Omaha daily bee., 1906-08-26
LUMBER TO BUILD A TOWN
Biggest Raft of Logs Ever F1oated
Pulled from Columbia River to
San Francisco.


Towing enough lumber to build town
In one huge raft is denounced by ship
owners and navigators of the Pacific as
a grave menace to ocean waterways, but
when 5000, 900 feet of lumber was trailed
through the Golden Gate a few days ago
the rebuilders of the devastated city re-
1oiced. This monster raft was 725 feet
long, chained into cigar-shaped cradle,
ffty-fve feet in beam and twenty-five
feet deep.
One vessel. the steamer Francis H. Log
gett. had a veritable floating island In
tow. completing the Journey from the Co.
lumbia river to the harbor of San Fran
cisco in six days, without mishap. 1t was
the greatest feat In the history of log
rafting on the Pacific coast, no other raft
ever having been constructed that con-
tanned more than 100000 feet of lumber.
which Is about 100000 linear feet Of pill
ing
The last raft that was started from the
Columbia river for San Francisco went
adrift and broke up, and for months the
shipmasters who navigate along the coast
from Cape Flattery to Cape San Lucas
were in constant dread of laundering
upon some of the derelict piling.l The
prevalence OF fogs on the Pacific coast
greatly enhances the danger.
1t is now proposed to tow a 10000, O9o-
foot raft from the Columbia river to
Shanghai, China--the first time such q
feat has been attempted. The Pacific
shipowners are protesting against II We
hemently.. Many efforts have been made
to secure congressional interference, but
so far they have all been In vain.
Building operations in many parts of
San Francisco have been standing still
because of the inability of contractors to
get the piling necessary for foundation
work. The Pacific northwest is the only
corner in the world where It is possible
to find an almost inexhaustible supply of
trees that tower. straight as a needle of
Cleopatra, to a height Of 100 or 200 feet
without a limb. Such trees are splendidly
adapted to rafting on a mammoth scale
The invention of the floating cradle"
has been the greatest factor in promoting
log rafting on the Pacific coast. The
earlier custom was to assemble the big
sticks on shore in a whale-shaped mass
resting upon timber foundations much es
ship is supported while under construc-
ton.
When II came to launching this great
bundle of logs, however. the task was a
| mighty one. The cumbersome craft
wouldn't launch, no matter how well the
ways were creased. Loggers say IL was
like tuggtng at a mountain, and that the
patience of a "mountain-mover was in
dispensable to success. Then SO much
time was consumed in launching the un-
wieldly craft and so much damage was
done to II in the launching that necessity
was called upon to mother a new process.
SO Robertson devised the cradle" which
| consists of a long series of immersed half
The entire structure is rivtted and bolted
together. and when completed has the
appearance of a skeleton of a great ship,
When finished this great timber re-
ceptacle floats. anchored to a row of piles
at the edge OF the river where there is
sufficient depth to allow it to rise and fall
with the tide. The logs are then lifted into
the cradle by derricks.
James l. Mclaughlin, a constructing en-
gineer engaged in some OF the rebuilding
enterprises in San Francisco, estimates
that at least 5000, 000, 900 feet of lumber will
go into the reconstruction of the city. This
Is almost million miles, or four times the
distance from the earth TO the moon. Some
Of the buildings that are going up on made
land require 500 to 1000 piles to support
the footings The huge raft that just ar
rived was sold to contractors and retail
Mission bay. and should another such raft
arrive tomorrow Il would be bought up
with the same avidity. Usually the arrival
of so much lumber in bulk serves 10
shorten the price. In the present instance
the price has steadily advanced, despite the
raft or the fact that other RATS OF the
same monster proportions are building
San Francisco is now using more than
100000 feet OF lumber a month. counting
In redwood as well as fr and pine. The
lumber produced by the mills IN the United
States in 800 was s5Os4.1ss.ooO board feet.
and some San Francisco engineer says that
more than 5oOo.OoeOco feet win 20 into the
rebuilding OF the city. though. OF course,
this will be spread over period OF several
years-san Francisco Letter 20 New York
Post.
Our Refined MinstreIs-
Tamb0-Kin ~ tell me. AistAh skiles.