hauled over snow on sleds, but when distance and time are considered the truck is claimed to be more efficient. F. W. Fenn states that a lumber camp truck to be efficient “must have maximum traction, ample clearance, and proper service and care and be stout enough and strong enough to stand the severest strains.”[195] He further claims that the truck is replacing the older means of transportation, dragging by horses and oxen, skidding down mountain sides, rafting upon rivers, not because it is cheaper but because the great stands of timber are gradually decreasing and the modern method of cutting only properly developed trees is coming into vogue. “Thus the logging industry has developed from one of independence to almost total dependence upon improved transportation facilities, with its consequent problems and expense.”

The hauling of logs down to the water edge by trucks upon natural earth roads and upon specially prepared skidways is said to be cheaper than the narrow-gauge railways formerly in use in the state of Washington.

One of the types of trailers worked out has four wheels, 44 inches in diameter for the front and 46 for the rear with a 10-inch tread all around. The trailer is fastened to the truck by a long pipe coupling. The most satisfactory trailer, according to Fenn, is the two-wheeled rubber-tired with wheels 40 to 44 inches in diameter. Roads which theoretically require steel tires for ironing out ruts would better be planked or otherwise hard surfaced.

Proper attention and routing will greatly prolong the life of the truck. A longer smoother road is rather to be preferred to a short rough one. The depreciation of the truck is figured on a basis of 100,000 miles as its minimum life.