“ chuting” logs into the stream below. Having been refreshed with an excellent dinner in a comfortable mess-house, we were taken to where the woodmen were felling trees, standing on tiny platforms made by inserting a short board in a cut in the tree, five, ten, or fifteen feet from the ground. I had supposed that this was necessary, either on account of the size of some trees at the butt, or because of the pitch contained in them; but our host assured me the great height at which some of the choppers or sawyers stood was simply an exhibition of bravado —the common ambition to excel one’s neighbor in skill or daring.
In felling a tree the foreman takes pains to direct its fall so as not to injure any other valuable tree in its descent, and they do this to a nicety by inserting wedges on the side opposite to the direction in which it is to fall which give it the necessary tilt,— for so straight are these great firs and cedars that, frequently, they will stand erect after they have been cut to the centre all round, and wait for a breeze to- sway them to a fall.
It was evident there was an immense waste, ten or twenty feet of a tree at the thickest part, and then the reckless destruction of all that are unfit for the finest lumber. I was regretting this to our host. “ The timber grows as fast or faster than it is consumed,” was the reply. Admitting that this is true where young timber is left undisturbed, the forest lands when cleared by axe and fire are put under cultivation, except on the mountains, and thus the amount must be rapidly lessening.
Having seen a few trees fall, we were shown the manner of hauling them to the stream, six or eight yokes of oxen being hitched to a single log. The lower side of the log has been peeled before being placed on the skid, which is well greased. The oxen are then driven by experienced men, who receive better wages than any but the foreman and cook. This latter exception made me smile, but I find that cooks are important personages in camps everywhere. These western lumbermen do not feed their men, as the Michigan lumbermen do, but give them a variety of fresh and canned foods.
Having watched the hauling of logs, and their skilful management to prevent them from slipping forward on the cattle, and their descent into the basin above the dam wi
