Several years ago I use to do a bicycle commute from Tucson to Phoenix. I always traveled from Tucson to Phoenix this way as it is down hullSometimes I would stop there. Its a small wash not interesting. I would stay in Florence where the Arizona state prison was at a small motel across from the prison
@@rayjohn9798 that is a long ride. Very slight angle downhill you are going over 100 miles and dropping maybe 1500 feet. Next time you're looking at Central Unit in Florence note the tall smokestack it goes to the gas chamber
My grandfather told us kids that as a farm worker he had traveled that old board road many times (“old board road” as he always called it). Due to the fact that the road only had a few turnouts every so often that if two cars met head-on it was considered an act of common courtesy that the driver of one car voluntarily did one of two things. (1.) He either backed up the road to one of those turn-outs and let the other driver get passed and then they both courteously thanked each other, shook hands, and then each driver proceeded on their merrily on their way, - or - (2.) one of the driver’s as a common courtesy, volunteered to drive his car off the side of the road and wait until the other car got past and then both drivers would take the time to help the diver who pulled his car off the road to get his car back on the road and then they both courteously thanked each other, shook hands, and then each driver proceeded merrily on their way. He said that in some cases, it came down to the driver’s flipping a coin in deciding which driver either did the backing up, or getting off the road. He said that one time when he was going from Arizona to California for that year’s seasonal farm work he had met an oncoming car. Each of them stopped to put their heads together and to decide to be the one to do the courtesy honor of either backing up, or getting off the road. He said that the other driver stated that he was an important person of which needed to get to Yuma Arizona for a very important business meeting, and that he didn’t have the time to waste in waiting for either one of them to back up to one of those turn-outs. So the other driver asked if my grandfather could do the honors of quickly pulling his car off the road and letting him pass and that he would help my grandfather get his car back upon the road again. My grandfather said that because the other driver had an important meeting to go to, and didn’t want him to be late, stated that “yes”, he would volunteer to be the one to pull his car off the road, so he did so. My grandfather said that when he pulled his car off the road it sank up almost to the axle’s in the sand. He said that the driver of the other car looked at my grandfather’s car and started laughing, and told my grandfather that he had been a total fool for volunteering to get off the road, and that he (the other driver), was not in a hurry, and only wanted to see what happened when a fool pulled his car off into the sand and that he himself was not going to help a total fool get back on the road again and then drove off leaving my grandfather stuck in the sand wondering how to get it unstuck and back up on the road again. My grandfather said he waited several hours, and because it was Saturday, no other car came along. So he decided to hike on foot back to Yuma in the dark. He said it took most of the night to walk back to Yuma, and because he needed to be in California by Monday morning he took a train to California in order to be at work on time. My grandfather said that due to his work schedule, he never had time to ever get back to try and retrieve his car from that sand, so he bought another car. Those sand dunes, just like all sand dunes, have a habit of continuously shifting in the wind and burying whatever is stationary. So, I’ve often wondered what ever happened to his car that got stuck in those sand dunes after he had to abandon it?
Had a similar situation happen on a narrow fire truck trail in the San Gabriel mountains. I pulled close to the edge to let another guy pass and my car started to sink toward the really deep ravine as the soft shoulder collapsed under it. The other driver spent almost an hour helping me get unstuck, then his car couldn't get back off the road at a steep part. We tried several ways to get him up the hill with no luck, so by then it was almost full dark and I gladly gave those two a ride home 20 miles out of my way.
Wonder how many cars are still buried under that sand?! Being a one lane road you had two bad choices. Back up to a turnout or pull off the road !! (Bad Idea) 75 years later you could drive from Miami to Maine or New York to Los Angeles without a signal or intersection!!😮
Thanks. Here in the midwest we called those Corderoy Roads. There was part of one deep in a forest in a state park not far from home. Even park rangers didn't seem to know about the old corderoy wood road or the run down cemetary. I'd drive across it and those wood planked iron bridges in my 1957 VW and '49 Dodge. This was 50+ years ago and I have doubts any of it is still there. Now days with road rage, someone would be shot if they didn't pull off the plank road for a Prius or Mercedes driver.
Out at the dunes back when I was a kid is where they filmed part of "Return of the Jedi". The sand dune scenes with Jabba the Hut. It was a HUGE set that was at least 15 feet off the ground so that way when they were shooting they could avoid, as much as possible, ATCs and sand buggies running around in the background. Yuma was offered the set once filming was down but they, stupidly, turned it down and it was blown up afterwards. All the stars stayed at the Stardust Motel which is gone and where Fry's grocery store is now located.
@@rh5563 If you google the sand dunes and Return of the Jedi you can see pics of the set. It was huge. BTW...it was originally named "Return of the Jedi" but Lucas changed it to "Revenge". He told our newspaper they were filming something called "Blue Moon" I believe it was but someone broke into the set and found out the truth so the beans were spilt.
My dad (in the USAF) was stationed at NAF El Centro in the late 60's. I went to Seeley Elementary School then. We had a field trip to the Old Plank Road. I stood on it with my classmates. Now in my 60's, I still remember that field trip. Thank you for your video.
As a child I was told a story about my grandfather and two of his brothers crossing plank road at night. Highway men would pull up the planks so cars would drive off into the sand, get stuck, and be unable to avoid being robbed. My Uncle Dale was asleep in the back seat when their car ran into the sand, knocking him onto the floor, he came flying up yelling "what the hell happened." The highway men got scared of all the young men yelling inside the stuck car and ran away without robbing them. My grandfather and his two brothers unstuck the car, replaced the planks and finished their trip. No phones, no police, did what they had to do and moved on.
The farther we go back in time, the more self-sufficient Americans were! Go back a couple hundred years and mountain men discovered much of America's natural wonders! That was being really self-sufficient!
As a kid in the sixties we used to visit relatives in Yuma. At that time a very large part of the road was still visible from the freeway. It has fascinated me ever since. I used to ask my mom about it every time we went. She never failed to have more interesting stories about it.
yup we lived in Arizona and always remember when we came to visit realiatives in calif seeing miles and miles of that plank road..also at nite the erie sound from.the aqueduct..
I remember going East from San Diego by bus and my mother pointing out the Old Plank Road out the window at a certain point alongside the highway. She told me her Grandfather was one of the first people to travel by car cross country from Indiana to San Diego.
@@SidetrackAdventures I'll bet it was some trip. The paving we have now is very smooth. Even concrete roads made in the 1920's were quite bumpy, I'm guessing because they poured the concrete in blocks, and not continuously like they do now. They may not have had the machinery to grind the uneven areas either. I can remember riding in my parent's 1958 Chevy station wagon and feeling the "bump-bump-bump" on concrete roads. They other part of my Great-Uncle's journey was the car. I had a 1926 Model T coupe for a while as a fun-car. They did not have rubber motor mounts, so the engine shook the entire car, and they were noisy. The noise and vibration can be quite tiring on a long drive.
Nice video. I read about Barry Goldwater's family going to the beach on vacation taking this road. The Bradshaw Trail is another "lost" route thru the desert. The Butterfield mail stage line just avoided the dunes by swinging into Mexico, pre-Civil War days.
This was absolutely fascinating. Thank you for bringing this important part of the United States transportation networks, to us, through this excellent video.
Thank you for this very informative history lesson. As another commenter noted, I too lived in San Diego for many years and never heard of this. We very seldomly get the opportunity to learn what life was like for the pioneers of today's society. It's sad, because we owe them so much for their hard work, determination, and sacrifices. Thank you for this glimpse into America's past.
My dad grew up in Yuma, and told stories of trips to the sand dunes on the plank road. As a small child, our family occasionally went to those dunes for sledding on cardboard. Great fun! Most parts of the old road were gnarled, twisted piles of debris in the 1950's, but some sections were still nicely intact.
I was fortunate enough to have traveled the old road in Baja before it was paved in the early 70s. On our first trip down the peninsula, in 1963, my step-father chose to take the Pacific Coast branch of the road in the southern peninsula--which was known to be sandy but lacked serious grades--and can remember how hard the adults had to work to get our two power wagons through sand dunes. I'm sure they would have very much appreciated having something like this guiding the way. Thanks for the video, Steve, and the research behind it.
I moved to Yuma in 1984, my dad would talk about the plank road, I saw it only once as a kid. Totally forgot about it, I know what I’m doing next time I visit Yuma. Thank you for video
I remember stories from my Grandmother about traveling in their old car from Texas to California as her dad, my great Grandfather moved the family into Imperial Valley. She told of having to use the turn-outs many times because of the single lane traffic.
This was a really cool video, I never knew they made a road out of wood! Again thank you for taking me to the places I can no longer travel to! You give a disabled old man some Joy!!
Another great video. My mother used to talk about "crossing" this wooden road in 1950 when we moved to California. I now know she must have seen it and I assumed we had crossed it. But, since it was paved in 1927 I'm sure she was just acknowledging seeing the remnants of it. I was six at the time but, I can remember the California border crossing where the had to unload our entire car and trailer for the state inspection service. We were pulling a house trailer full of household belongings, too. My uncle was also traveling with a car and utility trailed that had to be unpacked and repacked. Back then the trip took two weeks to travel from Tampa, Florida to San Diego, California.
RUclips recommended some of your videos to me, and I must say that I am hooked! I’ve watched a few already this afternoon - the one about Buckman Springs ghost town and now this one about the plank road. You’re putting out some great content, and you have a great voice for narrating! I definitely will subscribe and check out more of your videos. Keep up the good work!
@@SidetrackAdventures Thanks, man! I often pass by unusual places in my travels and seldom stop at them because I’m always rushing off to the nearest abandoned mine. Excellent videos like yours make me realize that it’s interesting and cool to film unusual places as well. And the fact that “unusual places“ is in my RUclips channel name, I should film more of them. Thanks for the inspiration!
My mother and her family left Missouri and crossed on the Plank Highway around 1930 give or take. Her name was Evelyn Beth Evans along with her two sisters. They settled in Glendale. John Herman Evans and Mossie Evans were my grandparents.
The lincoln highway which runs from NYC to San Francisco was started in 1913, had sections paved in concrete called The seedling mile they were to show how nice it was to drive on a smooth hard surface.
Man!!! I am truly enjoying your videos. The more I watch, the more I learn about parts I have lived in, mostly San Diego and Imperial counties. Thank you!
In the 1950's, we traveled the paved highway and saw sections of the plank road lying on the dunes immediately west of the highway. This was between the current display in your video and the rest stop further to the east. I guess those sections were taken to the display.
I remember my grandfather telling me about riding an Indian motorcycle across the plank road as a young man. I had no idea part of it still existed. He said sometimes planks would be missing, so you’d have to stop and move some so you could continue.
Great series of videos, very well done! I appreciate that you even considered the best time of day to show the intaglio petroglyphs. We subscribed to your channel and look forward to move informative videos.
Always good. In the beginning you mentioned LA becoming the terminus of the railroad. The Santa Fe tried 3x to have San Diego as their western terminus( national city) but each time the section from Temecula to fall took got washed out. I believe they tried 3 different ways on that stretch. Finally they gave up and went to LA. Ed Fletcher was involved in many many projects in San Diego county. He and my great grandfather did quite a bit of business. The colonel was a tiredness promotor of san Diego. Love your videos.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Pretty much with anything historic in the area, Ed Fletcher seems to have been involved. I was filming something today for next week and sure enough, his name came up in my research.
@@SidetrackAdventures yep his name is all over the place. He and a few other names pop up on deeds etc all over the county. I was chairman Warner springs HS for 11 years. Fletcher and my grandfather were involved Ina few water projects just after turn the century. Fletcher was definitely San Diego's biggest booster from what I can tell. You could do Fletcher cove...he pretty much made the cove. Things were different then.
In the late 60s and early 70s, we travelled southern AZ to southern CA every summer. It became a game to try and spot the wooden road in the dunes as we drove by. Depending on the shape of the dunes, we could spot many sections of the Plank Road as it twisted and turned though the sand. Back then there were not a lot of recreators on the dunes.
I have never actually visited the dunes and the old plank road but I have heard a lot about it. As I did hear from a documentary a long time ago, when vehicles met each other from opposite directions, the drivers and passengers would get out of their cars and help each other move sections of the wooden road (each section built to accommodate the length of the average car in those days) so they could drive around each other, and then put the sections back in place. A phenomenal amount of labor for hardly more than 2 cars every couple of days, if that much. The most fantastic and ambitious part of US Highway 80 is the portion between Jacumba and the Desert View Tower at the top, and Ocotillo at the bottom. At the start, US Highway 80 east of El Cajon was paved with a single lane of concrete in a continuous pour, and some sections were incorporated into the new 2-lane road during the 1920s and 30s.
@@SidetrackAdventures You have some great topics for lovers of the offbeat. 😬 Because I don't see anything on your channel about the Salton Sea, have you been there? You can't get more offbeat than that place. I've been studying the videos (of S S) on RUclips. I've been fascinated with the Sea... forever. Where are the wildlife habitats at? There are maybe THREE of them, completed or being completed. One is called Red Hill, one is on/near the Indian Reservation, and maybe a third near either Alamo River canal or New River canal (treated sewage that flows into the Sea from Mexicali). Since water is one of the big troubles (lack of it), I'm interested to see... THOSE. Oh, the Red Hill thing may be near the Sonny Bono NWR.
The Auto Club of Southern California has a section of the plank road located at it Headquarters in LA along with the road signs the auto club installed along major streets and hi ways all over the western US in the 30’s and 40’s
My great grandfather dug grays well along with his two sons ott and my grandfather frank He also had silver mine. At the site of the well he had a store he was born in Arizona 1850 all three of them would help find people whose cars broke down and were lost in the desert died from the heat and thirst I could write a book about their lives to this day I miss my grandfather he taught me to shoot and take the road less traveled joe boxley
In the mid 50s and early 60s there were plenty of sections of the wooden road south of the old 2 lane hiway 90 and later south of I 10 from Gila Bend to Yuma, Az.. There were stories that after sand storms dozers were used to pull the road back on top of the drifting sand so traffic could resume.
In the early 60s sections of a plank road were visible on north side of a freeway we were headed west on. Probably in Arizona but maybe in California. I was about 8 at the time. My grandfather, who was born in 1906, had driven from Texas to California in the early to mid 20s and recalled driving on a plank road.
The story of the Old Plank Road was featured in Series 1 of 'Mysteries of the Abandoned' (aka 'Abandoned Engineering') on Discovery Science in 2017. The first version of the road was just two parallel lines of planks and a short reconstructed section can be seen in the video. This was replaced with the continuous plank surface bound together with the iron straps which are visible on both the reconstructed and original sections. The road was laid by a mule-hauled rig which dropped the planks into place so that they could be fastened together with the straps. To keep the road clear of drifting sand mules would also drag wooden scrapers along the surface. Most of the road was destroyed when it was abandoned and the section which you can visit was moved to its current location in the 1970s. There is a contemporary song 'Driving Down the Old Plank Road' which can be found on RUclips.
My mother crossed on this road when she was a little girl. She told about how their car stopped because the battery had fallen out. I imagine it was quite a bumpy ride. Small wonder the battery came loose.
New to your channel saw this video and living in the Imperial Valley myself I found it interesting. If you didn't know many movies are made out on these parts and the dunes towards the east as well. "Men that Stare at Goats" was filmed almost exclusively on the Imperial Valley dunes😎
@@AJ-qn6gd it definitely does but it actually was a decent movie it stars George Clooney and I forget the guy's name that played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the new Star wars trilogy?? He also stars in it. it's a good movie actually.
My grandparents crossed the plank road across the desert 100 years ago. They carried 2 tents and food as there were no places to eat or rest. They traveled with a 4 year old and a 8 year old girls. Gramma kept a journey of their trip from Mass. to Calif. Gramma Candy
They are to stop vehicles from getting on it. Lots of dune buggies in the area. The ones on the freeway are to stop vehicles getting close to the international border.
My parents ran gas station just before the sand dunes. The place was called springers. The Border patrol kept a Jeep there. As it is only a couple of miles to the railroad. The migrants would get water there sometimes. And continue on to hop the freights north For entrainment we would put on my fathers boots run around the desert The patrol did not appreciate us. The only AC was where the beer was. If you punctured a can it went off like a rocket. Most of the plumbing was out door. We had the biggest scorpions small sidewinders. So in the morning you had to watch out for the snakes. The scorpions would come out when we took our baths. They had tank set up on a shed and old fashion tube. When they came out we would splash them with water. The cal trans ran a yard in the middle of the dunes Outside of our place and the state inspection and caltrans station that was the only water for 5 or 10 miles east or west. Okay in the winter but the summers were warm
There was a plank road that ran between Mosiertown and Venango, Pennsylvania. Just west of the junction of Fry and Gospel Hill roads, where gospel hill makes a turn south, you can still see its path on Google satellite view. The man who owned the land it came through into Mosiertown dug several planks out of the swamp when building i79. He took a couple home and hung in his garage, but they disintegrated as they dried out. And he's been gone about 15 years now.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
My stepgrandpa Manuel Ortega helped build that road.What a back breaking job.I remember him talking 'bout it.
Wow, that is really cool. I can't even imagine what it was like building that road through the desert.
Amazing
How cool
Several years ago I use to do a bicycle commute from Tucson to Phoenix. I always traveled from Tucson to Phoenix this way as it is down hullSometimes I would stop there. Its a small wash not interesting. I would stay in Florence where the Arizona state prison was at a small motel across from the prison
@@rayjohn9798 that is a long ride. Very slight angle downhill you are going over 100 miles and dropping maybe 1500 feet. Next time you're looking at Central Unit in Florence note the tall smokestack it goes to the gas chamber
My grandfather told us kids that as a farm worker he had traveled that old board road many times (“old board road” as he always called it). Due to the fact that the road only had a few turnouts every so often that if two cars met head-on it was considered an act of common courtesy that the driver of one car voluntarily did one of two things. (1.) He either backed up the road to one of those turn-outs and let the other driver get passed and then they both courteously thanked each other, shook hands, and then each driver proceeded on their merrily on their way, - or - (2.) one of the driver’s as a common courtesy, volunteered to drive his car off the side of the road and wait until the other car got past and then both drivers would take the time to help the diver who pulled his car off the road to get his car back on the road and then they both courteously thanked each other, shook hands, and then each driver proceeded merrily on their way.
He said that in some cases, it came down to the driver’s flipping a coin in deciding which driver either did the backing up, or getting off the road. He said that one time when he was going from Arizona to California for that year’s seasonal farm work he had met an oncoming car. Each of them stopped to put their heads together and to decide to be the one to do the courtesy honor of either backing up, or getting off the road. He said that the other driver stated that he was an important person of which needed to get to Yuma Arizona for a very important business meeting, and that he didn’t have the time to waste in waiting for either one of them to back up to one of those turn-outs. So the other driver asked if my grandfather could do the honors of quickly pulling his car off the road and letting him pass and that he would help my grandfather get his car back upon the road again.
My grandfather said that because the other driver had an important meeting to go to, and didn’t want him to be late, stated that “yes”, he would volunteer to be the one to pull his car off the road, so he did so. My grandfather said that when he pulled his car off the road it sank up almost to the axle’s in the sand. He said that the driver of the other car looked at my grandfather’s car and started laughing, and told my grandfather that he had been a total fool for volunteering to get off the road, and that he (the other driver), was not in a hurry, and only wanted to see what happened when a fool pulled his car off into the sand and that he himself was not going to help a total fool get back on the road again and then drove off leaving my grandfather stuck in the sand wondering how to get it unstuck and back up on the road again.
My grandfather said he waited several hours, and because it was Saturday, no other car came along. So he decided to hike on foot back to Yuma in the dark. He said it took most of the night to walk back to Yuma, and because he needed to be in California by Monday morning he took a train to California in order to be at work on time. My grandfather said that due to his work schedule, he never had time to ever get back to try and retrieve his car from that sand, so he bought another car. Those sand dunes, just like all sand dunes, have a habit of continuously shifting in the wind and burying whatever is stationary. So, I’ve often wondered what ever happened to his car that got stuck in those sand dunes after he had to abandon it?
Had a similar situation happen on a narrow fire truck trail in the San Gabriel mountains. I pulled close to the edge to let another guy pass and my car started to sink toward the really deep ravine as the soft shoulder collapsed under it. The other driver spent almost an hour helping me get unstuck, then his car couldn't get back off the road at a steep part. We tried several ways to get him up the hill with no luck, so by then it was almost full dark and I gladly gave those two a ride home 20 miles out of my way.
Great stories.
the other driver was obviously coming from california.
Wow!! What a d!ck that guy was. Thank you for sharing that story with us
Wonder how many cars are still buried under that sand?! Being a one lane road you had two bad choices. Back up to a turnout or pull off the road !! (Bad Idea) 75 years later you could drive from Miami to Maine or New York to Los Angeles without a signal or intersection!!😮
Thanks. Here in the midwest we called those Corderoy Roads. There was part of one deep in a forest in a state park not far from home. Even park rangers didn't seem to know about the old corderoy wood road or the run down cemetary. I'd drive across it and those wood planked iron bridges in my 1957 VW and '49 Dodge.
This was 50+ years ago and I have doubts any of it is still there.
Now days with road rage, someone would be shot if they didn't pull off the plank road for a Prius or Mercedes driver.
Out at the dunes back when I was a kid is where they filmed part of "Return of the Jedi". The sand dune scenes with Jabba the Hut. It was a HUGE set that was at least 15 feet off the ground so that way when they were shooting they could avoid, as much as possible, ATCs and sand buggies running around in the background. Yuma was offered the set once filming was down but they, stupidly, turned it down and it was blown up afterwards. All the stars stayed at the Stardust Motel which is gone and where Fry's grocery store is now located.
Great story Daena! I always thought they filmed that portion of Return of the Jedi at Glamis. 👍👍👍
@@rh5563 If you google the sand dunes and Return of the Jedi you can see pics of the set. It was huge. BTW...it was originally named "Return of the Jedi" but Lucas changed it to "Revenge". He told our newspaper they were filming something called "Blue Moon" I believe it was but someone broke into the set and found out the truth so the beans were spilt.
My dad (in the USAF) was stationed at NAF El Centro in the late 60's. I went to Seeley Elementary School then. We had a field trip to the Old Plank Road. I stood on it with my classmates. Now in my 60's, I still remember that field trip. Thank you for your video.
As a child I was told a story about my grandfather and two of his brothers crossing plank road at night. Highway men would pull up the planks so cars would drive off into the sand, get stuck, and be unable to avoid being robbed. My Uncle Dale was asleep in the back seat when their car ran into the sand, knocking him onto the floor, he came flying up yelling "what the hell happened." The highway men got scared of all the young men yelling inside the stuck car and ran away without robbing them. My grandfather and his two brothers unstuck the car, replaced the planks and finished their trip. No phones, no police, did what they had to do and moved on.
That's what guns are for.
The farther we go back in time, the more self-sufficient Americans were! Go back a couple hundred years and mountain men discovered much of America's natural wonders! That was being really self-sufficient!
Huell Howser did a show on this …. ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING … SO HAPPY YOU DID TOY💯💯❤️❤️🌹🌹💯
Another gem uncovered! Who knew - a friggin plank road?! Thanks bro!
This is great, thank you for capturing&preserving our history.
As a kid in the sixties we used to visit relatives in Yuma. At that time a very large part of the road was still visible from the freeway. It has fascinated me ever since. I used to ask my mom about it every time we went. She never failed to have more interesting stories about it.
yup we lived in Arizona and always remember when we came to visit realiatives in calif seeing miles and miles of that plank road..also at nite the erie sound from.the aqueduct..
I remember going East from San Diego by bus and my mother pointing out the Old Plank Road out the window at a certain point alongside the highway. She told me her Grandfather was one of the first people to travel by car cross country from Indiana to San Diego.
Same here, as a kid when traveling to San Diego the planks were visible from I-8.
After horses, and before cars were easy. Fascinating, thanks!
My Dad's uncle, Price Wrigley, drove from Raton, New Mexico to San Diego in his Model T Ford, and part of the trip was on the plank road.
That must have been quite an adventure. We sure have it easy with our paved roads.
@@SidetrackAdventures I'll bet it was some trip. The paving we have now is very smooth. Even concrete roads made in the 1920's were quite bumpy, I'm guessing because they poured the concrete in blocks, and not continuously like they do now. They may not have had the machinery to grind the uneven areas either. I can remember riding in my parent's 1958 Chevy station wagon and feeling the "bump-bump-bump" on concrete roads. They other part of my Great-Uncle's journey was the car. I had a 1926 Model T coupe for a while as a fun-car. They did not have rubber motor mounts, so the engine shook the entire car, and they were noisy. The noise and vibration can be quite tiring on a long drive.
Nice video. I read about Barry Goldwater's family going to the beach on vacation taking this road. The Bradshaw Trail is another "lost" route thru the desert. The Butterfield mail stage line just avoided the dunes by swinging into Mexico, pre-Civil War days.
This was absolutely fascinating. Thank you for bringing this important part of the United States transportation networks, to us, through this excellent video.
Our pleasure! Thank you for the kind words.
Thank you for this very informative history lesson. As another commenter noted, I too lived in San Diego for many years and never heard of this. We very seldomly get the opportunity to learn what life was like for the pioneers of today's society. It's sad, because we owe them so much for their hard work, determination, and sacrifices. Thank you for this glimpse into America's past.
THANK YOU SO MJCH. I LOVE LEARNING ABOUT OUR STATES HISTORY.
I lived in San Diego for 5 years and I never heard of this - thank you!
My dad grew up in Yuma, and told stories of trips to the sand dunes on the plank road. As a small child, our family occasionally went to those dunes for sledding on cardboard. Great fun! Most parts of the old road were gnarled, twisted piles of debris in the 1950's, but some sections were still nicely intact.
"Best road ever" -Termite Traveler Association
Nice. 😂
I can't believe I watched a video about a plank road
"A bit dry, but you won't leave hungry".
I was fortunate enough to have traveled the old road in Baja before it was paved in the early 70s. On our first trip down the peninsula, in 1963, my step-father chose to take the Pacific Coast branch of the road in the southern peninsula--which was known to be sandy but lacked serious grades--and can remember how hard the adults had to work to get our two power wagons through sand dunes. I'm sure they would have very much appreciated having something like this guiding the way. Thanks for the video, Steve, and the research behind it.
I moved to Yuma in 1984, my dad would talk about the plank road, I saw it only once as a kid. Totally forgot about it, I know what I’m doing next time I visit Yuma. Thank you for video
I remember stories from my Grandmother about traveling in their old car from Texas to California as her dad, my great Grandfather moved the family into Imperial Valley. She told of having to use the turn-outs many times because of the single lane traffic.
I know there were a lot less cars then, but I can't imagine having to constantly stop due to their being only 1 lane.
This was a really cool video, I never knew they made a road out of wood! Again thank you for taking me to the places I can no longer travel to! You give a disabled old man some Joy!!
Another great video. My mother used to talk about "crossing" this wooden road in 1950 when we moved to California. I now know she must have seen it and I assumed we had crossed it. But, since it was paved in 1927 I'm sure she was just acknowledging seeing the remnants of it. I was six at the time but, I can remember the California border crossing where the had to unload our entire car and trailer for the state inspection service. We were pulling a house trailer full of household belongings, too. My uncle was also traveling with a car and utility trailed that had to be unpacked and repacked. Back then the trip took two weeks to travel from Tampa, Florida to San Diego, California.
Wow..thanks for sharing this part of transportation history I didn't know existed..traveling 100 years ago was a challenge..
Thank you for your interest in this, we are now more educated because of you!
RUclips recommended some of your videos to me, and I must say that I am hooked! I’ve watched a few already this afternoon - the one about Buckman Springs ghost town and now this one about the plank road. You’re putting out some great content, and you have a great voice for narrating! I definitely will subscribe and check out more of your videos. Keep up the good work!
Thank you. This means a lot as I love watching your channel as well. We have come across a few old mines but always too chicken to really go in.
@@SidetrackAdventures Thanks, man! I often pass by unusual places in my travels and seldom stop at them because I’m always rushing off to the nearest abandoned mine. Excellent videos like yours make me realize that it’s interesting and cool to film unusual places as well. And the fact that “unusual places“ is in my RUclips channel name, I should film more of them. Thanks for the inspiration!
Me too! Makes me want to go on a long road trip!
Just to let you know, we have a ghost towns and back roads group on GAB.
@@samphillips4124 "GAB?" Georgia Backroads? "Go And Back?
My mother and her family left Missouri and crossed on the Plank Highway around 1930 give or take. Her name was Evelyn Beth Evans along with her two sisters. They settled in Glendale. John Herman Evans and Mossie Evans were my grandparents.
The lincoln highway which runs from NYC to San Francisco was started in 1913, had sections paved in concrete called The seedling mile they were to show how nice it was to drive on a smooth hard surface.
Saw the plank road in 1970. Rather parts of it. Very interesting. Would love to see it again. Thank you for the video.
Oh heck yeah, I always give your videos a thumbs up! They're always a nice break from the political shows I seem to be addicted to!
Man!!! I am truly enjoying your videos. The more I watch, the more I learn about parts I have lived in, mostly San Diego and Imperial counties. Thank you!
I gave this a thumbs up 30 seconds into the video because I knew it would not disappoint.
In the 1950's, we traveled the paved highway and saw sections of the plank road lying on the dunes immediately west of the highway. This was between the current display in your video and the rest stop further to the east. I guess those sections were taken to the display.
@UCRx8FsCCVnIPLYIB6f2uAdg Same thing happened to wood buildings in Mojave Desert ghost towns.
@@janblake9468 no those were local tweekers that happened to those!
I've driven by there so many times and was never aware. I'll definitely stop next time. Thanks for posting!
I saw this road back in the 60s. I'm glad to see that it is still there. It was in bad shape then,but wood lasts a long time in the desert.
I remember my grandfather telling me about riding an Indian motorcycle across the plank road as a young man. I had no idea part of it still existed. He said sometimes planks would be missing, so you’d have to stop and move some so you could continue.
Great series of videos, very well done! I appreciate that you even considered the best time of day to show the intaglio petroglyphs. We subscribed to your channel and look forward to move informative videos.
I’ve seen many of those planks turned into coffee tables and benches in the San Diego area.
nice video..love watching these kinds of stories which takes s back in time.
Always good. In the beginning you mentioned LA becoming the terminus of the railroad. The Santa Fe tried 3x to have San Diego as their western terminus( national city) but each time the section from Temecula to fall took got washed out. I believe they tried 3 different ways on that stretch. Finally they gave up and went to LA. Ed Fletcher was involved in many many projects in San Diego county. He and my great grandfather did quite a bit of business. The colonel was a tiredness promotor of san Diego. Love your videos.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Pretty much with anything historic in the area, Ed Fletcher seems to have been involved. I was filming something today for next week and sure enough, his name came up in my research.
@@SidetrackAdventures yep his name is all over the place. He and a few other names pop up on deeds etc all over the county. I was chairman Warner springs HS for 11 years. Fletcher and my grandfather were involved Ina few water projects just after turn the century. Fletcher was definitely San Diego's biggest booster from what I can tell. You could do Fletcher cove...he pretty much made the cove. Things were different then.
In the late 60s and early 70s, we travelled southern AZ to southern CA every summer. It became a game to try and spot the wooden road in the dunes as we drove by. Depending on the shape of the dunes, we could spot many sections of the Plank Road as it twisted and turned though the sand. Back then there were not a lot of recreators on the dunes.
Fascinating! I had read about this in The King of California but it’s great to actually see it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I have never actually visited the dunes and the old plank road but I have heard a lot about it. As I did hear from a documentary a long time ago, when vehicles met each other from opposite directions, the drivers and passengers would get out of their cars and help each other move sections of the wooden road (each section built to accommodate the length of the average car in those days) so they could drive around each other, and then put the sections back in place. A phenomenal amount of labor for hardly more than 2 cars every couple of days, if that much. The most fantastic and ambitious part of US Highway 80 is the portion between Jacumba and the Desert View Tower at the top, and Ocotillo at the bottom. At the start, US Highway 80 east of El Cajon was paved with a single lane of concrete in a continuous pour, and some sections were incorporated into the new 2-lane road during the 1920s and 30s.
What a piece of history, thank you for sharing.....
Our pleasure!
Interesting spot. We went there a few years ago😉
My old buddy drove truck on that old plank road he said. First time i ever saw it, Wow.
so glad to find Ur channel i hope to follow Ur re discovery's in person🤞
Great research I've never heard of this--thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
@@SidetrackAdventures
You have some great topics for lovers of the offbeat. 😬 Because I don't see anything on your channel about the Salton Sea, have you been there?
You can't get more offbeat than that place. I've been studying the videos (of S S) on RUclips. I've been fascinated with the Sea... forever. Where are the wildlife habitats at? There are maybe THREE of them, completed or being completed. One is called Red Hill, one is on/near the Indian Reservation, and maybe a third near either Alamo River canal or New River canal (treated sewage that flows into the Sea from Mexicali). Since water is one of the big troubles (lack of it), I'm interested to see... THOSE. Oh, the Red Hill thing may be near the Sonny Bono NWR.
The Auto Club of Southern California has a section of the plank road located at it Headquarters in LA along with the road signs the auto club installed along major streets and hi ways all over the western US in the 30’s and 40’s
Fascinating. Had never heard of this. Thanks!
Always wanted to check this out but never made it past Ocotillo when I was out exploring. Alot more left to it than I thought.
I've tried TO find This before. I want to see it!!
Thank you for posting.
Extraodinary story and wonderful video.
If you ever need a road dog let me know! Your videos are awesome and I’m a geography nerd. I love this content.
Been ages since I've been there. Interesting.
My great grandfather dug grays well along with his two sons ott and my grandfather frank
He also had silver mine. At the site of the well he had a store he was born in Arizona 1850 all three of them would help find people whose cars broke down and were lost in the desert died from the heat and thirst I could write a book about their lives to this day I miss my grandfather he taught me to shoot and take the road less traveled joe boxley
In the mid 50s and early 60s there were plenty of sections of the wooden road south of the old 2 lane hiway 90 and later south of I 10 from Gila Bend to Yuma, Az.. There were stories that after sand storms dozers were used to pull the road back on top of the drifting sand so traffic could resume.
Wonderful video. Thanks!
In the early 60s sections of a plank road were visible on north side of a freeway we were headed west on. Probably in Arizona but maybe in California. I was about 8 at the time. My grandfather, who was born in 1906, had driven from Texas to California in the early to mid 20s and recalled driving on a plank road.
I first heard about the plank road in 1975 from my freshman Chemistry Professor. He came from Oklahoma to California via the plank road as a child.
Thank you.
The story of the Old Plank Road was featured in Series 1 of 'Mysteries of the Abandoned' (aka 'Abandoned Engineering') on Discovery Science in 2017. The first version of the road was just two parallel lines of planks and a short reconstructed section can be seen in the video. This was replaced with the continuous plank surface bound together with the iron straps which are visible on both the reconstructed and original sections. The road was laid by a mule-hauled rig which dropped the planks into place so that they could be fastened together with the straps. To keep the road clear of drifting sand mules would also drag wooden scrapers along the surface. Most of the road was destroyed when it was abandoned and the section which you can visit was moved to its current location in the 1970s. There is a contemporary song 'Driving Down the Old Plank Road' which can be found on RUclips.
Will try and see if I can find that episode somewhere.
I am from the Imperial Valley my 93 year old dad would tell me about it.
Good vid,I think there were others over boggy ground called corduroy,Don,t quote me.ha ha.
Thanks.
I love it
Thanks for the history
My mother crossed on this road when she was a little girl. She told about how their car stopped because the battery had fallen out. I imagine it was quite a bumpy ride. Small wonder the battery came loose.
I shall visit this soon
My teacher in middle school told me about her being on this road as a kid in the 20’s
New to your channel saw this video and living in the Imperial Valley myself I found it interesting. If you didn't know many movies are made out on these parts and the dunes towards the east as well. "Men that Stare at Goats" was filmed almost exclusively on the Imperial Valley dunes😎
Men that stare at goats sounds like a Middle East porn film 😜👍🏻🇬🇧
@@AJ-qn6gd it definitely does but it actually was a decent movie it stars George Clooney and I forget the guy's name that played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the new Star wars trilogy?? He also stars in it. it's a good movie actually.
I’ve driven a semi truck thru Glamis, on the way from Plaster City to Blythe.
Didn’t know that existed.
Interesting
My grandparents crossed the plank road across the desert 100 years ago. They carried 2 tents and food as there were no places to eat or rest. They traveled with a 4 year old and a 8 year old girls. Gramma kept a journey of their trip from Mass. to Calif. Gramma Candy
my mom used to drive it, and her dad, would have to dig it out sometimes. I have an old postcard of it, from way back when, really old card.
That looks better than some of the roads in New Mexico.
Can you imagine driving on one OMG 😳
i have been there years ago. i actual have a old 1916 AAA book that tell you about the road and what turns you need to take to gt to it.
Very cool!
What are the triangular truss like structures surrounding it? I see these also on the south side of the highway driving East. Cool video
They are to stop vehicles from getting on it. Lots of dune buggies in the area. The ones on the freeway are to stop vehicles getting close to the international border.
Interesting. The plank road is mentioned in the book “King of California” about Boswell Farms.
My parents ran gas station just before the sand dunes. The place was called springers. The Border patrol kept a Jeep there. As it is only a couple of miles to the railroad. The migrants would get water there sometimes. And continue on to hop the freights north For entrainment we would put on my fathers boots run around the desert The patrol did not appreciate us. The only AC was where the beer was. If you punctured a can it went off like a rocket. Most of the plumbing was out door. We had the biggest scorpions small sidewinders. So in the morning you had to watch out for the snakes. The scorpions would come out when we took our baths. They had tank set up on a shed and old fashion tube. When they came out we would splash them with water. The cal trans ran a yard in the middle of the dunes Outside of our place and the state inspection and caltrans station that was the only water for 5 or 10 miles east or west. Okay in the winter but the summers were warm
There was a plank road that ran between Mosiertown and Venango, Pennsylvania. Just west of the junction of Fry and Gospel Hill roads, where gospel hill makes a turn south, you can still see its path on Google satellite view.
The man who owned the land it came through into Mosiertown dug several planks out of the swamp when building i79. He took a couple home and hung in his garage, but they disintegrated as they dried out. And he's been gone about 15 years now.
The original turnpike was a corduroy road.
Good video
There was once a plank road between Carthage North Carolina and Fort Bragg
I remember when The Carpetbagger visited here and the jerk pulled up a few boards to take with him as a souvenir.
That’s so weird that I grew up going to those sand dunes to ride and I never knew about this
Wow quick video , but how did they join the planks , I see steel
Two vehicles coming along, one will have to pull off I imagine.
Pleasanton, CA had wooden sidewalks
Huell Howser covered this briefly in one of his programs years ago.
My grandparents drove on a plank road coming from Oklahoma to California
yep.. goin' down the old plank road
Great video. Did you happen to see any of the pull-outs for passing?
None of the pullouts are there.
My grandmother drove this.
I am surprised anything remains of this road. I remember seeing it at late as the late 1970s and yearly 80s.
There is also a small part of the road in American History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
Cool.
I knew someone who used it in the 20s. It had to be done at night, during the eight hot months.
I didn't know about this
Go back soon, with a longer video friend...this is history that no-one knows about!
We have a road in metro Detroit called old plank road
Aren't those fences around the old wooden road suppose to keep everyone, including you from getting close?
No, they are just to stop ATVs from driving out on it. It's a popular area for off-road vehicles.