Slipperiness of wood-block paving was often offered as an argument against its use. Opponents of the blocks insisted that horses were unsteady on wood, especially in wet weather. In 1915, a Philadelphia firm began marketing a special block to increase traction on wooden streets. "The insertion of a bar of steel in a groove at the bottom of a channel in the surface of a creosoted wood block is the basis of the patent on a safety wood block made by the National Safety Wood Paving Company ... about half the blocks in a pavement are fitted with the grids and the combination of channel and grid gives the horse a chance for a footing, which is a great help in drawing heavy loads. Skidding of automobiles is also prevented in large measure. The grid blocks may be laid in several patterns. Probably the most popular will be with every other block a safety block."69
One 1917 technological advance comprised the corrugated wood paving block. "Each of these blocks is corrugated at one side and one end, by grooves running parallel to the grain of the wood." Grooves would press a flat side of a neighboring block, they were not cut into the exposed surface of the block. The grooves were designed to permit expansion and contraction without buckling and to be avenues into the pavement for sealing oils.70 Another innovation combined wood blocks with granite blocks or bricks to create a permanent surface between railway tracks laid in streets.71
In 1920 W. W. Horner, chief engineer, sewers and paving, St. Louis, Missouri, reported in Engineering News-Record on his success with jackscrews to tighten wood-block pavements. "Faced with the probability of having to take up 7,500 sq. yd. of loose wood block at an estimated cost of about $10,000 there has been developed this year, in St. Louis, a successful method of tightening pavement without removing and relaying the block ... the task was accomplished by cutting into the pavement at intervals, and tightening up the block on each side of the cut with jackscrews.72
Perhaps the most impressive technological advances in wood-block paving are found in the machinery to cut and lay blocks. As early as 1903 Scientific American reported on a portable gasoline-powered trimming machine that permitted Parisian maintenance crews to trim worn or damaged blocks and refit them into the pavement upside down thereby greatly reducing the time and cost of repairing wood-block streets. Scientific American reported on yet another wood-block cutting machine in 1908, a device "100 feet long, which divides each plank into 16 blocks by means of 17 circular saws ... [the] machine can saw 25 planks per minute. As each plank furnishes 16 blocks, the theoretical output of the machine in a day of 10 hours is 25 x 16 x 60 x 10 = 240,000 blocks."73
The ultimate technological advance in wood-block paving is an apparatus that anticipated the continuous paving machines used for asphalt and concrete highways and streets at the end of the twentieth century. The device will "level, smooth and compact a sand or wet concrete base and lay automatically consecutive rows of brick or other paving blocks, closing the joints, rolling the paved surface and leaving it ready for the joint-filling operation.
"The machine travel on rails, laid carefully to a correct grade, on both sides of the strip to be paved ... straight stretches of uniform width of paving. If the machine is motor operated, the only manual labor necessary, other than that required of the operator, is the feeding of the blocks in V-shaped troughs on the sides of the machine."74
History
Articles on wood-block paving disappeared from the engineering literature after 1925. One explanation is increasing traffic.
400 Per Cent Increase in Tonnage Moved Over Highways. – At the conference Sept. 17-19 [1918] of the Highways Transport Committee of the Council of National Defense, reports made by the regional chairmen showed tonnage moved over the highways increasing at a tremendous rate, in some states as much as 400 per cent increase over last year being show. The Cleveland-Akron-Canton area reported 61 per cent as much freight being moved by motor express now as the railroads are carrying.75
The 22 million registered motor vehicles of 1926 were overshadowed by the nearly 35 million of 1941–24,000 busses increased to nearly 120,000, 2.9 million trucks to almost 5.2 million and 19 million automobiles to nearly 30 million. The estimated 141 trillion vehicle miles traveled by motor vehicle in 1926 to 334 trillion in 1941.76
Had wood paving not given way to materials and processes that produced highways for high-traffic loads and heavy vehicles, the cost of wood-blocks might have become prohibitively expensive. "Ten million square yards of wood block pavement means that we have used up for this purpose practically 400,000,000 feet of merchantable lumber. At least 50,000,000 feet of lumber will be used up in wood block pavements during 1915. This brings us face to face with the great problem of to-day: The conservation of our timber."77
As important as the need for sturdier pavement and the supply of timber as explanations for the demise of wood-block paving is the demand for a wooden street surface. The leading quality of wood for paving was its capacity to muffle iron and steel-tired vehicles and horseshoes. Automobiles dispensed with the clattering of horse hooves and more and more horse-drawn vehicles were mounted on rubber tires as the twentieth century progressed. Wood-block pavement to lower noise levels in cities was no longer necessary.
The streets of Westminster are important thorofares. The traffic is, however, very largely rubber-tired [in 1914]. In fact, the percentage of iron-tired traffic, if known, would probably be suprisingly low. There are a few exceptions, such as the Strand, where there is considerable mixed traffic, but, on the whole, the streets of Westminster and those of purely residential boroughs ... which together contribute ninety miles to the total of London wood paving, carry a traffic comprising a tremendous number of vehicles, but of a very nondestructive character to pavement.78
As early as 148 BC a wooden road at Corlea Bog, County Longford, Ireland facilitated travel over a bog from one point of high ground to another. Two thousand years later highway engineers in California used redwood logs as a fill for the Redwood Highway in northern California.79 The two-millennia history of wood paving is complete. Wood will be used in road building only under exceptional circumstances. When historians review obsolete modes of land travel – horses, buggies and wagons, steam trains, and trolleys – they should recall the equally remote yet engaging materials that paved the way for ancient travel equipment: iron, steel, rubber, cotton, and wood.
NOTES
1. David O. Whitten, "Rollin' on Rubber: 120 Years of Rubber Roads," Essays in Economic and Business History, 414-27.
2. David O. Whitten, "Rusty Roads: Ferrous Metal Paving Materials," Essays in Economic and Business History, 14(1995), 249-66.
3. My late mother recalled her assignment to defend the horse and wagon in a 1930 high school debate. "Everyone knew that horses and wagons were finished, that automobiles were the future, yet I had to make the affirmative in 'The Horse and Wagon Will Win the Race with the Motor Car.' I marshalled the potent arguments against motorcars and in favor of horses and buggies and won that debate!" As late as 1930 there was much to be said in favor of horses and carriages. The race was lost but the horse was still on the track.
4. Claro C. Dassen, "Practice and Experience with Algarrobo Wood Pavements in Buenos Aires, Argentina," Engineering and Contracting 40 (August 20, 1913)8, 198-99.
5. "Australian Wood Pavement," Municipal Engineering, 6(1894), 271
6. Walter Alexander Smith, "Advantages of Australian Hardwood for Paving," Engineering Record (November 24, 1894); Sir Edward H. Wittenoom, "A Defence of Australian Hardwood Pavements," Engineering News (August 23, 1900); R. W. Richards, "Hardwood Pavements in Sydney, New South Wales," Engineering News (March 18, 1897).
7. J. Stirrat, "Notes on Wood Paving vs Macadam in Rangoon," Industrial Engineering (September 10, 1898).
8. Alan MacDougal, "Cedar Block Carriage Ways," Transactions of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers 2(1888), 185.
9. "Wood Pavement Tried in Toronto," Engineering Record 45(February 8, 1902)16, 137.
10. "Wood Blocks for Street Paving: Their Treatment and Handling," Municipal Engineering 50(1916), 183-84: "Treated Wood Block Paving: Investigations Made by the Forest Products Laboratories of Canada," Canadian Engineering (June 17, 1915).
11. "Wood Block," Municipal Engineering 50(1916), 150.
12. Andrew F. Macallum, "Wood Block Paving Between Street Railway Tracks," American City (City Edition) 22(March 1920) 3, 237-38.
13. "Winnipeg's Pavements," Canadian Engineering (January 19, 1911).
14. "Wooden Pavement and Public Health in Paris," Sanitation Record (June 11, 1897).
15. See part 1; M. P. Toulon, "A Metallic Plug for Wood-Block Pavements (Un Tamp métallique pour le Pavage en Bois)," Bulletin of the Society of d'Encour (March 1920).
16. S. R. Church, "Wood Paving in Europe: Soft Wood Universally Used and Method of Laying," Engineering Magazine 47(April 1914) 1,103.
17. See part 1; "Popularity of Wood-Block Paving in Great Britain," Scientific American 113(November 20, 1915), 449.
18. "Canadian Wood Blocks for Paving in Great Britain," Municipal Engineering 49(1915), 225.
19. S. R. Church, "Laying Wood Paving in London," Municipal Engineering 46(1914), 448.
20. "Wood Paving in Europe."
21. "Wood Block Pavements in Japan," American City 28(February 1923), 121.
22. "Wood Pavements in Switzerland," U.S. Consumer Reports, No. 772(July 5, 1900).
23. E. W. Church, "The Wonderful Growth in Wood Block Paving," Municipal Engineering 49(1915), 156.
24. "Treated Wood Block Pavements: Their History in the United States," Municipal Engineering 48(1915), 94-100.
25. "Wood-Block Pavement Failures of Southern Cities Analyzed," Engineering News Record 80(February 14, 1918) 7, 307-310.
26. B. Woods, "Wood-Block Paving in Little Rock, Arkansas," American City 22(May 1920), 459-61.
27. "Plank Road Laid Across Shifting Desert Sands—Near Holtville, CA," Engineering Review (July 29, 1916).
28. M. K. Miller, "Redwood Block Paving with Asphalt Carpeting, at Oakland, California," Engineering News (July 20, 1899); Walter C. Howe, "Modern Street Work in the West," California Journal of Technology (August 1908).
29. "Wood Block Pavement in San Francisco," Municipal Engineering 13(1897), 99-100; Ernest McCullough, "California Redwood for Street Pavements," Municipal Engineering (June 1897).
30. J. A. McElroy, "Wood-block Pavements Restored by Seal Coat," Engineering News 90(March 22, 1923): 531.
31. "Wood Block Pavements in Atlanta," Engineering Record (January 1, 1898); "Creosote Block in Atlanta, Ga.," Municipal Engineering 44(1913), 39-40.
32. See part 1; William W. Marr, "Repaving the 'Loop' District in Chicago with Creosoted Wood Block," Engineering News 41(December 29, 1910) 26, 718; Harry G. Davis, "Creosoted Block Paving in Chicago," Engineering and Contracting 36(September 13, 1911)11, 276-77; John Ericson, "Creosoted Block Paving in Chicago," Municipal Engineering 44(1913), 17-20; Louis A. Dumond, "Wood Block Pavements in Chicago," Municipal Engineering 45(1913), 51-52; "Repair and Maintenance of Various Kinds of Pavement, Chicago, IL," Engineering News 70(December 4, 1913(23, 1137-38; Walter Buehler, "Economical Value of Wood Block Paving," Journal of Western Society of Engineers 25(February 5, 1920)3, 73-92.
33. See part 1; P. C. Reilly, "The Development of the Kreodone Block Pavement," Municipal Engineering 38(January 1910)1, 42.
34. "Street Paving in Des Moines, Iowa," Municipal Engineering 47(1914), 304-05.
35. R. S. Manley, "The Construction of Creosoted Wood Block Pavements," Municipal Engineering 46(1914), 152-53; "From Ancient Granite to Modern Wood Block," Municipal Engineering 50(1916), 69; Lambert T. Ericson, "Recommended Procedure in the Construction of Wood Block Pavements," Municipal Engineering 54(1918), 139-40; Walter E. Rosengarten, "Pavement Guarantees: Prevailing Requirements in Principal Cities as Shown in Study by the Asphalt Association," Engineering and Contracting 64(October 7, 1925)4, 785-88.
36. "The Detailed Cost of Constructing 19,067 Square Yards of Belgian Block Pavements at Baltimore, Maryland," Engineering and Contraction (September 22, 1909).
37. B. T. Wheeler, "Recent Experience with Wood Pavements," Engineering Record 44(October 5, 1901)14, 324-5; James H. Sullivan, "Creosoted Wood Block Pavements in Boston," Municipal Engineering 45(1913), 2456-58; Rosengarten, "Pavement Guarantees."
38. John Wilson, "Creosoted Wood Block Pavement in Duluth," Municipal Engineering 45(1913), 481,82.
39. D. M. Avery, "Wooden Block Pavement Tests in Minneapolis, Minn.," Municipal Engineering 39(October 1910)4, 265-70; B. H. Durham, "Nine Years' Experience with Creosoted Wood Block Pavement in Minneapolis," Engineering and Contracting 35(April 19, 1911)16, 450-53; "Wood Block Paving in Minneapolis," Municipal Engineering 43(December 1912)6, 376079; Ellis R. Dutton, "Method Employed in Minneapolis in Constructing Smooth Surfaced Concrete Base for Wood Block Paving," Municipal Engineering 57(1919), 51-53; J. D. MacLean, "Minneapolis Experimental Wood Block Pavement After 15 Years' Service," Engineering and Contracting 56(November 2, 1921)18, 417-17.
40. H. L. Collier, "Expansion and Contraction in Wooden Blocks," Municipal Engineering 41(September 1911)3, 294,95.
41. See part 1.
41. T. J. Caldwell and T. D. Miller, "Treatment of Wood for Paving," Journal of the Association of Engineers Society 4, 232; "Wood Block Paving in St. Louis," Municipal Engineering 43(October 1912)4, 265-68; W.W. Horner," "Jackscrews Tighten Wood Block Pavement in Place," Engineering News-Record 85(October 7, 1920)15, 686-89; W.W. Horner, "Contraction of Wood Block Pavement through Contraction and Floatation," Engineering News-Record 84(April 1920)22, 814-17.
43. L. R. W. Allison, "Wood-Block Street Paving in Butte, Montana," American City 15(July 1916), 54-55.
44. "Brick and Wood-Block Pavements in Omaha," Municipal Engineering 8(1895), 257; Collier, "Expansion and Contraction in Wooden Blocks."
45. "Creosoted Wood Block Paving in Jersey City," Municipal Engineering 46(1914), 492; "Wood Block," Municipal Engineering 50(1916), 150.
46. William A. Howell, "Wood Block Pavement in Newark; Features of Recent Construction," Municipal Journal October 29, 1914); William A. Howell, "Repairs to Wood Block Pavement in Newark, New Jersey," Public Works 50(June 18, 1921)25, 515-18.
47. See part 1; Frederic Arnold Kummer, "Wood Paving Specifications in Greater New York," Municipal Engineering 25(November 1903)5, 328-32; George W. Tillson, "Development of Wood Bock Specifications," Municipal Journal & Engineering (March 15, 1911); "Creosoted Block Pavements in the Boroughs of the Bronx and Brooklyn, City of New York," Municipal Engineering 44(1913), 346; Rosengarten, "Pavement Guarantees."
48. S. M. Feinberg, "Suggested Composite Standard Specifications for Exterior Wood Block Paving," Municipal Engineering 60(1921), 236-46.
49. J. J. Smith, "Method of Constructing Creosoted Wood Block Pavement at Grand Forks, North Dakota," Engineering and Contracting 32(October 27,1907)17, 352-53.
50. H. M. Waite, "Creosoted Wood Block in Cincinnati," Municipal Engineering 45(1913), 157-59; Ericson, "Recommended Procedure."
51. Ericson, "Recommended Procedure" Rosengarten, "Pavement Guarantees."
52. "Cost of Wood Block Paving in Findlay, Ohio," Municipal Engineering 49(1915), 195-96.
52. "Construction Procedure in Repaving Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio, with Granite and Wood Block," Municipal Engineering 55(1918), 201-202.
54. "Creosoted Wooden Block Bridge Pavement in Toledo," Municipal Engineering 20(1901), 96; Raymond Pierce, "Procedure in Constructing an Open Joint Wood Block Pavement at Toledo, Ohio," Municipal Engineering 56(1919), 174-75.
55. Niles Meriwether, "Pavements: Brick, Cedar Blocks, Granite Blocks, Telford and Macadam...Memphis, Tennessee," City Engineer (January 1, 1893).
56. "Lug Wood Block in Nashville,"
Municipal Journal (September 3, 1914).
57. J. W. Byrnes, "Creosoted Wood Pavement in Galveston, Texas," Municipal Engineering 8(1895), 206-207; Hetherington, "The Creosoted Wood Block Pavements; "Wood-Block Pavement Failures."
58. "Creosoted yellow Pine for Pavements," Municipal Engineering 42(April 1912)4,341.
59. P. E. Green, "Creosoted Wood Block Pavement in Longview, Texas," Municipal Engineering 45(1913); 363-64; "Wood-Block Pavement Failures."
60. Ericson, "Recommended Procedure;" Rosengarten, "Pavement Guarantees."
61. F. J. Sharkey, "Wood Block Pavement in Wenatchee, Washington," Engineering and Contracting 44(October 20, 1915)16, 300-302.
62. "Wood Fiber and Asphalt as Paving Materials," Municipal Engineering (May 1915).
63. T.J. Caldwell and T. D. Miller, "Treatment of Wood Paving," Municipal Engineering (May 1915). Association of Engineers Society 4(1892), 232; "Plants for Treating Wooden Blocks," Municipal Engineering 22(1902), 88; Frank W. Moulton, "Kreodone Wood-Block Pavements," Municipal Journal and Engineering 24(March 1903)3, 232-34; "The Durability of Kreodone Wood-Block Pavements," Municipal Engineering 24(April 1903)4, 314; Reilly, "The Development of the Kreodone Block Pavement;" "Wood Preservation with Asphaltic Material," Municipal Engineering 44(1913), 192; Clark R. Mandigo, "Creosoted Wood-Block Paving Specifications to Prevent Bleeding and Bulging," Engineering News 72(November 5, 1914)19, 946; "Treated Wood Block pavements ... United States;" "Specification of Oil for Creosoting Wood Paving Blocks," Municipal Engineering 49(1915), 233-34; "Specifications for Creosoted Wood Block Paving," Better Roads & Strets 7(March 1917)3, 110-11, 135-36; P.C. Reilly, "Destruction of Wood Block Pavement Due to Use of Tar in the Creosote Oil," Municipal Engineering 54(1918), 183-84; K. M. Waddell, "Propper Grade of Creosote Oil for Wood Paving Blocks," Municipal Engineering 57(1919), 269-72.
64. "Consumption of Wood Preservatives in 1913," Municipal Engineering 47(1914),65.
65. Walter Buehler, "Creosoted Block Can Be Laid on Hardened Pitch Cheaper Than on Dry Mortar," Engineering News-Record 79(December 20, 1917)25, 165-67.
66. Herman von Schrenk, "Recent Experiences with Wood Block Pavements," Municipal Engineering 59(1920), 159-611.
67. Ellis R. Dutton, "Method Employed in Minneapolis in Constructing Smooth Surfaced Concrete Base for Wood Block Paving," Municipal Engineering 57(1919):51-53; Ellis R. Dutton, "Method of Constructing Smooth Top Concrete Base for Wood Block Paving," Engineering and Contracting 51(February 5, 1919), 141.
68. Lambert T. Ericson, "Proper Method of Application of Bituminous Filler for Creosoted Wood Block Pavements and Floors," Engineering and Contracting 50(October 2, 1918)14, 320-21; "Wood-Block Pavement Failures;" McElroy, "Wood-block Pavements."
69. "To Overcome Slipperiness in Wood Block Pavements," Municipal Engineering 44(1913), 377; "Lug Wood Block in Nashville;" "A Non-Slip Wood Paving Block," Municipal Engineering 48(1915), 148-49.
70. "Corrugated Wood Paving Block," Municipal Engineering 53(1917), 103.
71. "Combining Brick or Granite Block with Wood Paving Blocks," Municipal Engineering 53(1917), 181.
72. Horner, "Jackscrews Tighten Wood Block Pavement in Place."
73. "Wood Paving in Paris," Scientific American 62(January 3, 1903), 11; Jacques Boyer, "A Machine That Saws 240,000 Wooden Blocks a Day," Scientific American 98(April 18, 1908), 273-4.
74. William Bayley, "A Machine for Laying Brick or Block Pavements," Engineering News 72(July 9, 1914)2, 74-76.
75. Engineering and Contracting 50(October 2, 1918)14, 321.
76. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1960), ser. Q314-317 & 322, 463.
77. Church, "The Wonderful Growth in Wood Block Paving."
78. Church, "Laying Wood Paving in London."
79. "Redwood Logs Used for Fills on California Highway," Engineering News Record 113(October 18, 1934)16.
