Wichita eagle., 1886-09-21
PIONEER RANCHING.
MAKING A HOME IN THE WOODS
NEAR PUGET SOUND.

Clearing Away the Undcrgrowtl-Fe!ling
Zig Cedar - Splitting Boards for
Cabin-isetting the Land Ready for the
Plow-Burnins Trees.
Well, young man, we viii suppose you
have gone west and have located quarter
section-16O acres-of bottom land in Puget
sound valley. The first thing you viii prob
ably do after locating is to erect your cabin.
There is po road 20 your ranch; you are for
tunate if there is a horse trail; and the river
is too swift to navigate with heavy load, so
you cannot get sawed lumber to build it
with You gaze in wonder at the mighty
trunks appearing around you, and conclude
that you are not sufficiently skilled in wood
craft to build house out Of them. The wisest
course is to engage an old resident to help
you.
You go together to the ground: and, your
building site being selected, he sets you to
work cutting underwood, while lie. shoulder
ing TO you) strange looking implement-a
board about six feet in length by about eight
inches in width, slightly narrowed and
rounded at one end, upon which is securely
bolted or the upper side plate Of steel with
fared cdge-and an Ak, disappears in the
underground, leaving You to struggle with
vine-maple-a growth peculiar to tie Pacific
slope. 1t seldom exceeds six inches in diane
ter, but grows SO tall that, bending with its
own weight, often takes root again, and, be-
ing severed, straightens with vicious kick,
sometimes severely injuring the unwary AK
man.
IN THE WOODS
After you have been working for two or
three hours, and have perhaps stopped to
look in aInazement at a hazel bush with a
trunk as thick as your thigh, you hear loud,
prolonged 'Look out below" and mighty
cedar cracks, sways ard falls with q crash,
grinding and splintering the smaller trees be-
meath it. The earth trembles as from an
earthquake, and for several minutes the
limbs keep dropping from trees that have
been grazed Making Your way TO the spot,
you Chamber upon the trunk-no easy thing
to do, for it is six or eight feet in diameter
The first thing that attracts your attention is
the height at which the stumpis cut-tcn feet
or more from the grounG-with that strange
looking board sticking in notch at a con
venient height for chopping. "What! did
you stand on that thing to cut the tree
down." The Old resident smiles: "We call
that chopping board; you see the timber is
all swell butted,' so we are obliged to climb
to get above the bulge. When you get used
to it, you viii prefer standing on board to
cutting from the ground
SPLITTING BOARDS.
Your next task is to saw length from your
tree and split it into pieces of the required
size. Taking frow somewhat longer and
heavier than is commonly used for splitting
shingles, the old resident proceeds dexterously
to rive these pieces into inel boards; and by
nightfall you have almost enough lumber to
make 12x14 foot cabin. Owing to the diff
Guilty of transporting lumber nearly ali farm
buildings are built Of split lumber, except in
the immediate vicinity Of saw mill Firand
spruce are also split as well as cedar With
little care in dressing tolerably comfortable
and respectable looking house can be made of
split lumber. Not long ago assisted in build
ing house 2ix3i feet. We felled single fir
tree, six feet in diameter: from this we built
the entire house, lining, ceiling. flooring and
all, besides furniture. From the waste there
was about four months firewood, while more
than 100 feet of the top remained
CLEARING TIE GROUND.
When you have Your cabin completed, with
q good clay fireplace-no house is comfort
able IN such Il moist climate without one-and
a couple Of months supplies brought either
in a canoe or packed On cayjise Qndian
pony You are ready to commence clearing.
The underwood and smaller trees are easily
cut and piled ready for burning: then you
must fell the immense spruces and frs. These
may be either chopped, saWn or burned down.
When burned, IA horizontal hole is lorei
about eighteen inches in depth and two feet
from the ground, with another hole bored
from above to intersect it; live Goals are then
dropped into the upper hole, and famed 10
fame through the lower or draught hole
The interior of the tree soon becomes like a
furnace; and in a few days burns down; the
stump often having burned several feet below
the surface Now YOU have the enormous
trunk-between 200 and 800 feet in length
to dispose of; this is done by boring and fir
ing-as was done in the standing tree-at i'll
tervals of n few feet. You find the clearing
very laborioEs; and are not long in discover
ing that ii costs from $50 to So an acre to
get the land ready for the plou; but this
acre viii produce on an average, $50 bushels
of potatoes, seventy-five of oats, or four tons
of hay, and other things in proportion
Snohomish City Cor. Detroit Free Press.
How Maud :. Was We'll Nigh Lsuined.
iii is not generally known" said Nj. Hill,
of the National Humane society, THAT the
greatest trotting horse in the world came near