Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1852-01-01
MISCELLANEOUS.
From the New York Weekly Dispatch.
Plank Roads,

From the New ork Weekly Dispatch.
Plank Roads.
1t is probable that not one out Of ten of
our country friends have ever sat down
and quietly inquired into the probability
and cheapness Of the Plank Road over all
others macadamized, corduroy, paved or
railroad. The great desideratum of the
farmer is good road over which he can
wheel, without fatiguing horses or oxen,
and without percepuble wear to his ve-
hicle; conveying in one load more than he
could on ordinary roads in two, and at the
same time travel more rapidly, and thus
enable him to carry to market his produce
in less time and with greater ease and
less labor to himself than is experienced
on ninety nine hundredths of the roads
now in USE
These Suggestions are of very great i'm
portance to the farming and commercial
interests of the country, and a calm in
quiry into the feasibility, cost over other
roads, and praclicabiliiy of their construc-
ton, is the purpose Of the present article.
Many persons not acquainted with the
cost Of building this class Of roads, on the
first blush, are opposed to their construc-
ton, hastily concluding that they are more
costly, less durable, and therefore not So
cheap or useful as the ordinary roads now
travelled. The perfection Of road-mak-
ing is to obtain an even surface as free as
possible from all resisting qualities-in
other words, "as smooth as a plank"
That this everyday application of the
term has not sooner suggested the use of
the thing itself may be attributed to the
apprehension of great cost on the one
hand and durability on the other. A
Plank Road with use will last about eight
years, put suppose it to be worn out in
five years, and its capacity TO be 10000
tons per annum-these at toll of one
and a half cents per mile, is seven hun
dred and fifty dollars per annum. Deduct
from this fund for relaying, and expen-
ses in FIVE years, say three hundred dollars
per annum, there remains four hundred
and fifty dollars, or more than twenty per
cent on two thousand dollars, which is
above the average cost of the present
plank roads.-Apply these figures to a
business that will wear out the roads in
three years or annually, and you have the
value per thousand of timber for road
making The first notice of Plank Roads
in America was about ten years ago in
Canada, where there is now in use about
500 miles Soon after this time a road
was laid down at Syracuse in this State,
and its advantages SO fully tested, as to
laal
charters, as to induce the passage by the
Legislature of General Plank Road
Law. Under its provisions more than
1000 miles have been already construct
ed, almost within the last three years; in
other States they are also being intro
duced, and with the same beneficial re-
suits.
We will venture to say that the most
efficient Plank Road will not cost over
fifteen hundred and the great majority
will cost less than one thousand dollars
per mile We will, however, take the
highest estimate and compare the plank
with the macadamized, for a period of
eight years:
First cost per mile S1,5O0
Relaying 1000
Repairs for eight years 100
Cost for eight years $500
Cost of the macadamized road per
mile, 1000
Repairs for eight years, $500 per
mile I,6oo
Being double the cost Of the Plank
Road $500
A reference to the roads now in use of
which the greatest extent will be found at
| Utica, where there is about 200 miles,
will furnish abundant statistical informa-
| ton to establish their value, and their COM
parative advantages over other roads
The highest estimated capacity of team
for short distances, on the best macadam-
ized road, is not exceeding three TONS
which is much beyond the average load
on plank road for distances Of 80 to
40 miles per day; and for short draught
team has been known to take as much
as six tons without apparent exertion.-
This, over the ordinary roads would re-
quire from six to dozen teams. accord
ing to what is called the condition of the
roads"
1t is quite common TO carry a cord and
half of wood, instead of halfa cord, or
one hundred bushels Of grain with the
same team that carried fifty on the old
road, and this at the rate of five miles
per hour, instead of three miles, which
for loaded team is good time. A manu-
facturer was accustomed to deliver ten
packages of merchandise daily, with two
teams, each making one trip, now deliv-
ers fifteen packages with one team, max
ing two trips, or three times the work by
the application Of the same power. at the
same cost, with the addition Of the toll on
the road. The cost of the road may be
shown by another case. A foundry which
paid one dollar twenty-five cents per ton
for carting eight miles, now pays only
seventy-Gve cents; and at an increased
gain to the teamster after paying the tolls
One team carried two loads per day, of
one ton each way. at ST 25 per ton, a.
mounting to 50 so.
The same team now carries two
and half tons each way at IS
cts. per ton 50 rs
Eight miles toll each way, at II
cent per ton, 25