Let's not forget the corduroy road built in the early 20th century to connect Yuma and San Diego across the dunes of Imperial Valley. Lots of historical info on this in local museum archives in El Centro and BLM files.
Bob Hoover
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Carbiener <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Nov 12, 2013 8:40 am
Subject: Re: Corduroy Road Archaeology
Hi Corey,
Below is a full and excellent report of the project on the Carter Military Road
in the Ashley National Forest in NE Utah. I volunteered a couple of years and
on that road in marshy meadows areas there were good remains of corduroy road
construction found. I am sure Byron's report details it.
Gerald A. Carbiener
Minden, NV
Detecting the Ghost Road of the Uintas: The Carter Milit
ary Road, By Byron Loosle
Between 2004 and the 2011 the Forest Service sponsored a series of Passport in
Time projects and other research activities on the Carter Military Road, an
1880’s era supply route that crossed the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah.
This article reports the results of the 2004 through 2007 projects when
experienced metal detecting volunteers and Forest Service personnel were able to
identify and map several road segments, nine military construction camps, a
government sawmill, two civilian occupations, and other features of the Carter
Military Road. Each camp search had its unique challenges and a few examples are
highlighted to illustrate the value of the collaboration of metal detecting,
historical research, and archaeological techniques. A variety of military items
(buttons, insignias, cartridges) and mundane artifacts (cut nails) helped us
identify the military camps used in 1882-83 and to distinguish these camps from
contemporary civilian cabins.
-----Original Message-----
From: Corey McQuinn <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, Nov 11, 2013 7:52 pm
Subject: Corduroy Road Archaeology
Hello there Histarchs,
I am working on a paper for a regional peer-reviewed journal on corduroy
road archaeology and I am currently in the process of collecting as many
contexts as I can (up to 24 at last count). The paper is based partly on a
corduroy road site Hartgen found in New York's North Country dating to the
late 18th c. I am particularly interested in construction techs, dating
techniques, method of discovery, and species.
At this point, I have reached out to Forest Service archaeologists in
Region 9 and SHPOs across the country. I am hoping this current effort
reaches CRM professionals. My sense is that a lot of these contexts, since
they are found inadvertently often, don't quite make it to being recorded
in state registers as a "site." My hope is that the collective corporate
memory can be helpful in finding the sites that slip through the cracks
(between the logs). Thank you so much for your help.
Corey McQuinn, MA, RPA
Project Director
Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc.
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