Searchlights on some American industries

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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at |http : //books . google . com/ ^ \ LIBRARY OF T^B University of California. Class d m ii^"^_£!i SEARCHLIGHTS ON SOME AMERICAN INDUSTRIES BY THE SAME A UTHOR OUR INLAND SEAS. Their Shippimo and COMICERCB FOR ThRSB CbNTURIES. PiD- fusely illustrated. Crown 8vo . $i.So net A. C. McCLURG & CO., PubUshers Blind girl at tapestry loom SEARCHLIGHTS ON SOME AMERICAN INDUSTRIES BY JAMES COOKE MILLS AUTHOR OP **OUR INLAND SEAS** WITH ILLUSTRATIONS PROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1911 ^\ r \ I :/, 5 Copyright A. C. McCLURG & CO. 191 1 Published November, 191 1 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England •: • . •'• •• • • • ' ' • • • •• •• • •••••. ti or TRs YAXL ooumav OOtHOdOV, V. S. A. I TO THE CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY WHOSB BRAINS AND CAPITAL HAVE MADE THE EVOLUTION OF THESE GREAT INDUSTRIES A STORY WELL WORTH TELLING 227160 I PREFACE IT 19 an Inexplicable assumption, thougK an ancient one, that historyi as written, should consist of little more than the records of the overthrow of kingdoms and empires, tales of intrigues and political strife, and accounts of wars, sieges, and slaughters. This idea of history deals with the barbaric, and takes no account of a nation's intellectual and religious development, its arts and letters, or its industrial progress and commercial expansion. It magnifies the brutal and passionate na- ture of man, and belittles the aesthetic side and that reso- lute spirit of thrift and industry that makes nations re- spected. In this enlightened age the life and evolution of the American people lie in their quiet, peaceful, and produc- tive efforts, and in the thoughtful conduct of their affairs. The nation is great through its architects, engineers, in- ventors, artists, economists, teachers, business men, and great army of workers, and not through its military and naval forces, its political octopuses, or its lawyers, preach- ers, and policemen. The proud place Columbia holds among national figures of the world is due to commerce and labor, production and distribution. As a noted writer has said: *^ Individuals at work are safe; and a nation is only safe when the greatest proportion of its people are employed in useful effort.'' Taking, then, diis thought as a maxim, I have steadily endeavored to collate facts and analyze the results pro- duced by certain of our leading American industries, and to present clearly and concisely the mechanical and eco* nomic aspects of their operation. Scientists, engineers, mechanics, and tradesmen have their technical books, I PREFACE dry-as-dust monographs, and scientific and trade papers, all couched in language and terms so technical and confus- ing as to be almost unintelligible to laymen. This book, on the other hand, is intended primarily for the layman — the scholar, the student, and the general reader; and the author has aimed at an interesting style calculated to hold the attention and aid the memory. The scope of the work necessitated great research, care- ful selection of Important facts and figures, and the avoidance of technical language. The subjects chosen for this volume are all of vkal importance to the pro^>erity of the country, but the requisite daU are widely scat- tered, and in some instances difficult of access. Eadi chapter contains all the information essential to a tfaoiv ough understanding of the industry with which it deals. All the facts stated have been carefully examined to de- termine their authenticity, and have been arranged in logical order. In many respects the story is an anuiz- ing account of human adiievement in the mechanical arts, but everything told is fully substantiated. In this pro- gressive age the American workman, of whatever pro- fession or trade, should be regarded as the greatest figure in history. J. C. M. Saginaw, Mich., July 1, igii. CONTENTS I PAGE LUMBER. The G)nquxst of tbs Fobxst i Th« forest to be conquered — The pioneers and skirmishers — The camp and the army — The logging, rafting, booming, and sawing of the pine — Labor-saving machinery — From log to lumber — From lumber to matchwood — Early methods of ob- taining flame — Details of match-making — Habitat of the lodge-pole pine — Its uses — The amazing eucalyptus — Its use- fulness for many purposes — Lumber production in the United SUtes. II SALT. The Salt op thx Eabth 33 Salt an object of desire in ancient times and modem — Salt mines in Austria and Roumania — The Dead Sea — Deposits of salt in Utah — Various sources of salt — Development of the industry in America — G>mpetition in salt-making districts — Comparative production by states — Economics of salt-pro- duction — Methods of manufacture — Michigan the largest pro- ducer — Its great saltworks — Particulars of the process — Connection between saltworks and plate-glass manufacture — Ohio salt-fields — Uses of salt m SUGAR. The Sobncb op Sugax-Maxing 6i Great demand for sugar in the United States — Economic sources of the supply — The world's production and consump- tion — Origin of iht manufacture of beet sugar — Manufacture of cane sugar and molasses — Beet sugar industry — Extracting the beet's sweet crystals — The process of boiling — Absorp- tion of impurities bp lime and gas — Separating the crystals from the syrup 1^ centrifugals — The granulating process — The pBcking-room — Beet-culture very profitable to farmers — Fbod value of engir and syrup — Making maple sugar and syrup. { I X CONTENTS IV PAGB PAPER. From Pbat and Wood Pulp to Pafek 85 Egyptian methods of making paper from papyrus — Some an- cient documents on papyri — Papyri found at Pompeii and Herculaneum — Early paper-making by the Chinese — Various materials used — Paper-making by the Moors in Spain — linen paper of the 14th century — Wood suggested by Reaumur — First paper-mill in America — Invention of paper-making ma- chinery — Various paper-making materials — Conditions of profitable manufacture — Utilization of wastes — Development of paper-making in the United States — Paper-making in the wilderness — From logs to paper — From rags to paper — From peat to paper — Uses of paper in the industrial arts. RUBBER. Fto)M Milk of Tree, Vinb and Plant to Fcnisbkd Pboducts 131 Hardships endured by die producers of caoutchouc — Its prop- erties — Chemical composition — Discovery — R^ons whence it comes — Collecting the juice — The curing process — The guayule plant — Beginning of the waterproof clothing indus- try — Principal distributing markets — Culture of rubber trees — Manufacture — Largest rubber-manufacturing company in the world — Steps in the process of manufacture — The mak- ing of garden hose— Steam packing — The working up of shoddy. VI LEATHER. Thb Akt of Tanning and tbb Making of Lbatkxr Goods 165 Tanning done by Egyptians, Chinese, American Indians — In- troduced into Massadiusetts and Virginia — The action of bark on skin — Various skins used for leather — Tanning in England and Scotland — Special uses for walrus-hides — Alli- gator leather — Chamois — Tanning materials — How to dye and waterproof — Utilization of waste leather — Leather indus- try of the United States — Shoemaking — Shoe machinery — Method in large factories — A hundred machines to make cme shoe — Capacity of a large factory— Leasing machinery — Kid gloves — Poorly fed animals yield poor skins — Scottish glovers introduced into America— Details of glove-making— Leather for bookbindmg. CONTENTS ad VII PAGE MOULDING. MoxTUHNG Machins Pbaczice 208 Improvement in moulding-machines — The sand-match — The match-plate — The stripping-plate — The rockovcr machine — The killing straight-drop machine — The rollover straight- draw machine — Power rammers of various kinds — Tabor moulding-machines — Multiple-moulding machine — The rath- bone machine — Saving effected by it — Gravity moulding — The first automatic moulding-machine. VIII GRAPHITE. Ths Valxjs of QtAPHnx in the Mechanic Axts . 228 The rare qualities of graphite — Origin of its name — Used in the 14th century — First manufacture of pencils in Eng- land — Nature and properties of graphite — The crystalline and amorphous forms — Impurities — Its difference from other forms of carbon — Origin — Produced in the laboratory — Graphite veins — Amorphous graphite the more abundant — Lo- cations of the principal deposits — Three classes of deposits — Amount produced^ in the United States — Purification of the ore — Manifokl uses of graphite — Manufacture of crucibles — Small proportion of the world's graphite used in pencil-mak- ing — Methods of preparing the pencil leads — Graphite as a lubricant — As a i»gment — Other uses — Artificial graphite. IX SIGHTLESS WORKERS. The Achievements or the Bund • 373 The Michigan employment Institution for the adult blind — Cause of its being established — Scope of the trades school — Examples of its successful pupils — Inmates become wage- earners — Daily routine — Broom-making — Feather-duster- making — Work of blind women— The library for the blind — Recreations. • I LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FAOB Blind girl at tapestry loom Frontispitce Comer of ''chuck shanty" — tables set for evening meal ... 4 Famished Imnber Jacks' noon meal among pines ...... 5 Choppers at work in forest 8 Record load hauled by one two-horse team 8 Snaking logs out to skidway 9 Logs as decked and skidded with four-line skidder along spur of main logging road 12 Qyde four-line skidding machine, in operation in Northern Mich- igan 13 Logging train on main line in heart of the forest 18 Concrete settling tanks and filter, showing aerated brine flowing into tank from trough 52 One of the ten " grainers." The steam pipes are full of live hot steam and when the brine covers them, the evaporation pro- ceeds rapidly 52 The back of salt block, showing the heaps of salt being racked over the ends of the inclined spillway 53 Storage house holding 45,000 barrels, about 5,000 barrels in range of camera 53 The ''scroll" or Archimedean screw that lifts the beets from flume into factory 72 The carbonators, concerned in the process of purifying the juice • 72 A series of pressure filters used to eliminate the purifying agents from the juice 73 The evaporators: here the purified juice is reduced to a rich sirup 73 Two of the great sirup boilers or "strike pans" in which the syrup b crystallized to sugar 83 A section of the triple line of twenty-seven '' Osmogenes," used to extract such impurities from the sirup as will not crystal- lize in the first boiling 83 I LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "Wef machines ii8 Calenders and cutting machine ii8 The^Hessers" 119 End of long paper machine 119 Softening and washing crude rubber as it comes from Brazil . . 153 Huge calenders which combine thin sheets of rubber with fabric, usually a sea island cotton 152 Preparing ** tread" for vulcanizing 153 Two-piece mould with ** treads " being placed for vulcanizing . . 153 Vulcanizing presses 158 Building up motor tire casings 158 Vulcanizing tubes IS9 Building up single tube tires 160 Machine for levelling and turning soles 188 Sole-cutting machine 188 ''Heelers'' 189 Button machine 189 Round moulding machine, fitted with fly-wheel pattern .... 208 Moulding machine fitted with gas oven burner pattern .... 208 Rock-over drop moulding machine 209 Rock-over drop moulding machine 216 Moulding machine with patterns in place ready for work . . .217 Moulding Machine fitted with boiler section pattern 218 Split pattern, power ramming, with hand-starting pattern draft . . 2x9 Front elevation. Gravity moulding machine 222 Side elevation. Gravity moulding machine 223 Cross section, Gravity moulding machine 224 Cross section, Gravity moulding machine 225 Feather-duster factory. Blind Institution, Michigan 278 Basket worker. Blind Institution, Michigan 279 Winding dusters, Blind Institution, Michigan 284 Cobblers' Room, Michigan Blind Institution 285 SEARCHLIGHTS ON SOME AMERICAN INDUSTRIES I LUMBER THE CONQUEST OF THE FOREST The FonsT to bb G)NQunxD— -Ths Pioneers and SsiRiasaBis — The Camp and the Ashy — The Logging^ Raphng, Booming, and Sawing of the Pine — Labor-saving Machinery — From Log to LcTMBER — From Lumber to Matchwood — Early Methods of Ob- taining Flame — Details of Match-making — Habitat of the Lqdcb-foiue Pine — Its Uses — The Amazing Eucalyptus — Its Usefulness for Many Purposes— Lumber Production in the United States. i V cllcr ^AR up in the north country away from the world of _ the familiar, which has grown wearisome, the trav- eller comes at length to the deep forest, which is indeed a world of the something new. In seeking out the battle- ground of the lumber-jadc to see how the forest giants are laid low by ceaseless conquest, he travels over a rough and bleak country. For the better part of a day die rail- way train, drawing farther from industrial communities, skirts the edge of the northern wilds. Sometimes it twists around perilous side hills and across burned slash- ings thick with bladcened stumps, while now and then it darts through stretches of virgin wood. From scenes of desolation it finally comes out in a clearing and stops at a little station, from which diere opens to the traveller's view a wide vista of dark wooded shores and the icy coating of a crescent-shaped bay. Here, at the mouth of a rapid river, he is on tiie border between semi- > /9::^HK^l»lQl{T^'ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES civilizadon and the almost unbroken and unknown forest wilderness. The balsamic and pitchy smell of the pine, which is one of the charms of die north woods, is wafted in by wintry winds, and lures him on into the depths of the evergreen and sometime snow-mantled forest It is here that the solemn stillness of the primitive domain Is sublime; and is broken only by the faint and distant sounds of the conflict between Man and the forces of Na- ture for the recovery and control of the earth's treasure- house. Diving into the deep pinery as into a canyon of verdure, a little logging train of empty flats and a cabin car rolls along the rough and crooked road, carrying him into the very wilds. Rushing past Ten Mile Spur and Hoop Spur at a rattling pace, and out on Walsh's Siding, it seems, by the continual swaying and bumping of the cars, that the curious, hump-badeed engine is doing its level best to reach the end of the line in record time. Thus die traveller comes to the opening among lofty pines, where Logging Camp No. 6 squats low in the thidc, moist undergrowth, the landings piled high with new logs; and then, on to a still steeper skidway worn bright by the downward rush of ponderous, shaggy logs. Here the axe-man, the sawyer, the swamper, the barker, the dog- chain tender, the donkey-engine men, and the road-mon- keys are at work on the destruction of the forest. But before the army of invasion that is conquering the pinery makes its first advance into the wood in early win- ter, the *^ cruisers," or land-lookers, tramp through the wilds, and other woodsmen — the skirmidhers — follow and blaze the way. The cruiser is often called upon to begin the conquest in the dead of winter, when the snow lies from three to five feet deep in the woods; but he is undaunted by the worst of winter conditions. It is his business, and it pays well. He is warmly outfitted with the heaviest woollen blankets and clothing; and with extra coverings and the few articles of camp equipage packed LUMBER 3 on his bade, he trudges on snowshoes for miles through die native forest. He carefully examines section after sectioni and computes to a nicety the number of millions of feet of standing timber, sometimes covering as much land as would be contained in several counties in the States, and finally reaches a correct estimate of the grades suitable for match and odier lumber. In this work he is drawn into the very depths of the forest far from the iron trail and the habitations of man. He will scnne- times be lost to the outside world for weeks at a time penetrating into the thickest pineries, and without seeing the face or footprint of man for days. The deer, elks, bears, timber wolves, and other wild animals of the na- tive forest are his curious and not always harmless vis- itors. When he returns to civilization and makes his re- port to the lumber barons, the large tract may be bought outright, the deal requiring millions of dollars. Late in the summer the skirmishers break dirough the forest and locate the camp where the ground is high enough to be quite dry. Then they proceed to make a dearing, using the logs from the felled trees to build the cabins which are the home of the army of lumber- jacks during the long winter. In all there are six log shacks, no two of which are alike in shape or size. While this work is going on, gangs of road-makers are cutdng a wide trail through the forest, to connect the camp with the brandi railway four or five miles away. This road is usually completed and in operation before the first fall of snow, thus opening communication widi the base of supplies. The men then open up a tote-road straight out into the woods, and start branch lines from it to right and left Along these roads at convenient points skid- ways are buik of long slender logs laid side by side on the deared ground, about five feet apart, and are held in place by stakes and braces. On these skids the logs, as they are cut, are stacked until hauled to the banking ground. These preliminary operations done and supplies i > 4 SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES in storei the camp is ready for the lumber-jacks* winter attadc on die forest monarchs. The red-sash men of the woods take up the campaigni reaping where they have not sown: they draw riches from the combined elements of earthi sky, and air, rendering the product of the forest of use to mankind. Travellers usually reach the camp at dusk; and he must be indifferent to surroundings who is not ready and eager to study the lumber-jacks in camp as well as in ac- tion, forgetting personal comfort the while. Of the group of cabins covered widi a thick mantle of snow, the men's camp is the first to attract attention. It is one large room with bunks arranged along the walls two or diree tiers high and filled with balsam boughs and hay or straw, over which are spread coarse but warm blankets. The pillows are sacks stuffed with hay. Near each end of the room is a big box stove; and in one cor- ner is a rough wooden sink set out with tin basins and flanked by roller toweb and a barrel of water, whereat the woodsmen make their toilet. Placed about the room are rude tables and benches where the men pass the short evenings and Sundays at cards, or smoke the time away. In the gathering are Swedes, Belgians, Italians, Indians, and half-breeds, besides a liberal sprinkling of young Canadians. They keep the camp stirred up and in up- roar by telling of life and thrilling experiences in many dimes. The strenuous and dangerous incidents of a rough life are of the utmost human interest to these hardy men. Of only slightly less interest, and perhaps of more con- cern to the lumber-jacks, is the cook camp, which also is one large room with a huge range and cook-table in one end. Here the fat cook and his ^* cookee,** clad in their oil-doth aprons, are bringing on huge pans of beans, sow-belly, potatoes, and sodi-bread; then they bring coffee and prunes to top off with; for the evening meal is ready. The long tables, on which the tempting spread n i 2? O X c n i > C3 H o 73 i5 C5 ) ••• •••••• • • • • •- • • • • LUMBER 5 is laid, are set with a great array of tin plates, tin dishes, and tin cups or rather basins ; the knives and forks are of steel, with heavy iron handles. Along the walls back of the tables are lines of posters in bright colors, of advertise* ment girls; below the posters are canned vegetables and packages of tobacco. Even as the cook lays out the last dish of steaming-hot ^* truck," the hungry men troop in with loud shouts and much stamping of feet, and rush for bench seats at the tables. It is amusing to watch these ravenous men at dieir meal; and eating seems to be to them a matter of work rather than of pleasure. There are no waiters to hand out the dishes; therefore every man reaches out and helps himself. Sugar and milk are dealt out in coffee cans, while the salt and pepper shakes are merely baking-powder cans with nail-hole perforated tops. But the lumber-jack is not a fastidious person, and he enjoys his ** feed "; there is abundance of everything, and die average appetite is seldcmi sated with less than about three plates of each item on the list, and as many cups of black coffee. The stables are much like the other shanties, but have lower roofs that the animal heat of the horses and oxen may go as far as possible toward keeping them warm. The blacksmith shop is also low roofed; and the store- house, located alongside the cook camp, is still lower and almost buried in snow to keep out frost, so that the quan^ tides of provisions within will not be damaged. The of- fice, or " van,*' as it is called in the parlance of the camp, is a little log hut standing by itself wherein the camp- derk keeps the books of account and lists of the gen- eral merdiandise needed by the men. There is a full stock of Mackinaw jackets, stag-pants, heavy woollen underwear, socks, hurons, shoepacks, mittens, and caps; also tobacco, pipes, and a little stationery. Here are' also the bunks of the camp foreman, the scaler, and the clerk, and several extra ones for the big bosses and visitors. The traveller is assigned one of these and made to feel t » 6 SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES at home by ^veman " Bill '* and by *' Chris,'^ the van- keeper. At eight o'clock, when all lights in camp go out, he too tumbles into his bunk after a busy but profit- able day, the experiences of which were but forerunners of stranger sights and scenes. Long before daybreak the camp is astir. The oxning of the chore-boy is the first call to arms. He lights a fire in the big box stove, and soon every nook and comer of the little shanty is aglow with warmth. By the dim light of a lantern all turn out and, after a hasty toilet, hurry to the cook camp. The traveller is with the crowd, as nothing of the day's routine in the deep woods must be missed. As the first rays of the rising sun pierce the tops of the forest giants, and the deeper shadows in the woods fade away, the lumber-jacks come forth for the day's onslaught. What a motley and picturesque group they make, as they press on over the main logging road, out into the forest. The Mackinaw jacket — a veritable gorgeous sunset of red — together with yellow-and-green plaid stag-pants. Is much in evidence, while the assortment of flannel shirts, Scotch caps, German socks, and hurons, could not be matched anywhere. Along the glary surface of the ice road, made so by fresh sprinkling the late afternoon be- fore, the decking teams and drays plod their way, taking the army of workers to the combat. Every now and then gangs of them drop off the sleighs or the drays, and delve into the thick undergrowth, to this side and that. A mile and a half, two miles,, and even three they go, into the very depths of the primeval forest, where the dean bright snow is a fit covering fqr the moss and ferns two or three feet beneath, and untouched by the shoepacks of the woodsmen. This indeed is the heart of the north woods. The swish of the wind through the broad branches is pleasant to the ear ; while occasionally from afar out in the forest come the rattling, tinny sounds of LUMBER 7 the donkey-engine as it winds its cables, and less frequently the whistled signal of some invisible log-boss. First comes Pete, the head feller, who picks the tree to be laid low, and, looking up its mighty bole a hundred feet or more, decides the direction of its fall. Then, selecting the place where it shall lie so that its falling will do the least injury to the standing pines, he cuts out a notch in the bark of each of several trees to indicate the lane, and passes on. Following him come the real fellers — the axe-men and the sawyers — who fell the doomed tree. The axe-men fall to their work with a vim, for the air is nimble with cold, and soon the kerf or notch on the side toward which the tree is to fall is a foot or more deep in die clean white wood. Skilfully has this notch been made, for it is this that governs the fall of the tree; and all the ground beneath is covered with pitchy chips, as the choppers cease. Of all the forest workers these are the men whose judgment never fails; where the pine should fall, there it falls. Set a stake fifty feet from the foot of the pine, and they so cut the kerf that the falling tree will drive it into the ground. Now, as the choppers follow the trail of Pete, there is much hard work for the sawyers ere the noble tree gives up the sjtrife. They begin with their long double-toothed saw, one. at each end, on the side of the trunk opposite to the notch. Steadily these sawyers draw the swift-cutting saw back and forth, back and forth, through ring upon ring of the tree's yearly growth, and on into its very heart. Frequently they stop to oil the gummy blade with kerosene to remove the pitch, and drive wedges into the kerf to ease the saw slightly, and also to help the notch to guide the tree 'in its fall. Still the sturdy pine, standing as firm and solid as a rock, gives no sign of yielding. Only when the tearing saw has cut through its heart and beyond, are heard the sharp cries of distress, a sound of rending wood, of cracking fibres, penetrating and far-reaching. ^' Watdi i I 8 SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES out there I " roars Pete. " Out of the way 1 Watch out 1 Watch out 1" Even as he yells the wedges are sledged home, the mighty tree is forced over, it loses its balance. The cries of distress increase, they grow louder, the fibres break off with quick cracks, the top sways aside slowly at first with matchless dignity even to the last. The branches moan as they sweep through the air, and, as they gather speed, the moan becomes a whistle and then a shriek. Faster and faster falls the tree until it strikes the ground with a tremendous crash, jarring the forest, the sound reverber- ating through the dense woods, hoarse, appalling, the dea& cry of the pine. Before the conquerors lies the prostrate tree that in the days of the Pilgrim Fathers was a promising sapling. Through two centuries and more it grew and waxed strong, defying the fiercest storms and shocks of the dements of air and sky. It seems almost a tragedy that it should be laid low ; but such is the conquest of the forest. Now it is time for luncheon, and the other Petes and their crews come romping through the deep wood on every side, from far and near, at the call of the horn. The cookee with the truck-sled has come die long way from camp ; and he is welcomed with a mighty shout from the famished lumber-jacks. For each one there is a pyramid of cold beans, three boiled eggs, five or six wedges of bread, cold ham in quantities, three cups of coffee, and crackers — a meal in proportion to the work* Back to their tasks in the deep woods go the lumber* jacks, while the traveller falls back to the felled tree where sawyers, after measuring the trunk, are sawing it up into logs, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen feet in length, and clearing off the branches. Then from out of the woods come ^' swampers '* who cut paths through the brush to the dray road. These men are the recruits — the least experienced men in camp; and the paths are no more than trails. And now the heavy teams or yoke of i Choppers at work in forest 4 1 X . £ ^ 'ilA iMj^iJij K"f^T9?ifl ,.^A ^ ^^\'^§?*s?.^&%K>-j-?i^*' ■ ■ ' l''*^-"^,.,^-*?''*!i*i&i^.5'^ Record load hauled by one two-horse team ) • • • • •• .• .•• .•••• • •• • • • • ' LUMBER 9 oxen come up the trail drawing drays, and followed by a driver and dog-chain tender. Quickly they roll one end of a log on the crossbeam of the low dray, cast a chain over and around the log, and secure it. A strong pull by the teams brings the log out straight behind, the other end dragging along over the snow. To watch this particular log and see where it goes, the traveller follows the skidding crew, and presently comes out rather unexpectedly on a branch of the main log-road. Here is a skidway piled high with logs, snaked out and stacked, ready for the long haul in mammoth loads, to the banking ground beyond the camp. While he wonders how the great rough logs are loaded on the strong and heavy sleighs, tier upon tier, until finally the ^' pecker " is in place, a snaking-crew comes upon the scene from toward the camp, and, in the regular course of loading, makes the operation clear. The team is first unhooked, a long but light chain is secured to a stake op- posite the skidway and then passed over the sleigh and around the first log, while the other end is fastened to the team's crosstree. When the team moves out into the woods at right angles to the skidway, die log rolls over and over guided by cant-hook men, until it is rolled in place on the sleigh. As the pile grows there is great danger to the top-loader, the man who receives the log on the sleigh, and many an arm or leg is lost or worse happens, in placing the ^^ pecker." In some places in the forest where the felling is on hillsides or in marshy spots, donkey-engines are used in skidding and snaking through the woods. These cumber- some machines move about on skids or runners with a long heavy chain, one end of which is fastened to a tree some distance up the road, and the other end is wound around the drum of the engine. The operation of skid- <^ng is the same as with horses or oxen. As we return to camp on a mammoth sleigh-load of logs, we may often pass a crew of " road-monkeys " work- i lo SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES ing on the ice roads, to keep them solid and firm and with a glary surface. This work is of much importance, for upon the condition of the roads depends the size of the loads that can be hauled; and the expense of logging depends more or less on that. The work is simple, and is easily done by means of a wooden tank mounted on runners, with small holes in the back end at the bottom. Where the road is rough and the ice soft, a scraper is hauled along ahead to level off the surface and remove sticks and rubbish. The tank follows sprinkling the sur- face evenly, and during the night it freezes hard. The next day mammoth loads can be hauled with one team. One season the record load was 23,576 feet, log scale. Down below the camp a little way, and along the rail- way track, is a banking ground, where the logs are stacked so that the loaders may roll them on the flat cars, and that the train crews may haul them away to the saw- mill of the company, on the shores of the little bay. Sev- eral miles to the west, on the banks of a little stream, is another banking ground, where the logs cut near-by are dumped. When the ice and snows of winter have melted away, the logs float down to the main river. There the " boomers " — the river men — guide Aem into booms where they are rafted and towed to the storage boom of the match-timber sawmill. The snow locomotive is a unique form of traction en- gine; it effects economics in hauling logs, poles, ties, and other products of the forest from remote camps or out- posts to the nearest railway spur or stream. It is intended for use only on ice or snow, but its one hundred horse- power is sufficient to haul from seven to ten heavily loaded logging-sleds at a speed of four or five miles an hour over almost any kind of frozen road. The front end is sup- ported by a pair of bob-sleds which turn on a pivot, so that the locomotive can be steered, a worm-gear with rod and wheel being provided for that purpose. The steerer sits on the pilot almost under the little headlight, and di- LUMBER It rccts the course of the train, very much like the driver of an automobile. There are four qrlinders working vertically, two on each side of the boiler, and the crai^ shaft of each en- gine is connected by spur pinions to driving shafts running lengthwise beneath the boiler. On the rear end of these shafts are attached bevel gears which mesh in large gears running on quills; and the power is transmitted by inter- mediate gears to the rear sprocket. The two driving- wheels on each side of the engine do not bear directly on the snow or ice, but are mounted on heavy endless chains, twelve inches wide and twenty-eight feet long, and the power is conveyed to them by strong sprockets. As these sprocket drivers revolve by the transmitted power of the engines, the endless chains are moved forward and the locomotive with them. The rear pair* of sprocket driv- ers is connected to the forward or power-driven drivers by inner endless chains running over smaller sprockets. In summer, logging-operations in the forest go. on more or less actively, but die methods employed stte somewhat different, because of the lack of snow and frost, and the consequent softness and unevenness of the roads through the woods. The snaking and skidding operations are done by steam donkey-engines and the loading on cars by steam log-loaders of the McGiffert-type. Where the logs are lying within a thousand feet of the railway tracks, the huge double-armed octopus stretches out its tentacles — steel cables — and grips one end of a log with stout tongs, very much like an iceman's tongs. Winding on the revolving drum of the engine, the cable is quickly drawn in, the log is snatched o£f the ground in an instant, swung over the car, and lowered in place. In the deeper stretches of the forest the Russel road-locomotives are used to haul the logs out to the tracks, where they are loaded on broad wagons fitted with wide-tired wheels. One road-locomotive of fifty horse-power will haul from fifty to one hundred tons, loaded on a train of wagons, over i » 12 SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES any kind of road, and uphill as well. Competitive influ- ences in the lumber business have made necessary the use, wherever possible, of machinery, that was unknown in the old dzys. Smaller pay-rolls, reduced feed-bills, and more logs are the results sought for to-day. ^^ After man's arm has levelled our forest giants, let modern methods do the rest,'' reasons the old timberman, ** for, why waste time and labor in hauling these count- less tree-trunks to the car or roadway? " He knows that at a fraction of the expense the logs may be whisked over the ground by a simple appliance of steam power, and, with few helpers, may be lifted to any height in a jiflFy and stacked on the car. But the modern log-loader, com- bining the operations of a switching engine and skidder, will do much more than this. A loader mounted on its own drivers handles itself and the empty and loaded cars as well as the logs; with this power of self-propulsion with increased utility, it is entirely independent at all times and under all conditions. Its economy of operation is surprising as only four* men are needed to snake out and load from 100,000 to 125,000 feet of logs a day. In examining this hoisting-machine It will be seen that the main frame and legs are of steel construction through- out, of eight-inch I beams thoroughly braced, fitted, and riveted together. During hoisting operations die legs, terminating on broad shoes, rest solidly on the ties out- side the rails, and, with the wide strong frame above, form a rigid and secure foundation for the hoisting-ma- chinery and boom. To afford protection to the machin- ery, the cab Is enclosed on the sides and rear with matched pine ceiling, while the front is provided with a full-length roll canvas curtain. The floor is of two-inch matched pine, and the top is covered with corrugated iron roofing. The power consists of a double-cylinder hoisting-engine with two bronze-bushed friction-drums, ample boiler ca- pacity, and proper pipe connections. All the gearing is of steel, and is solidly attached and fitted. There is a • ••••• .• . •.• ; * /. : : ;••••.;•. ..... • .«• . • •• • . " • • • . • .. •• : \; •: :.•••, • ••• • * < X X H 2 ± < o w 'it u w I o LUMBER 13 water tank hung back of die boiler made of white-pine staves, jointed, with adjustable steel hoops, and fitted with the necessary siphon and connections, including suction hose and strainer for filling tank. The hoisting gear is composed of heavy swivelled boom-blocks; and all neces- sary fittings and attachments are of an approved type, in- cluding a patent quick-return device. The guy-lines are ^-inch steel wire, and the steel-wire hoisting-cable is 5^- inch, fitted with hook, pull-down ropes, crotch-lines, and four bunch-chains. Probably the most interesting feature of the machine is die propelling-gear. There are four special driving- wheels twenty-four indbes in diameter, with deep flanges pressed and keyed to axles five inches in diameter. Con- nections to engines are heavy steel sprocket-chains running on heavy long-tooth sprockets keyed to the shaft. The brake operates on a band wheel on main driving-shaft. When in position for hoisting and switching operations, the propelling-gear is raised dear of the track about six feet, so as to permit the passage of the empty cars to be drawn into place for loading. After hauling its train of empties up to the first skid- way, ready for placing and loading the first car, the wheel legs are swung outward and upward, the power being transmitted by means of a worm-gearing to the cables running over the extended sheaves. The wheels remain in any position without locking, thus guarding against any possibility of the car setding when the wheels are partially extended, or from their dropping after the trunks are swung up horizontally. About half a minute is required to lift the wheel-legs to position. The spotting-cable is then run imder die machine and back to the second car of the train, and the cars are pulled forward until the first one is in position under the boom and ready for its load. When loading regular flats, after the front end is loaded, the car is hauled forward so that the rear end may receive its share of logs, and so on 14 SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES through the whole string. The arrangement of the dou* ble sheaves at top of boom permits of two lines being used) which take care of the logs on both sides of the track at the same time. Separate drums control each line; and while one line is being hauled in on one side, the other line is being run out on the other side. Logs from a distance up to a thousand feet or more may thus be eco- nomically skiddedf and much quicker than it could be done by horses. In skidding, double hooks very much like the iceman's tongs are used; they grasp the log at one end, drag it through the woods, and lift the end over the car. After being hooked in the centre, the log is at once hoisted by the same cable; thus the operation is con- tinuous and all delay is avoided. An operator dddded a log scaling over two thousand feet a distance of five hundred feet, over rough ground, and loaded it in fifteen minutes. In loading from skidway beside the track, the logs are hooked at both ends, as they are more easily guided, and the log b lowered on an even keel, without the usual juggling acts with a log in mid-ain Where the logging-road runs across low and marshy ground, with the rails laid on timber supports or embankments, the loading operations are not restricted in any way. In fact, the machine will skid and load logs where teams could not do the work at alL In loading small timber, bunch- ing-chains are used by passing diem under the ends of a number of logs, and, instead of ten separate lifts, one strong one does the work. Another economy result- ing from the use of the steam log-loader is the possibil- ity of loading standard flat cars to their full capacity, which is seldom done when die old methods of horse and man power are employed. In loading heavy timber of large diameter, the work goes on faster than widi smaller logs, because fewer lifts are necessary; the average time required, including wrapping and fastening chains, is two and three-fourths minutes. Experience has shown that LUMBER 15 one machine operated by a skilled engineer, who sets the pace for the other workers, will do the work of three crews of team loaders ; in the case of hardwood it increases the scale of load from seventeen hundred feet (with horses) to twenty-four himdred feet. The average loads are fifty cars a day. Here is where reduced pay-rolls come in. But the traveller, who has crowded so much of enliven- ing interest into the short winter day, is not through widi his quest of unfamiliar scenes. He returns to camp as the tired workers — the forest invaders — troop in from the tote-roads, and, after a hasty supper of the same coarse though nourishing fare, he catches the last logging train out of the forest that night. He is following the shaggy logs to see what becomes of them, and to watch the amazing processes of present-day mechanical giants, by which the clear resinous pine is converted first into lum- ber and then into little lighting tapers, the common par- lor matches. The progress of the train, with its heavily loaded cars, is slow and tedious, for there are numerous stiff grades to climb, and waits on sidings to permit up- bound trains to pass. The main line of a losing-road carries much traffic in the rush time of the dead of winter. It was late at nig^t when the puffing engine drew the string of cars into the boom siding on the shores of the little bay, near the match-timber sawmill. Early in the morning the traveller is about and sees die logs being dumped from the cars, down short skid- ways into the log boom, and watches the boomers pole diem into die mill boom just beyond. In an endless pro- cession they are hurried on, and it is only a matter of an hour or so ere they reach the log end of the mill which is eating up dieir fellows at a Uvely rate. An endless chain of chaplets, dipping beneath the surface of the pond, catches the logs as they are poled into place, and in a jiffy they are drawn clear of the water and up the smooth ways into the mill. On the upper floor, where die big bandrsaw and numerous small circulars are buzzing 16 SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES wickedly, the chain stops an instant, and the log is rolled off on an inclined way, very near and ready for the saws. The sights and sounds and smells, which are almost terrifying to the visitor unfamiliar with such places, are, nevertheless, interesting and novel, and he is impressed with a sense of wonder at the intense activities and sys- tem of the great industry. The long saw-carriage rushes back and forth, back and forth, with its load rapidly changing from log to lumber, and every now and then it stops to take on a fresh stock for the voracious saws. The log is rolled on by steam " niggers," which are steel- shod rods thrust up through the floor of the inclined way, and the log is secured by *' dogs " on the log carriage. In two minutes the log has been cut up, the lumber has been trimmed, and is on its way by automatic carriers to the piling ground, for seasoning. The edgings mean- while are being cut to convenient lengths for cordwood. Near the farther end of the mill is a huge gang-saw which, with its multiple saws, transforms several square timbers into planks so quickly that the visitor can scarcely realize how it is done. In a comer the lathing saws are noisily working up the refuse into laths. The sawdust and small slabs go on endless conveyors to the Hre-room where it is delivered to the furnaces or to the refuse con- sumers. Nothing in the way of wood that is of the slight- est value goes to waste; some of the refuse, which is to be used for kindling-wood, is loaded on cars and shipped to the city wood-markets. The quantity of matchwood used every day for light- ing purposes is enormous ; the Hgures representing the total are almost beyond belief. An expert in forestry has de- termined after careful computation that the civilized na- tions of the world strike three million matches every min- ute of the twenty-four hours. These figures may appear staggering, and to some people it may seem incredible that nearly half of all matches used are lighted In the United States. Doubting ones have only to remember LUMBER 17 how smokers of pipes are tantalized by the going-out habit of their " smokes." The Forest Service has a practical object in putting forth statistics, in order to draw atten- tion to the rate at which the insignificant little match is eating into the diminishing forests of the country. The relation that forests bear to the prosperity of the people is very imperfectly understood by Americans; un- til very recently they have paid little attention to the influence of the forest reserves in regulating the flow of streams and the recurrence of floods ; nor have they given much thought to the effect of their depletion in the crea- tion of desert wastes, with the resulting decay of nations. Wc forget that Palestine, before the destruction of the forests of Lebanon, supported a population of ten million in affluence, and that to-day scarcely four hundred thou- sand people remain, and they are in abject poverty. The valley of Babylon, once proud and prosperous, is now abandoned and forlorn; while the sites of Carthage, Tyre, and Sidon, once prosperous, fertile, and blessed with abundance, are now covered by desert wastes. That such conditions may not be repeated in this country, the American Forestry Association is devoted to the perpet- uation of our natural resources through intelligent use. The American people use the enormous total of seven hundred billion matches a year; but a statement of the number of cubic feet of wood actually converted into matches conveys a very indefinite idea of the number of trees required for the industry. It is the general belief that matches are the by-products of planing-mills and other wood-working factories, but, as a matter of fact the best grade of two-inch lumber Is used for matches, while sashes, doors, and blinds are the by-products of the match- timber sawmills. In a single year the Match Trust cut two hundred and twenty-five million feet (board measure) of pine in the Great Lakes region; and one of the one hundred and fifty or more factories uses two hundred thou- sand feet of sugar or yellow-pine logs every day. The i8 SEARCHLIGHTS ON AMERICAN INDUSTRIES deduction is that, in common with other Industries of the United States depending upon existing forests, the match- makers are within sight of a shortage in the wood sup- ply. When the present timber holdings have been de- pleted of match-timber, they cannot be duplicated in a generation; and the people of this country may have to get along with fewer than twenty-five or thirty matches a day each, as at present In dieir insistent way, they will probably demand that the practice of Germany and Fran