The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-30
ANOTHER BIG TIMBER RAFT,
The Third Lumber Raft Experiment
About to be Made.

ADCuS 10 DC 4nuVcs
The huge raft of logs now being con-
structed at Stella, WASH, by Messrs. Rob
ertson & Baines, is receiving it's finishing
touches, aud will be cleared from the inn
mense cradle on Saturday morning and
towed over the bar and thence to San
Francisco.
This will be the third raft of logs leav-
ing Stella. says the Orecsonian, the first
unfortunately being lost Mt sea, but the
second was successfully lowed TO san
Francisco last summer. The raft, which
is now ready for moving, is about 800
feet in length, cigar shaped in consSruc-
tion, and contains 100000 licear feet of
piling and spar Embers. Its v;luc is
$4,000, ami an insurance of Sl6.5 has
been placed on she raft, covering over
one third of its sctual value. The rate
, OF insurance, 10 per cent, is so high that
the owners did not feel justified in taking
more risk thar would be necessary TO
Cneet actual expenses ontailed in con-
structing the great raft.
The o. r. Hnd n Co.'S. tug Wnllowa,
assisted by enc of the comimny's steam
ers, will tow the raft 30 Astoria, where it
will be picked up by the SDreckels Com
pany tugbeat Relief and carried ever the
| bar to thf open sen. Here the steam
collier MiTeola, belonging to the Southern
Pacific Company, will take charge of the
raft and low it to san Francisco, expect
| ipg to make the trip within five days.
| Amos the entire lot of piling is for
she Southern Pacific Company, it taking
800, 0G0Seet, for which it pays $40 per
| 1000 feet. The remaining portion CT the
piles Will find n ready market in San
Francis co, as Colum bia river pine is most
| sought for for use in piling in San Fran
| cisco hay. The spar timber, about %, 900
| feet, will be disposed of at local shipyartls
without difficulty, as the supremacy of
| such'timber for spars is recognized the
| world over.
| The entire cost of the raft is S34, 600,
! including all expenses of towage and the
! insurance. The raft itself is an ingenious
continuance, aud has been fully patented
! by the owners in order to protect them
| SEXES against competition. The loss of
! the first raft taught the owners Il lesson
/ in construction, and, as now devised, the
, only danger to be apprehended is unusu-
ally bolsterous weather ut sea, something
exceedingly rare at this time of the year
y great feature of the raft is an immense
iron chain, the single links of which are
enough to task the strength of IL man in
| lifting. The chain passes through the
| entire raft, end to end, binding the huge
| timbers securely together through an
| elaborate system of keying. In addition
to this there is an endless number of
smaller chains, crossing over and under
the raft transversely, for the better pro-
lection of the logs and preventing their
movement while being drawn through
| the water.
The construction of these RATS gives
| employment to a large number of men at
| Stella and vicinity, and results in large
amount of money being annually distrib-
uted good portion of which finds its
| way to Portland. The construction of
not only one but several similar RATS
next season is in contemplation, as San
Francisco affords Il good market for pill
ing. Hitherto timbers for piling pur-
poses have been secured in Humboldt and
Mendocino counties, California, but the
inferior quality.of the timber and the dis
; lance the logs have.to be hauled TO tide
water prove far more expensive than the
| procuring of suitable logs .in.Oregon and
Washington waters.