379 



hundred dollars, a mile. The ditches must go below the soil, 

 into the hard, firm ground beneath. 



Mr. Milliken : The Governor's plan is a novel one, and 

 he thought it a favorable one in clay soil. Where roads can 

 be well drained, they would be permanent; all that is want- 

 ing is to have the water drained from each side. Mr. Ells- 

 worth's plank road would not do in a clay soil. The proper 

 way to make county roads is to concenti*ate the work on 

 some one road of a district or township, and that one to be 

 the first taken up to which the heaviest donations are offered. 

 That course was pursued in his county ; and roads thus made 

 are completed, and afterwards need no patching. He regret- 

 ted to hear that opinions existed unfavorable to the profita- 

 bleness of plank roads, for he was desirous of seeing more of 

 them. 



Dr. Lewis : As all take a part in these discussions, doctors 

 may be allowed to make some suggestions, for they travel 

 much on these roads. The soil in his county, (Warrick,) was 

 a tenacious clay, and the land level. Although in some of 

 the roads the ditches are dug deep, and the dirt thrown high 

 in the center, yet in winter they become flattened, as the soil 

 is of a sliding nature, and retaining the water, they become 

 almost impassable. We have no gravel or boulders, or rock, 

 and the Governor's plan of crossing streams is not, therefore, 

 practicable with us. He doubted whether plank roads are 

 the kind for Indiana. Our experience cannot yet determine 

 for us their profitableness; but if they are to become so, 

 their construction must cost less. Mr. Owen's work had 

 created heavy and unnecessary expenditures in their con- 

 struction in the southern part of the State. In many things 

 his suggestions have been strictly foUovvfed, which subsequent 

 experience showed were unnecessary. It was not necessary 

 to harrow and roll the track, or to put string pieces under 

 the plank, or to employ the services of an engineer. 



Mr. Brown : The character of the soil in Ripley county is 

 ac lay, but different from that in Warrick. The sliding char- 



