Out of the woods

so [Music] winter and summer around the calendar and often around the clock timber must be brought from western forest to supply giant mills even after a blizzard there must be no delays roads must be open quickly so logs can be brought from the woods and out they come dragged from their snowy bed by a diesel tractor to start the long journey to the mill it's a half mile to the landing with mud every foot of the way but each d7 tractor in the fleet is averaging 45 000 board feet a day bunching and pan skidding to the railroad the minute the load is delivered the logs are swung onto the cars as easily and quickly as if it were the middle of summer as the train pulls away we catch another glimpse of the same tractor that plowed the roads now cleaning snow off the landing when spring comes and a new stand of timber must be opened up the tractor and angle dozer find other work to do there is no snow to be plowed now but there are new roads to be carved around rocky hillsides there are also logs and undergrowth to be shoved out of the way so roads can be built for logging arches bulldozers start the big push that carries all before it bring on your stumps and windfalls they seem to say we'll get them out of the way the diesel tractor and angle dozer are right at home making a fill across a ravine and what a blade full of dirt such an outfit can move in the california pine country east of sacramento we see what happens when a tractor and bulldozer start filling a ravine in earnest this one-man section crew is building a railroad grade on 25 cents worth of fuel an hour and what a grade it is and this one outfit built every yard of it from the smallest size to the largest caterpillar tractors are logging tractors the 22 is popular for bunching and ground skidding the same machine makes quick work of cross hauling logs onto wagons or trucks shingle mills no caterpillar tractors deliver full loads in spite of grades and mud this 22 averages 33 bolts of cedar every hour on a three-quarter mile hall burning only a gallon and a half of fuel the saginaw manistee lumber company uses a fleet of five diesel tractors to ground skid logs to truck roads on an eight thousand foot plateau near williams arizona it's a hard job to ground skid logs uphill but caterpillar diesels have what it takes to do it an idaho logger uses a d6 tractor to bring telegraph poles to the landing 10 to 15 are delivered every hour on a three-quarter mile hall a skidding pan is used to protect the pools and keep them from digging into the ground dust is a constant menace on the operations of the montana logging company that's one big reason why they bought four d8 tractors with their patented copper bellows dust seals another reason is the ability of the machines to deliver five thousand board feet per trip the logs are skidded in tree length and bucked at the railroad thereby increasing the loads and cutting down bunching and hauling time at another montana camp the roads are a sea of mud but the same seals that exclude dust also keep out the mud so 10 caterpillar diesels were bought for pansgetting some of the boys say these mud holes would admire a duck but the tractors come through with full loads now let's watch an arch go out to the stump after a load of logs it's close quarters and tough going but the outfit gets there quickly and picks up a full load of tree length logs a similar unit goes after a big douglas fur log in washington up she comes and away she goes behind a d8 it's the same story at the fruit grower supply company in california where a fleet of d8 tractors is averaging four thousand board feet to the load making two trips to the landing every hour on four gallons of five and a half cent fuel capacity loads of shorter logs can also be hauled with an arch it looks easy to haul this load down a 30 percent grade but it takes powerful brakes and steering clutches to control such loads downhill and a powerful tractor to pull the arch up the grade again up on the ridges there are clouds of dust blinding and abrasive but they look in vain for entrance to the vital parts of this tractor on a good hauling road like this one a d8 and arch make four trips an hour on a one thousand foot hall averaging five thousand board feet per trip the job is speeded up and hauling costs are reduced by bucking the logs after they reach the landing a high lead is a favorite way of getting logs off hillsides too steep to be reached by a tractor in arch the timber is pulled down to a cold deck or logging road from which it is hauled to the mill a diesel tractor equipped with a double drum winch supplies the power a winch equipped tractor is also mighty fine for sneaking logs out of thickets and potholes there is more power available at the winch than on the draw bar so it can pull logs from the most difficult places coal decking with a donkey engine diesels get the call this burger yarder driven by an eight-cylinder power unit is yarding logs on halls up to one thousand feet the diesel tractor and heister arch are great for hauling from a coal deck because they pick up their own loads and haul them over any kind of roads this outfit working on a half-mile hall delivers 36 000 board feet to the railroad on only 36 gallons of diesel fuel and here we are at the railroad of a great logging company where their fleet of caterpillar diesels is bringing in car length logs on an average of three gallons of seven cent fuel an hour the tractor and arch deliver their loads beside the flat cars where they do their own unloading by simply dropping the logs on the ground an oregon logger gets double duty from his diesel tractor there's a bulldozer on the front end to pioneer roads in summer and plow snow in winter and there's a logging arch on the back end that averages 15 trips per day on a half mile hall when the logs are delivered to the pond we find another use for the bulldozer with one mighty shove it rolls the whole load into the water here's the first caterpillar diesel tractor ever built still going strong after more than six years of rough and tumble work first building roads and now loading logs for george howell in eastern california the bucyrus erie loadmaster built on a d7 tractor is also popular for loading logs onto trucks this unit owned by the casters and lumber company of klamath falls oregon is operating on two gallons of six and a half cent fuel an hour the loadmaster can also help trucks through the bad spots a diesel auto patrol with its 12-foot blade smooths hauling roads at a single trip well-maintained roads mean safe delivery of capacity loads out on the main highway another auto patrol keeps the road like a racetrack and we don't have to wait long to see why good roads pay dividends another company uses a jammer to load logs onto flat cars a diesel power unit replaced a steam engine and cut loading costs 750 dollars a month at many mills the log trains are switched in the yards by industrial locomotives powered by caterpillar diesel engines and here go the logs on their last short ride into the mill but diesel power rides with them because 125 horsepower engine is driving all the machinery the saw that starts the process of turning logs into lumber is driven by the same diesel power that is operating mills all over the world boisepay at lumber company has a d seventeen thousand in its idaho mill one of two caterpillar diesels that drive everything from saws to finishing machines diesel engines have many advantages for tie mills they cut fire hazards and fuel hauling costs to a minimum and they always provide plenty of cheap dependable power to handle heavy cuts in green timber so from stump to storage pile caterpillar diesels are saving money for loggers but they are doing more than that they are providing standard power built by one manufacturer and serviced by one dealer to bring not only logs but profits out of the woods [Music] you