The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-11-10
LOGGING IN OREGON FOREST.
IMMENSE TRUNKS ARE HANDLED
 BY OXEN OB BY STEAM.
They are Sent Crashing Down tho
 Mountain Into the River

SlGeDl1S GCIUGe9 ILL llAC oPAL'iiN
 Now and again, with a sound tha'
 seems to shake the mountain to US
 center conquered giant goes crashlns
 to the earth, where it lies, shoWered
 with shattered boughs, swept from us
 still standing neighbors in the fall, and
 quivering for a brief space as if the
 snapping of those last tough 1ibers had
 not quite extinguished life.
 And now the stateliest tree in all the
 forest is singled out and marked for
 destruction. The aXmen approach,
 and, fitting the stringbaords firmly in
 place, proceed to chop through the
 thick, spongy bark into the resinous,
 rich wood, making way for the saw,
 and at the same time directing the
 course of the fall" This done, the
 great saw if lifted into position and
 the slow process of felling the fir is
 fairly begun. A sound like the strain
 ing of spars in a heavy gale warns the
 Woodmen to look after their own safe
 ty. Then comes a mighty crash, and
 the forest monarch lies stretched upon
 the leafy mold.
 When the commotion caused by that
 majestic descent has somewhat subsi-
 ded, the prostrate tree is measured
 and sawed up into sixteen and twenty
 foot lengths The bark is removed,
 and the ends of the logs are rudely
 beveled. Men, with "canthooEs" roll
 the logs into convenient position By
 means of heavy log chains and iron
 hooks or "dogs," the OK teams some
 times numbering a dozen yoke, drag
 them, one by one, out over the skid z tl.,, a1I. uI,1
 chute is made of split timbers is
 slightly concave, and goes straight
 down the mountain side to the river
 It is no slight task to place log and start it on it's downward journey,
 but, once started, it goes with the swiftness of the wind and the force of a cannon ball, sometimes bounding high in the air as it strikes the level at the foot of the chute, or throwing a cloud of spray as it plunges into the rivers depths. All winter long the work begun in the early autumn, goes on uninterruptedly in the mountain camps where the logs are banked" to be afterward dumped into the stream, in time to take advantage of the spring freshets. When this is done and the drive begins the camp is broken up, the OK teams are turned out to pasture, and the logging crews follow the drive on it's slow, downward course.
 Compared to the work of driving logs in the rivers of Maine and Michi- gan, Minnesota and northern Wiscon- sin, where the melting of ice in the early spring is the signal for the break ing up of the winter camp, the Oregon drive might almost be called pastime, although it is far enough from proba- ble that the loggers themselves regard it in that light The larger logs are prone to stick fast upon frequent grav- el bars, from which it requires much muscular exertion to dislodge them. Those of greater length possess a pro- voking tendency to swing crosswise against every slightest obstruction in midstream, thereby forming jams" that are productive of toll, profanity and ice cold, unwelcome baths. And there are other drawbacks
 The timber lands of Oregon are of such vast extent and the timber itself so varied in character that the means and methods employed in the various logging camps necessarily differ. h. deed, these things are governed prac- tically by the nature os the trees to be | handled and by the locality, although l the amount of capital at the command | of the operating individual or com pany figures somewhat in the matter.
 For instance, where the magnitude | of the enterprise justifes the expense, l steam takes the place of cattle or horses to a certain extent The logs | are lifted, moved and dragged out of | the woods by means of strong cables, | worked by steam. Where it has been | practicable weIl-laid iron tracks, | foored between with smooth timber | and kept flooded with water, in order to prevent disastrous results from friction, have superseded the "skid" roads. The motive power is supplied by a stanch but grimly little engine | that drags the lengthy train of logs, coupled by short chains or ropes and held by "dogs" as if they were so many cars, along the cOncave track to the | bank of the stream or the shore of the tide flat where they are to be dumped. In some cases they are delivered in this this fashion at the mill, which them into lumber.
 ln6lG IS one HILL lar up on q preClp- itous mountain side over one thousand feet above the Columbia, whose two logging camps are several miles dis tant in the very heart of the heavy forest. Each of these camps has it's own system of handling the logs, and hey are as entirely different as if they It were hundreds of miles apart.
 Extending to the first of these from the mill is a railroad similar to the one { just referred to. The heavy planking s strongly spiked to the cross ties is kept well watered along the levels ( which, however, are few, for the grade I S steep and winding for the most part. From the upper terminus of the line |, skid roads radiate in every direction. | Over these roads the great, unwieldy f ogs are drawn by yolzed oxen to the rack, where they are linked together, If md to end attached to the locomotive | md hurried down to the mill. In the ! q second camp all this work of moving | he logs and getting them out of the = imber is done by means of cables and = team. Tn fact if is vos'y much the 3ame system as that which operates he city's street cars, only modified to meet the eXigencies of the case. There a power house, of course, and the ca | l.