Imperial County’s Plank Road - Imperial Sand Dunes, CA
Source: http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2009/12/27/local_news/news01.txtIt was once the only way to get between Yuma and El Centro without taking a major detour.
Now a portion of it sits fenced off in the Imperial Sand Dunes, a short distance from Interstate 8. It can only be found if you are riding an off-road vehicle in the area or are specifically looking for it.
It is the Plank Road — once a six-mile one-lane wooden road that allowed travelers to cross the sand dunes. It is credited with speeding up the settlement of what is now Imperial County.
The first Plank Road was built in 1915 and was initially two parallel tracks of wooden planks bolted to wooden ties. The materials for the road were purchased with funds raised from San Diego bankers and merchants, while the county provided the labor.
A year later the road was already worn out and the state funded its second building. This time the road was made sturdier by binding cross-ties with strips of iron. The road was made in 30-feet sections so each could be moved by a team of horses or mules when it became covered with sand.
The 60-mile distance between Yuma and El Centro, of which the Plank Road was a part, would take more than 12 hours to complete, according to an article written in the Tucson Daily Citizen in 1974. Travelers would cross the dunes at no more than 12 to 15 mph.
Traveling the road was no easy task. Travelers would typically cross the road in caravans and it was referred to as “bumpty-bumpty” and “a pretty rugged deal,” according to an article written in the San Diego Union in 1972.A rebuilt version of the road was used until Highway 80 — which was replaced by Interstate 8 — was completed in 1928.
In 1971 one section of the Plank Road was reassembled and fenced in by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Air Force and the Imperial Valley Historical Society, according to archives preserved by Pioneers’ Museum. The preserved portion has been designated as an “area of critical environmental concern” by BLM and is also a California Historical Site.
Another portion of the road is preserved at Pioneers Museum, on top of which a Model T is displayed.
More information about the Imperial Sand Dunes can be found at:
posted by Crowdog at
8:38 PM
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