State - Saginaw Saginaw crews unearth more historic plank road

By Justin L. Engel The Saginaw News SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) -- A preservationist is calling a discovery at a road construction project the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in terms of Saginaw history. Crews this month unearthed another section of the community's first road -- a plank roadway that stretched from Saginaw to Flint beginning in 1851 -- on the corner of East Genesee and Baum, one block west of a similar find discovered earlier. This find was larger and more telling of Saginaw's 19th century city engineering, officials say. "This is a gold mine," said Thomas B. Mudd, the Saginaw preservationist who is helping lead the city's efforts to save the 159-year-old artifact. "This is much more sophisticated than anything I expected to find." Mudd said the discovery trumps the earlier recovery of slices of the plank road. "Those planks might have been rejects," he said. "Here is the actual road. This is something special." Workers dug out a 24-foot-long section of the road, which featured four wood slices stacked upon each other in a rectangular-shaped configuration. Mudd said early Saginaw settlers likely built the double-decker stacks to counter the region's swampy surroundings in the 1800s. The hollow area between the stacks likely allowed air to pass through the roadway, making it more stable. "We now know they are better engineers than we thought they were," Mudd said. Saginaw Traffic Engineering Administrator Phil Karwat said crews discovered about a 3-inch layer of mysterious "plastic-clay substance" in the center section of the wood stacks. "We don't know what that is," Karwat said. Mudd collected a sample of the material and plans to have an archaeologist with the Castle Museum of Saginaw County History examine it. The preservationist said the museum -- where the first plank finds are stored -- likely would host the newest discoveries, too. Workers first discovered pieces of the plank road last month while working on a $4.7 million East Genesee reconstruction project. Mudd had been leading an effort to commemorate the plank road even before crews unearthed the relic. This month marked the first time Mudd -- known for his efforts in preserving the county's oldest home, the Cushway House -- saw the actual road. Saginaw's City Council has granted Mudd's wish to mark May 11 as Founders Day, to commemorate Little and the plank road. Mudd said Little oversaw the construction of the 30- to 40-mile-long plank road in 1851 to give wagons, horses and stagecoaches footing along the otherwise swampy trek separating Saginaw and Flint. The longtime historian said the road allowed the city to develop faster by providing a pathway through the region's pre-industrial bayou-like environment. "There were 202 plank roads in Michigan," Mudd said. "This was not an easy one (to build) because of the nature of the terrain." Mudd said Karwat's 19th-century equivalents likely had to cut "thousands of trees" while building along what today is the Dixie Highway. The public will be able to view what remains of the road at the Castle Museum, officials say. Executive Director Ken Santa plans to set up a display case for the antique after an archaeologist examines it. Mudd said he hopes eventually to take pieces of the plank to showcase at two locations: At a display in the Cushway Home near the Saginaw YMCA, and at an engraved marker at the foot of the Genesee Bridge near downtown's Morley Plaza. Published: Thu, Apr 29, 2010

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