442 OUR GOMMON ROADS—MURPHY. 
can pass without interference. The logs are cut to the same 
jength, which should be that of required width of road; and if 
proper selection is exercised so that their size or diameter is- 
uniform, and if they are properly laid on sleepers placed length- 
wise so that their top surfaces will be even, then covered with a 
layer of brush, and finished off with a coat of soil or turf, they 
will answer their purpose until the settlement becomes more 
populous and warrants the construction of a better and more 
desirable roadway. 
“Plank Roads,’ says Gilmore, “ were much in vogue 25 or 30 
years ago, and are still used in localities, where lumber is cheap 
and stone and gravel scarce and expensive. They are usually 
about 8 feet wide and occupy one side of an ordinary, well drained 
and properly graded earth rvad, the other side being to turn out 
upon and for travel during dry season. The method of construc- 
tion most commonly followed, is to lay down lengthwise of the 
road, two parallel rows of planks called Sleepers or Stringers, 
about 5 feet apart between centres,and upon these to lay cross- 
planks of 3 to 4 inches in thickness and 8 feet long, so adjusted 
that their ends will not be in a line but form short offsets at 
intervals of two to three feet, to prevent the formation of long 
ruts at the edges of the road, and aid vehicles in regaining the 
plank covering from the earth turnout. New plank roads possess 
many advantages for heavy haulage, as well as for light travel, 
when the earth road is muddy and soft, but ina short time the 
planks become so worn and warped, and so many of them get 
displaced, that they are very disagreeable roads to travel upon. 
They are so deficient in durability that a common gravel road as 
hereinafter described, will in the end be found more profitable 
in most localities. The ease and rapidity with which they can 
be constructed renders them a popular and even a desirable make- 
shift in newly settled districts and towns where lumber can be- 
procured at low cost, but they lack the essential features of per- 
manence and durability, which all important highways should 
possess. The sleepers ought always to be treated by some effec- 
tive wood preserving process to prevent decay. In the planks. 
ordinary rot will be anticipated by their destruction from wear 
and tear.” 
