ffice is occupied by the foreman, log-sealers and clerks. Here
the books and accounts are kept, and here is the "van," stocked with
such goods as will supply the immediate needs of the lumber jacks.

[Illustration: Fig. 3. Winter Logging Camp. Itasco County, Minnesota.]

Before winter sets in the _main road_ is built, Fig. 15, p. 17, very
carefully graded from the camp down to the nearest mill or railway
siding, or oftener to the stream down which the logs are to be
floated. This road has to be as wide as a city street, 25 feet. The
route is carefully chosen, and the grade is made as easy as possible.
Much labor is spent upon it, clearing away stumps and rocks, leveling
up with corduroy, building bridges strong enough to carry enormous
loads, and otherwise making it as passable as can be; for when needed
later, its good condition is of first importance. This main road is
quite distinct from and much superior to the tote road.

At intervals alongside the main road, small squares called _skidways_
are cleared of brush and in each of them two tree trunks, "skids," are
laid at right angles to the road. On these the logs, when cut later,
are to be piled. Back from the skidways, into the woods the swampers
cut rough, narrow roads called _dray roads_ or travoy roads,--mere
trails sufficiently cleared of brush to allow a team of horses to pull
a log thru.

[Illustration: Fig. 4. Tools used in Logging.]

All these are operations preliminary to the felling of trees. The
tools commonly used in logging are shown in Fig. 4. When everything is
ready for felling, the "fitter" goes ahead _marking_ each tree to be
felled and the direction in which it is to fall by cutting a notch on
that side. Then come the sawyers in pairs, Fig. 5. First they chop a
deep gash on the side of the tree toward which it is to fall, and
then from the opposite side begin cutting with a long, Tuttle-tooth,
crosscut-saw. The saw is a long, flexible ribbon of steel, with
handles so affixed to each end that they can be removed easily. The
cut is made on the pulling stroke, and hence the kerf can be very
narrow. As soon as the saw is well within the trunk, the sawyers drive
iron wedges into the kerf behind it, partly to keep the weight of the
trunk from binding the saw, and partly to direct its fall. Then the
saw is pulled back and forth, and the wedges driven in farther and
farther, until every stroke of the maul that drives them sends a
shiver thru the whol