The big logs arrive at Red Suspenders

The first log deliveries off the Borders Tract in Trinity County have started arriving at Red Suspenders . We will receive about 200 tons of Southern Yellow Pine logs in 7 deliveries for this project. Logs have already been delivered from the Rusk County tract. The Trinity County tract will yield some of the larger diameter logs.

	Each log truck hauls about 28 tons of logs and you can see in this image that all of the logs are of a substantial diameter. The logs are unloaded individually from the truck using our log loader.
The loader is running well and we are ready to unload the truck. You can see ice fog hovering above the logs on the right from spray kicked up by our irrigation system. We keep all of the logs under constant irrigation to prevent mold and mildew from setting in. Of course in this weather, mold has little chance to grow.
	You can just see some of the larger diameter logs in this load near the center and bottom of the stack. Notice that all the logs are marked with a red RS meaning these trees were specifically selected and harvested for Red Suspenders.
John begins pulling off the top layer of logs and moves them to the stack on his right (the far left side of this image). It takes about 20 minutes to unload a log truck if everything works as it should. The long shadows of the setting sun means we are running out of daylight so we were working quickly to finish the load.
	John has moved the larger diameter logs off to the side for quick access. He will begin sawing these logs tomorrow.
The log on the left is 21" in diameter beneath the bark on the small end and is 16' long. The log on the right is 22" in diameter and 14' long. These were the two largest cross section logs in the shipment. Other logs of substantial diameter are scheduled for delivery within the next two weeks.
	You can just barely make out the rings on the end section of the 21" log. When we counted them, we found that the tree that produced this log was over 50 years old. It is good to know that the area where this tree was harvested will be replanted to produce yet another harvest of exceptional timber.