haulbacks

Noun

haulback (countable and uncountable, plural haulbacks)

1. (countable, timber industry) A small wire rope or line used to pull the main cable (or butt-rigging) back into position after a log has been hauled out.
   • We ran 3,000 feet of haulback and got only thirty-five logs.1910 June 11, American Lumberman, page 45
2. (uncountable) A method of surface mining where overburden (the material on top of the coal or ore) is transported from an area and then hauled back after removal of ore or coal.
   • This includes mining systems R&D such as development of haulback techniques to redeposit overburden material in a beneficial sequence immediately behind the extraction operation to minimize costs and aesthetic and environmental damage.1973, William B. Schmidt, Mining – Coal and Oil Shale, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, page 8