A
skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a
logging operation for pulling cut
trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing. Here they are loaded onto trucks (or in times past, railroad cars or
flumes), and sent to the mill. One exception is that in the early days of logging, when distances to the timberline from the mill were shorter, the landing stage was omitted altogether, and the "skidder" would have been used as the main road vehicle, in place of the trucks, railroad, or flume. Modern forms of skidders can pull trees with a
cable/
winch, just like the old
steam donkeys, or a
grapple or a
clam-bunk.
