This photo (courtesy of Pat Van Eaton) shows the building of a puncheon road (plank road) in Alder. The puncheon planks stacked on the right would be laid crossway to create the roadway.
These plank roads were popular in the 1800s, but gave way to paved roads. Today if you want to see one, it will probably be in a Western movie.
Eatonville To Rainier 
3 responses to “Alder’s Puncheon Road”
My grandmother use to tell me stories that as a young girl (she was born in the old logging camp 1 in 1922 and settled in National?) that they would ride in a wagon on these plank roads all the way into Tacoma…I was thinking how that would be a lonnngg bumpy ride. I would love to hear more about the town/settlers and what happened to it. It was near Elbe I think and located near the entrance to the Natl. park?…not sure 🙂
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I was wrong about the plank roads…I guess the way my grandmother said it, I took it as logs, not planks…probably not so bumpy after all!
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Yes, National was a town back there. There isn’t much left of it today though. There are some pictures of Elbe and the plant roads/walkways. 🙂
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