—Lumbering is of two kinds: conservative and ordinary. The first seeks to so treat the forest that successive crops may be produced; the second takes no account of the future. It cuts only the better parts of the trees, often destroying young and promising trees in so doing.
Lumbering in the United States in usually carried on at quite a distance from habitation. A camp is, therefore, prepared at a spot convenient for the logging operators. Here the men eat and sleep.
A lumberman selects the trees which are to be cut and marks them with a hatchet to prevent mistakes.
These trees are felled either with the ax or saw, sometimes both. [Fig. 205]. When the trees are down, the lower branches and top are trimmed off with axes, after which the trunks are sawed into logs of convenient length.
Fig. 206.
HAULING SPRUCE LOGS TO THE SKIDWAY. ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS, NEW YORK.
These logs are dragged away and collected in piles. This is called skidding, [Fig. 206]. Skidding is usually done with horses or oxen. From these piles the logs are loaded upon sleds, [Fig. 207], and hauled to the place from which they are loaded on cars, rolled into a stream or otherwise transferred to the sawmill. [Fig. 208] illustrates a method used in the south which combines skidding and hauling.
Fig. 207.
LOAD OF WHITE PINE LOGS, HUBBARD CO., MINNESOTA.
