62 



Plank Roads. 



Vol. XII 



sum total of the cost of railroads and canals, 

 and the cars and boats, is vastly below tliat 

 of the cost of the highways, and the wag'ons 

 and sleighs that are used on them. The 

 importance of the interest demands judicious 

 legislation; and the application of the high- 

 est intelligence in the expenditure of the 

 means provided. A proper system of laws 

 would develope the skill necessary, and we 

 must be content to wait for such legislation 

 before we can expect to see such great skill 

 exhibited in constructing roads. In every 

 county, three commissioners should have 

 charge of all the roads in their county; hav- 

 ing in their employment a competent engi- 

 neer, to direct the expenditure and superin- 

 tend the erection of bridges, and all the re- 

 pairs; this would soon produce a change 

 vastly beneficial to the public. 



The Revised Statutes contain a general 

 law relating to turnpikes, in which the par- 

 ticular manner of construction is all speci- 

 fied, as though the revisers knew all that 

 would ever be known about making roads. 

 It is strange that it should have happened, 

 that McAdam should have rendered himself 

 so famous by teaching a system of road mak- 

 ing precisely the reverse of the one deter- 

 mined upon by the revisers; but so it was. 



They fallowed the old English plan, which 

 required a bedding of stone upon which to 

 place the facing of broken stone. 



The peculiarity of McAdam's plan is, that 

 there shall be no such foundation, but that 

 the broken stone shall be placed directly 

 upon the earth; experience having proved 

 that, if there was a stone of any considera- 

 ble size under the broken surface, it would 

 in time rise up through it; and he discarded 

 every stone over four ounces in weight. 



Plank Roads have very recently been in- 

 troduced into this country. According to 

 the patent office report of January, 1843, 

 they had their origin in Russia, and were 

 introduced into Canada by Lord Sydenham, 

 he being induced to try the experiment in 

 consequence of the great cost, in the first 

 instance, of McAdamising a road, and the 

 expense of keeping it in repair. 



The first road made of plank was near 

 Toronto. The three miles nearest tiie city 

 having been McAdamised; the plank road 

 commenced at that distance from the city, 

 and was extended some miles into the coun- 

 try. The plank road lasted eight years, re- 

 quiring during that time merely nominal 

 repairs. The McAdam road in the same 

 time required an annual expenditure of four 

 hundred dollars a mile in repairs — amount- 

 ing in the eight years to $3,200 a mile, a 

 sum much more than sufficient to replank a 

 road. When the plank road required a new 



covering, one-half of the stone road was duor 

 up and Hung on top of tbe other half, and a 

 track of plank eight feet wide was laid down 

 in the place occupied by the stone. It hap- 

 pened that I visited Toronto at the time the 

 plank road was rebuilding, and the eight feet 

 track was being put into the stone road. 

 The plank first used were sixteen feet long 

 and three inches thick. They had worn out 

 in the middle for a space of about seven feet 

 wide — the ends of the plank being entire. 

 The middle of the road had settled by the 

 weight of the teams, and loads that had 

 passed over it. The sills were sound enough 

 to justify their use for another covering. I 

 saw the eight feet track in use; and then 

 expressed the opinion, that, as the narrow 

 road was so much more evenly pressed down 

 by the loads than was the wide road, it would 

 be firmer, and that if more than one eight 

 feet track was demanded by the travel, it 

 would be vastly better to lay two eight feet 

 tracks, than one sixteen feet, not only be- 

 cause they would settle more evenly, but 

 that the facilities for passing would be 

 greatly increased. A road sixteen feet 

 wide, experience proved would be used in 

 the middle. A wide load, going slowly 

 along it, rendered it very difficult for a vehi- 

 cle that was moving faster, upon overtaking 

 the wide load to pass it. In making my re- 

 port to the commissioners for the distribu- 

 tion of the stock of the Salina and Central 

 Square Plank Road, at whose request 1 had 

 visited Toronto, for the purpose of obtaining 

 information upon this subject, I proposed two 

 eight feet tracks for their road, and made my 

 estimate of the cost accordingly. A year 

 later I again visited Toronto, and to my sur- 

 prise long planks were entirely abandoned. 

 The road as it was extended into the coun- 

 try being made of a single eight feet track — 

 having a smooth earth road to turn out upon, 

 along side the plank. 



The result of these examinations was, 

 that we determined upon making a single 

 track upon one side of the centre of the 

 road, and wherever we had ordinary earth 

 to grade twelve feet wide upon the other 

 side of the centre. Over some light sand 

 we laid two tracks, and in one instance for 

 a short distance, we laid a sixteen feet road, 

 owing to peculiar circumstances; so that we 

 have a single plank track on one side of the 

 road, and an earth road to turn out upon; 

 and we have two tracks, four feet apart, of 

 plank; and we have a wide plank road. 

 The two separate tracks of plank are the 

 most perfect road, and furnish the greatest 

 facility for teams to pass. The eight feet 

 track is next in convenience, for it being on 

 the side of the centre of the road that gives 



