The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1878-07-04
From the Osce,
From the Osceola Outline.
Railroads for Logging.

1
Concluded from last sOeek.)
EvART & osCEoLA RAILROAD.
A glance at the track and cars, show
ed us that this road isa
BROAD GAUGE,
with engine and cars to match. The
locomotive Is of about 8 tons weight
and constructed similar to that on the
| M. II. & Rose Lake road. The cars
however, are little wider on the bunk.
ers, and are made for larger loads. The
rail is light, (T,) the same as that OH
the other road, laid on ties, put down
firm and solid as any Oh the +. & T.
NJ, and we noticed, rs we passed up t.
the pinerics, that IA section gang and
hand-car were among the appuite-
nanccs of the concern. About 80 rods
from the rollway, there Is small build
ing used for an engine house and sta
tion. Here we halted and took on Mr..
LaBoeuff, the manager of the road, who
was going to his camp, about five miles
out. Pulling out, the train again mov-
ed into the woods. At about half-a-
mile away, we came to
BRANCH,
leading westward, belonging to the
Wing brothers of Evart. 1t is laid with
old regular-sized II rails. They haul
exclusively from that branch one day
out of each week, by the present con-
tract. There is n good deal of low but
rich appearing land along this part Of
the road. The pine Is mostly cut off,
and we are informed that the road, al
though now hauling only five and six
miles. Is really to benefit pineries from
7 to 10 miles, from the river, of which
there is sufficient to make the road u
permanent institution. 1t will run
eventually to point within three
miles of Leroy village, and the Evart
people talk of pushing 1t further, some
day. On arriving at "a point about 10
rods from LaBRuffs $ camp, which, from
where we stood, looked like an OLD set
tied place, the train stopped td "let of
freight and passengers" and then
steamed away to Section 8, the smart
"piff, pilf," of the iron horse following
the serpetine line of cars rs they wound
up the road, among the hills, guided
by the conductor on his car aud keep
ing sharp eye forward. AT the end
of six miles, at the rate Of about
% miles an hour, we came to u
switch or turnout; where the empty
train was left, willie the locomotive
backed further up, hitchcd to loaded
train, hauled it down OH the turn-eut;
then unhitched, backed the empty
train up to the skidways, left them to
be loaded, and then passed down to the
turnout, coupled on to the loaded truin
and steamed off, for the river. We
staid behind, to look ut the skidways
and see the men load the cars. The
logs arc hauled to- the sideways from
the adjoining forests OH trucks each
composed of two solid wooden wheels,
upon which single team draws two
or three good sized logs. In loading,
the car is placed opposite the end of the
skidway, long chain Is hitched by n
swamp hook to the rave of the bunker,
passed under log, brought forward
over to the other side of the car and
good stout looking horse is hitchcd to
ii. The word Is given, and the horse
pulls or rolls the log OH to the car. 1t
Is put i'm positions; and then another log
is rolled on i'm the same way; and SO on,
until from six to ten logs according to
size) are loaded. Three men and
horse will load car i'm ten to fifteen
minutes. As fast as the cars are load
cd, they are pushed forward and coup
led together, till the train Is made up.
II LOADED CARS COMPOSE A TRAIN;
containing about 5000 feet, or an av-
erage of 1900 feet to u car. After load
ing the train, the men had their pic
nic dinner, which had been brought to
them from the ook-shanty at the camp,
washing ii down with good hot coffee,
poured from huge father of coffee
pots, warmed over pine chip fire.
When not engaged in loading train,
I'm work hours, the men are busy -voll-
ing and placing the logs on the skid
ways ready for rapid work when the
empty cars arrive. We learn that an-
other engine and % cars are to be plac-
cd OH the road soon, which doubles the
capacity for hauling. The amount
now hauled to the river Is about 175, 900
per diem In trips. When the engine
came back, and had exchanged trains
as before, We got on the rear car, with
the conductor, who is graduate OF the
+. & p. M, and, as the train went
steadily down the long grade to the
river, watched the process Of braking.
The brakes extend to two of the rear
cars, and are very powerful; being np-
piled by pulleys and chains. So great
Is the friction that the conductor has
age Is done. It is no easy Job to brake
q train down the grade, and It keeps
the conductor pretty busy ut the chains,
nearly all the way. When we arrived
ut the river, the train was unloaded In
the same manner as we have before
described; but the sight here was rem
dered a little more interesting, than ut
McFarlane's rollway, by the logs hav-
ing to roll down a steep bank of Is to
80 feet, bounding OH the skids and dash
ing the water and spray high into the
air. At the M. II. d X. l.. rollway the
bank of the river Is only about ID feet
high. AS we left the rollway to walk
into the village, we met Messrs. Liim-
Der, Poppleton and Dexter, who went
outon the train to enjoy the atmosphere
of the wild woods. Mr.. Brownson had
also gone up the McFarlaile road for the
same purpose. ~
After a view Of this class Of logging
operations, we have come to the con-
clusion that the problem of getting out
logs Is solved, rain or shine. By this
method q man can calculate to nicely
lust the time and cost of doing q job.
His road Is about 5000 per mile--an
engine and two trains of cars about
$4,000. In the matter of small jobs, Of
course, 1t Is impracticable, but wherca
number Of persons own large or small
bodies of pine In proximity, so that the
aggregate will amount TO 10 millions
and upwards, with or miles haul 1t
will pay to put down narrow-gauge
roads, IL not the broad-gnuge. Expcr-
iments, too, have established the fact
that to grade and straighten the track
ms much as possible, is more economi-.
cal than following crooked old logging
roads.