Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1849-06-25

Plank Roads, transmits to the National Intei- s
gencor very clear paper from Senator Geddes,E
OF the New York Legislature, the pioneer OF PankE
Roads, in Western New York. We copy Mr@
Geddes' article as of peculiar interest to citi
zens at this time, as it furnishes all the intorma.
ton required on subject of deep concern; andE
has the advantage of coming from source whiclk
prevents it from being charged as visionary. I
Plank Roadsa becoming very common i'll
those parts Of the country where lumber is cheap
and where the soil uusuted to tie constructions
OF good roads. The first plank road made i'll the /
United States was the one running from the cityf
OF Syracuse to Central Square, upon which thief
company commenced taking tolls on the 1Sths
day OF July 1916, 50 that the road has now been i'll
use two years This road was constructed under !!
very favorable circumstances. The right of way
cost the company nothing, and the bed of an old
and much travelled road being used, there wasE
very little grubbng grading required. The
soil was a mixture OF clay and sand and wash
very easily worked. Lumber delivered on tbs
line and distributed so as 10 be convenient tel
place IN the track, cost only about $500 thou-I
sand feet, board measure. The first cost of thu
road was but little, and the immense amount oil
travel over il made the recei PTS into the treasury
very large. So favorable were all these circum-E
e.oiieSo tdt tiit Coult,tlly Have Bcf6I SAictet,h
more than about three quarters OF the amount oil
hollis they were entitled to by law. The successE
OF this road had the effect to produce a fever :!
and plank reads have become the oider of the
day. Onondaga, Oneida and Oswego counties
areteing covered with net work of plank roads
From oswego to Utica by way of Rome, and
from Oswego to Syracuse by way of Central
Square, are the longest lines. From three toE
four roads radiate. From Syracuse two are to sol
be one hundred in the course of construction il |
the State Some Of these roads may prove losinaI
concerns to the stockholders :; and the hot haste
with which the people have embarked in thisI
new thing may, IN many cases, lead to q re-ac-
ton in which the pendulum will swing as muchi
too tar the other way.
Flank roads are rnuch superior for the traveller,
to any other road ever constructed in this coun- !
try and where lumber is to be had at low prices
and there Is great amount OF travel, it is ceraI
that handsome dividends will be made by the
company; bat there must be these two fevoringl
circumstances to justify their construction; fol!
II the lumber costs too much, then it Will Wcar
out or rot out before it is paid for if the lumber
costs but little, and there is but little travel, it
Will rot out before that little travel pays for it
Where the lumber costs but little, then the soon-
'er 1t Is worn out the sooner the money is paid
by the travel into the treasury, with which to
rebuild and pay interest.
The question OF how much money can,be earn
ed by a road of hemloek plank, (which is the
kind OF timber thus far used in this State) before
1t Will wear out, uider the rates OF tolls establish
ed by the general plank road law, is the first one
to answer in order to determine how much may
be paid for plank, in those cases where the com
pany are sure Of sufficient travel to wear out
the road. Inquiries have been made in Canada
to determine how much pine, which is the hum
Der there used, will earn in plank road butt
the plan OF renting their gates to the highest bid
er, by the year, makes it Impossible to determine
what amount of money is paid for tolls Upon
the Syracuse and Central Square road, great care
has been taken to keep account OF the receipts
OF every day at each of the gates, and as there
ls no committing OF tolls, and no persons except
ing the directors are allowed to pass the gates
tree, and as very few persons are exempted by
the law from the payment of tolls, the actual trav-
el can be very nearly determined from The re-
eceipts. The rates OF toll that are taken do MOI,
vary much from those established in the general
law and by taking the receipts of the first two
gates which take the tolls for eight miles and de-
stermining the amount that the planks are worn,
I'VE arrive at a fact that is important -
The ollstaAen during two years at gate No II
amounted to S7,957 IA
The tolls taken at gate No. 2, during
the same time, amounted to 1890 OF!
Total $12.8S7 Isl
The salaries of gatekeepers and repairs
during the two years amounted to 1880 00I
Leaving to go to rebuilding and disi-
dends $11,357 Isl
From very careful examination recently
made of the part of the road upon which thesel
gates take tolls, it appears that the planks where
there is but a single track are worn about one|
inch. Some parts of the road are worn more,
owing to the planks having been hoated by water
under them but where the road was properly
constructed, so that the planks have not moved
the wear is just about an inch.
BY the time there is another inch worn it will
be necessary to relay the road, as the knots will
then so pro lect above the surface as to make the
road too rough for comfort SO that 1922 TIA 30
may be expected as the nett proceeds of eight
miles of plank roads from tolls.
From our present knowledge ofthe subject wei
should say that before hemlock plank is worm
out it will earn from 80 500 to So, 900 mile over
and above repairs and costs Of collecting tolls
Experience in many different roads will onl y de-
termine the precise amount.
Sand or saw dust, OF tan bark, put upon theE
plank, will domueh to prevent wear, and where
such substances can be had at a reasonable cost
they should be used. Where the road is to runI
over sandy country, the facilities for using sand
fora covering will form an important fact In del
termining the durability of the road.
No plank road made Of henlock has yet beer
in use long enough to decide how long the plank
can be preserved from rot Seven years is per-
haps, as long as it would be prudent to calculate
on their lasting. Some varieties of hemlock areE
much superior in all respects to other varieties,
but it is not likely that the average duration oil
the plank will exceed seven years Pine inI
Canada has lasted about eight years.
In determining upon the probabiltiahof any|
proposed road paying well, it will be best toI
count the teams fora short period Of time, duringl
such part of the year as give. about an averaged
Of the travel; and then, by calculating the tolls
travel as may reasonably be expected to grow
out of the construction of the road, it will be easy
to determine, with sufficient accuracy, whether
there will be travel enough to wear out the road
within the time it may be supnosel il eau be-