Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-06-05
m THE REDWOOD araIoN.
Work of caiiforais ,Lamber men--uow
tho Logs Are Moved.


+ [cor. San Francisco C.hfpniclel
The redwood of California is the only
tree of its kind in the world, its only
real relative being the Sequola glgantea,
found IN few places on the Sierra
Nevada. The area Of the redwood. or
sequola sempervirsps, iB limited to
few counties of tho Coast range, ex-
tending from Monterey northward. IL
is essentially the product OF a moist
climate, and is practically limited to
such portions Of the Coast range as are
composed Of orcoyered by the sand
stones of the petroleum formation. In
Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara
counties the territory producing
this valuable tree is only from three to
eight miles wide. 1t grows in clusters,
and is not found like the pine and fir,
in forests Of uniform density. Conse-
quently, many portions of the redwood
territory contain little or none of the
timber which grows most plentifully
along the deep, moist raylnes. The
redwood forests were a wonder to the
first immigrant, who had been accus-
toned torthink tree three feet in diam
eter giant, and one twice that fable,
to be told in the same breath as one Of
Baron Munchausenls stories. When
they found trees twelve or fifteen feet in
diameter, with trunk towering O hun
bred feet high, without limb, their
stories were hardly believed and tested
the credulity of our eastern friends,
until overshadowed by the discoveries
of their congsner, tho Sequoia gigantea
of the Sierra Nevada.
| Notwithstanding the beauty Of these
lords of the forest, the settlers pro-
ceeded to chop them down with the
same eagerness that they would shoot
seven pronged buck or q stately elk, un-
| til one is about as scarce as the other.
Marvellous stories are told of the amount
of lumber obtained from one Of these
giants One man in the vicinity of
Saratoga built a house and barn and
fenced in forty acres with high rail
fence from q single tree. 1t was COM
mon to split straight boards twelve feet
long, foot wide and a half-inch thick,
which could easily be dressed into sid
ing for. house. 1t was not uncommon
to cut rs, 900 feet of plank from one
tree. Two hundred thousand shingles,
or Shakes" were often made from one
trunk. When tree failed to split
freely, it was left to be destroyed by fires,
which were thoughtlessly kindled By
nearly all who worked in the forests in
early days, the victims of fire being as
numerous as those of the ak.
At first the distinctions of the forests
was limited to such portions as were &C.
cessibie to wagons, but as the demand
for lumber increased and railroads facil-
itated the carrying Of lumber to distant
points, new methods were invented
which made it. comparatively easy to
strip the ravines and mountains to the
very heads. This is accomplished by
what is called skid road. AS this is
in universal use from the most southern
point of the redwoods in Monterey and
Santa Clara counties to Puget sound,
your readers will be interested in de-
scription of it. A mill site is selected
as near the redwood groves as tho ma
ture of the ground will permitthe build
! ing Of @ wagon, road, the place being
generally were several wooded ravines
converge together. The wagon road is
sometimes very expensive, being carried
across rocky canyons, or around steep
side hills, involving the cutting away
Of huge redwood roots or the blasting
out of hard lodges of rock. Some of
these roads are built on declivities
where getting off the grade" means a
rough and tumble descent hundreds Of
feet into rocky gulch below.
| Tho Mill hoi,p lnoo4nJ +ban oox,
mences the building of a skid road up
the 1avine to be first worked out A
road eight or ten feet wide is made with
a grade as uniform as the ground per
mits. Sometimes the roadway has to
be raised eight, ten, or perhaps fifteen
feet, with leg pens filled with earth.
After the grade is completed the road is
laid with timbers resembling railway
ties, two or three feet apart, and sunk
into the ground the depth of the stick
At either end the ties or timbers are
held in place by braces extending from
one to the other, locked in by lemons
and corresponding notches. Without
these braces the first log coming down
the road would be certain to leave it in
ruins; with them road will bear the
transportation of logs an entire season,
or until the gulch is exhausted of tim
her, When finished, the road, with its
cross timbers just above the ground re-
sembles winding stairway, and the
dense shade of the overhanging trees
gives it romantic and enchanting APP.
pearance.
A trip up the stairway half mile OF
less to the scene of active operations
takes the romance out of tho scene.
Great trees are being felled, sawed in
proper lengths, and tumbled or slid
|. down to the roadway. Generally the
, bark is removed from the logs to facili.
tate their sliding. In case the road Is
steep it may be omitted. On q fiat road
the tree must not only be peeled, but
the skids must be CREASED to facilitate
the sliding of the log train, for severa
: are fastened together by dogs an6
chains to make an even run, one los
pulling its neighbor along or holding i
7 back, as the case may be. A ''bull
: whaeker,n who has worked his team o.
four yoke of cattle up these stairs with
l his terrible bunch of braided thongs
: now bitches to the train and starts hi
$ team. If the road is we'll constructed
and he has judged correctly of the fore