A corduroy road or log road is a type of road or
timber trackway made by placing
logs,
perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It c ...
to the direction of the road over a low or
swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
y area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet rough in the best of conditions and a hazard to
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
s due to shifting loose logs.
Corduroy roads can also be built as a foundation for other surfacing. If the logs are buried in wet,
acid
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a se ...
ic,
anaerobic soils such as
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and ...
or
muskeg, they
decay very slowly. A few corduroy road foundations that date back to the early 20th century still exist in North America. One example is the
Alaska Highway between
Burwash Landing
Burwash Landing is a small community, at historical mile 1093 on the Alaska Highway, in Yukon, Canada along the southern shore of Kluane Lake.
The present location of Burwash Landing was first used as a summer camp by the Southern Tutchone Athaba ...
and
Koidern, Yukon, Canada, which was rebuilt in 1943, less than a year after the original route was graded on thin soil and vegetation over
permafrost
Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
, by using corduroy, then building a gravel road on top. During the 1980s, the gravel was covered with a
chip-seal. The late 1990s saw replacement of this road with modern road construction, including rerouting of the entire highway.
In World War II they were used by both German and Soviet forces on the
Eastern Front.
In slang use, corduroy road can also refer to a road in ill repair, having many
pothole
A pothole is a depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Wate ...
s, ruts, or surface swellings. This should not be confused with a
washboard road.
Historical uses
The earliest recorded use of a corduroy road in England was during the Norman attack on Saxon resistance leader
Hereward the Wake who had taken refuge in the marshes on the Isle of Ely. Two contemporary sources say that the Normans built a corduroy road one mile long to try to reach him in 1071 but eventually succeeded in their attack using treachery.
Corduroy roads were used extensively in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
between Shiloh and Corinth after the
Battle of Shiloh, and in
Sherman's march through the Carolinas.
In the Pacific Northwest roads built of spaced logs similar to widely spaced "army track" were the mainstay of local
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply cha ...
practices and were called
skid
__NOTOC__
Skid or Skids may refer to:
* Skid, a type of pallet
* Skid (aerodynamics), an outward side-slip in an aircraft turn
* Skid (automobile), an automobile handling condition where one or more tires are slipping relative to the road
* Skid ...
roads. Two of these, respectively on the outskirts of the mill towns of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
, which had become concentrations of bars and
logger's slums, were the origin of the more widespread meaning of "skid road" and its derivative
skid row, referring to a poor area.
The
Hull's Trace is a military road, built at the beginning of the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
, running from
Urbana, Ohio, to
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
of which a part was a corduroy road. This segment, the only known extant portion of the Trace, contains the remains of the corduroy road segment. It is located in
Brownstown, Michigan
Brownstown Charter Township is a charter township in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 30,627 at the 2010 census. Brownstown was established in 1827, a decade prior to Michigan's Admission to the Union.
Brownstown h ...
. It is on public display at the
River Raisin National Battlefield Park.
By the early 1800s, a corduroy road had been built along what is now King Street in
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the close proximity of the ci ...
in Canada; its remains were unearthed under the roadway in 2016. The road was probably built by
Mennonite
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the R ...
settlers between the late 1790s and 1816. A historian explained that the road had been built for access to a mill but was also "one of the first roads cut through (the woods) so people could start settling the area".
Similar types of road
The puncheon or
plank road
A plank road is a road composed of wooden planks or puncheon logs. Plank roads were commonly found in the Canadian province of Ontario as well as the Northeast and Midwest of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. They were oft ...
uses hewn boards instead of logs, resulting in a smoother and safer surface.
Origin
The name "corduroy road" refers to the road's ridged appearance similar to
corduroy fabric.
See also
*
Boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of br ...
*
Corduroy Road Remains
*
Footbridge
A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corduroy Road
Types of roads
Plank road