OAHT 1702: Watertown Plank Road
This Geocache is part of the 2017 Oconomowoc Area Historical Tour:
We have picked Twenty Five locations that we feel highlight the unique Oconomowoc, Delafield, Nashotah, Summit, Golden Lake, Concord and Sullivan areas.
To earn a Geocoin, teams must pick up a 2017 Oconomowoc Area Historical Tour Booklet from the Oconomowoc Area Historical Society & Museum or download the booklet at:
http://www.oconomowochistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/The-2017-Oconomowoc-Passport-will-be-posted-on-July-22-1.pdf
Collect 25 points as detailed in the booklet.
Please remember to record the STAMP OR CODE WORD in your booklet from this cache in your 2017 Oconomowoc Area Historical Tour Booklet!
Watertown Plank Road
Driving to this cache, you are driving on the original route of the Watertown Plank Road.
The Milwaukee-Watertown Plank Road, known more commonly in the modern era as the Watertown Plank Road, was a plank road important to the early development of southeastern Wisconsin, especially to its terminal cities Milwaukee and Watertown, in the period shortly after statehood. Construction began in 1848 and it was completed in 1853.
Plank roads are basically just what the name implies. The first construction step was the clearing and grubbing. In flat land the trees, stumps, roots, and other obstructions were removed from the width of road.
After the roadway was cleared, it was graded for a width of 24 feet between ditches. The center of the road was raised six inches higher than the sides with a gradual inclination to the ditches. Before the actual grading was done, the roadway was ploughed to a depth of eight to twelve inches and thoroughly dragged to pulverize the earth.
The stringers, upon which the planks were laid, consisted of white oak boards, one and one-half inches thick, eight inches wide, and not less than twelve feet long. They were laid in trenches so that the upper surface of the stringer was level with the earthen road bed. The outside stringer was set one and one-half inches lower than the other, and eight feet in width was allowed between the two, though in portions of the road near Milwaukee the stringers were laid 12 feet apart. The space between stringers was filled with earth to one-half inch above the surface of the stringer.
The one remaining step was the placing of the actual planks. They consisted of oak boards three inches wide and eight feet long. They were placed on top of the stringers and pounded down with a heavy maul until they rested on the stringer. The planks were not nailed down or fastened in any other manner. This proved a disadvantage when the road was engulfed by high water, as the planks would float away. It was done because nails or similar objects would work loose and injure horses' hooves. History and picture courtesy of the Watertown Plank Road - Watertown Historical Society