27/37 Over these skidways the logs are hauled out by various means. Formerly "strings" of oxen or Percheron horses were used, but they are now largely superseded by some form of donkey engine, Fig. These are placed at the center of a "yard." Yarding is the skidding of logs to the railway or water way by means of these donkey engines. Attached to the donkey engine are two drums, one for the direct cable, three-fourths to one inch in diameter and often half a mile long, to haul in the logs, the other for the smaller return cable, twice as long as the direct cable and used to haul back the direct cable. At the upper end of the skidway, when the logs are ready to be taken to the railway or boomed, they are fastened together, end to end, in "turns" of four or more. |