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Comments:
joe - 2004-12-20 07:25:13 A few years ago I noticed Jefferson Ave south of Detroit was under construction and they had a trench several feet deep running along the west side of the road for a couple blocks. I got out of my car to have a look and sure enough, about 3 feet down were the ends of hugh logs running the entire length of the trench. Those planks are still down there. * * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-12-20 08:09:31 Logs laid crosswise to make roads were called corduroy roads. My dad and his jackpine-savage pals still used that technique and term up north in the 50s to get back into the woods to cut fence posts and pulpwood. Early water lines in Detroit consisted of hollow logs laid end to end. Were those old logs along Jefferson in the same direction of the road's travel? Ain't it grand how Michigan's deforestation was superior to what goes on now in South America? There the forests are cut and burned. Here the settlers used the woods for practical though temporary purposes. Imagine the width of the oak planks used in those early roads. Also amusing (except where you can't get out of your driveway for 10 minutes) is the failure of government way-back-when to address the need for adequate roads to keep up with population. Ypsilanti Township continues to outstrip road capacity with population growth.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-12-20 09:06:30 I'm sorry you find it difficult to read, Joe. I picked yellow on green because, aside from liking green, in fact several blog readers commented that it was easy on the eye. If all else fails, copy and paste the text onto a Word document. AnnArborcrat, that is fascinating. I had no idea. Were the logs you saw part of the intriguing water system Raymond mentioned, or the "sleepers" or side-rails for an old plank road? Raymond, I can't imagine how inefficient a wooden water line must have been. Very interesting bit of history; thank you.* * * * * * * * * * * * AnnArborcrat - 2004-12-20 09:44:02 Only the end of each log was visable so they were layed across the width of the road, so I think as Raymond mentioned, it would be a corduroy road. They were very large logs.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-12-20 10:03:35 Annarborcrat, that's really interesting. Of course all those logs would have been virgin timber...giant old trees. Just to clarify, as Raymond said, there were 2 sorts of wooden road. Corduroy roads consisted of plain old logs laid crosswise straight on the dirt, across the road. Plank roads consisted of planks attached to the top of long "sleepers," or wooden rails, that ran along either side of the road. Plank roads resembled upside-down railroads, very roughly speaking.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-12-20 10:14:48 (that explanation was just for anyone I've managed to confuse with my iffy description of plank roads. At any rate, back to the comments). AnnArborcrat, might you possibly remember the intersection on Jefferson where you saw the logs? I ask because I'm trying to track down information about Michigan Ave being a plank road (I felt out on a limb making this claim in the front page post). On one, and only one, plat map [I don't remember the year] you can see they lovingly drew in the planks in the picture of Michigan Ave, with an attention to detail and patience that bespeaks the impact the plank road had on the community and settler culture. Then it's gone. Why? On the next plat map, there are no lovingly drawn planks. Did it get broken up? Did the private company that built it go under? I'm dying to know. I dimly remember reading references to "the old plank road" heading past that old tavern that used to stand at Michigan Ave and Harris. I'll keep trying to pin it down. Er, nail it down (did they use nails for the plank road?--weren't nails heinously expensive?--who knew there were so many questions associated with plank roads?)* * * * * * * * * * * * AnnArborcrat - 2004-12-20 13:52:03 It was at the intersection of Eureka which is several miles south of Detroit and not near Michigan Avenue. I did find this on the web: Historical Markers � Toll Gates & Fairlane Entrance� 19000 Michigan Ave., Dearborn (just west of the Southfield Freeway) A marker now stands on W. Michigan Avenue to memorialize the spot, where the third of six tollgates established along the old Chicago Rd/Michigan Ave. plank road once stood. Near this site was also the original entrance to the Henry Ford Estate � Fair Lane. You can drive by and stop to read the signage at this site. 10. Dearborn Historical Museum � 21950 Michigan Ave., Dearborn (just West of* * * * * * * * * * * * brett - 2004-12-21 18:53:47 just think, someone in our state government, probably making a very decent wage from our taxes, actually was PAID to make that little craft project up. I especially like the moronic road-building section, to which they hastily add (without instructions) that you should also make a couple building, horses, people, etc, to make it look good. Complete crap. * * * * * * * * * * * * brett - 2004-12-21 19:54:02 joe (the first post) does bring up a small issue of usability, which is that you have your text font set to '2' (3 is normal), so it would display smaller on his computer than the standard size, and would be very small on a mac. I don't know much about it, but he could have an old browser or monitor that your creative choice of colors interprets from a different (smaller) pallete, just finding the closest available match, and making it harder to read (imagine if the text was half its size, was a 'ronald macdonald' yellow, and the background was more of a lime-green). I'm trying to learn about these things right now, so expect my posts to get exponentially more nerdy.* * * * * * * * * * * * brett - 2004-12-21 20:21:15south west of toledo there actually is a 'corduroy road', which is technically paved in asphalt, but the name of the road is "Corduroy". I suppose it took the name from the fact it once was constucted that way; it would have gone through part of the Black Swamp, which is a prime reason to do have used that form of improvement on it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-12-22 09:15:27 Thanks for backing me up on the silliness of this craft Brett. Also, good advice on the useability of Ypsidixit. I'll twiddle with the size a bit this evening and see if there's a good compromise so that I don't continue to receive...let's say "forthright," comments from frustrated readers. Also, I'll be in Toledo soon, and I'm going to look on a map southwest of the city to see if I can see "Corduroy Road." Thank you for the tip.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |