The Democratic pioneer. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1845-1853, 1849-07-13
From the OHIO Cnltivator.
PLANK road.

ing favor ia this cahatFy. Numerous cohh"
panies were chartered last winter by .the
Ohip Legislature, and other States have
evinced large amount Of zeal in their
behalf. They can be built for about one
half what il would coat to construct a Me-
Adamizei road and the interest on the
original expenditure thus saved, will be
found neatly suficient to renew the plank
sin periods OF seven years.
The first roads Constructed ON this
continent, were made in Upper Canada,
and as a matter of history, it might not
sorted to by the Commissioners WHO had
charge Of the public roads. in the first
instance, as an act Of apparent necessity
A portion of the road, under contract to
be McAdamized, was composed of ii
quick sand for many feet in depth, and
besides, the land contained 9pmarons
durable springs, 50 that il was entirely
ssImpossible TO get either broken or IN.
broken stones to form a substantial road
/ PlaBking was reaorted to with success
and hence, the business Of planking roads
received their origin this country, and
as subsequent events have proved, have
been found ia possess advantages, where
lnmber can be had tolerably cheap, tha,
cannot in fairness be claimed BY any 9th
er description Of road.
Iimay be urged by some, that the exs
pense Of drawing lumber great distanc e
---say Eve or ten miles, will operate sea
riously against their general use, as lead
ing roads to our principal market :owns.
This difficulty may be entirely obviated
by the use Of Pages portable saw mills,
which after Is years constant trial in
the southern states have been found to
combine all the advantages ofan ord
nary steam saw mill. and besides posse
the important feature, that they are per.
fectly portable, and may be transpor ted
from one point 10 another with as much
facility as an ordinary eight horse pow e +
threshing machine. These mills may be
driven by steam or hors power, and with
ten horse power engine will saw with
out any difficulty FROM five to six thousand
feet of inch plank per day. Where plank
roads are Constructed upon large scale
and ordinary steam or water saw mills
are scarce on the line or road it will be
. found that Pages saw mills will in most
cases reduce the price Of lumbd at le,st
twenty five per cent.
The following very excellent and prac-
tical remarks on the foregoing suffice,
will doubtless be read at this time with
much interestsby yery large portion Of
our subscribers. N
PLANK .RoADs.-A plank road from
Schenectady to Saratoga Springs is az
bout to be built. A letter from Prof.
Gillespie (author of the sMannal Of Road
Making which was BAD at recent
public meeting ia Schenectady and pub
lished in the Cabinet, contains much val
liable Information on this important sub
ject, and from which we extract some
passages Of general interest IN relation
TO this Improvement, the most valuable
aid TO locomotion since the invention OF
raiIroads:
The inland town roads are substitutes
for navigable rivers. The more widely
they radiate in every direction, and the
better their condition, the greater will
be the consequent prosperity. Their
comparative value is Determined by tue
different weights which horse can draw
the same load. of all mode of improving
their surface, plank reads are the mos
eGectual at the smallest cost. If we
take the load drawn on q new gravel
road as our standard of comparison, ex-
periments show that on good broken
stone, or Macadam road horae can draw
four times as much; and on smooth
plank road eight times as much, or twice
as much as on a good Maoadam road.
Plank roads therefore enable horse
TO do more than any other arrangement
except railroads. But invaluable us the
latter are to the hurryfyiBg traveller, the
ordinary roads on which every farmer
can dive his own team, when not need
ed for the farm labors, are incompara,
bly, more useful to the community at large
--and OF all such, plank roads are the
perfection. They are the Farmers rail-
road.
.Iode Of consiraction.-The best mode
of constructing them is briefly this: Lay
out the intended line with great care to
avoid steep inclinatsons, never descending
more than one foot in going thirty or for
ty, and winding many feet around rather
than go up una. Grade the road bed
wide enough foe two wagon tracks, but
plant only one, and that on the right hand
side coming toward the city, for teams
generally come 10 heavy aud 60 cut light,