The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-09-14

the reSemDlance IS StlIl further suggest ed by the fact that the span of the semi-circles of wood grows less as either end of the cradle is approached, just as ship tapers to stem and stern, this arrangement being resorted to in order to give the distinctive cigar shape to the raft for which the cradle serves as a mold.
 ! As has been explained this whole cradlelike receptacle floats anchored to a row of piles at the edge of the river and gives sufficient play to allow the frame to rise and fall with the tide. The logs for the raft are lifted into this cradle. one by one, by a derrick operat- ed by a hoisting engine and as each monster stick is in turn lifted high in the air in the grip of the grappling irons and then lowered into place in the cradle venturesome logger rides upon the midair seesaw to see to it that the log reaches exactly the desired destina- tion. As the accumulation of logs in creases the cradle, of course, sinks deeper and deeper into the water. At the beginning of the operation two sides of the cradle tower like great posts above the heads of the work men employed in building the raft, but when the log craft is completed the top of the cradle is on level with the water, while the whalelike back of the raft curves ten feet above 1t.
 Meanwhile the work of binding to- gether this great bundle of sticks has been continually in progress. As backbone for the woden fish, main chain with links of iron several inches in thickness is run fore and aft through the raft from end to end. Crossing this chain at right angles and connected with it are cross chains of slightly smaller size, and these in turn are joined at either side of the raft to en-
 circling chains, which, are wound about the log mass ct intervals of twelve feet or less. The effect of this system of chains is to enclose the log structure in a flexible cage, any strain upon which is equally communicated to all parts After the raft is fully completed comes the problem of launching, and
 here a surprise is in store for the rninitiated. The cradle, it appears, is in reality two structures, and whereas
 
 thousands of tons weight of the raft under construction, the mere drawing
 of key pins to sever 1t in twain throughout its length, and as the two
 sections are drawn apart the raft falls into the water. Then a manila rope as
 thick as a mans body is attached to
 the raft, and the voyager is ready for
 her cruise on river and by and ocean,
 A tug takes her down the river with a
 stern wheel steamer at the after end to
 aid in steering in the narrow channel,
 but when the open sea is reached two
 tugs take charge of the raft. ; f'
 Up to date the largest raft ever con-
 structed was one built at this port some
 months since and which was over 700
 feet in length and more than 50 feet
 wide and which drew 221-2 feet of water This raft was bound together , by 120 tons of iron chain, contained 600, 900 linear feet of bling, the equival- hent of S,000000 feet of lumber, board measure, and was valued at $60, 900. Some of the rafts despatched from here , in the past have required from eight . to ten months for their construction, but owing tn the improvements in methods which have been made it is
 believed that the raft for China can be completed in considerably less time, de- spite it's excessive size.
 ], There is much speculation on the
 Pacific Coast as to what action the marine underwriters will take with re- l ference to insuring the raft consigned to the Orient. Ever since the pioneer rafts went to pieces at sea and derelict logs were cast up at points as far away , as Hawaii and the Mexican coast the } insurance men have loked upon the Il log monsters as bad risks and a rate of
 10 per cent. has been charged merely ! for the voyage from the Columbia River to the Golden Gate. As result | of the high premiums demanded-and - which may be yet higher in the case : of the transpacific faft-the raft build - CTS have seldom felt that they could . afford to insure raft for more thar } about one-third of its value. In taking out insurance they merely figure on a - guaranteeing reimbursement for theil actual. outlay in building a raft and 7 take no account of prospective profits : which freqently amount to as much as 5 $2o,000 from single raft-a very tidy l reward for the risk of oceanic rafting