WATERLOO - What secrets do dozens of pieces of centuries-old wood hold?
That’s the question Andrew Trant hopes to answer this fall when he begins dissecting and analyzing sections of the corduroy road discovered in Waterloo’s city core in 2016.
The assistant professor in the faculty of environment, resources and sustainability at the University of Waterloo said the logs could provide a rare glimpse into the past. Initial estimates suggested the road dates back to about 1800, but the trees themselves could be twice that old, according to Trant.
“Some of these trees are about 200 years old themselves, so they started growing about 400 years ago and offer a window into this period of time that we don’t know very much about,” said Trant. “So you can use these samples to really tell you quite a lot about that area in uptown, and what was happening regionally with the climate and the environment.”
A corduroy road is made by placing logs over a low or swampy area to help keep wagons and horses from getting stuck in the muck. They are some of the first examples of roads built in the province.
Waterloo’s corduroy road was discovered about two metres below King Street during light rail transit construction in March 2016. LRT work was delayed for several weeks to give archaeologists time to unearth and document the find. An archeological assessment estimated the road was built between 1790 and 1816 by local Mennonites, then buried around 1840.
Trant will work with honours student Maddie Benner to determine the exact species of trees used to build the road - “that area would have been pretty wet, so my guess is a lot of cedar and some elm” he said - as well as the age of the trees. By cross-referencing the outer rings on the trees they hope to determine the exact year the trees were cut down, and therefore the likely year the road was made.
“It’s actually a pretty difficult thing to get a date and assign rings to it,” Trant noted.
Corduroy road fever gripped the region two years ago when people flocked to the city core to catch a glimpse of the wood as it was being unearthed, and when the region decided to give pieces of it away, people lined up for hours at the Waterloo landfill to get their hands on a piece of local history.
In May 2016, a second section of corduroy road was found near Conestoga Mall during LRT construction, and a second giveaway was organized. Trant couldn’t believe it.
“I’m shocked people were that interested,” the researcher said with a laugh.
Trant was given early access to the logs before the public, and managed to get about a dozen 30-centimetre long pieces. As soon as he saw news reports about the discovery, he knew he needed some samples. The wood is cracked and worn but otherwise remarkably well preserved, he said. They were still waterlogged when Trant got them, and he spent more than a year drying them out in his office.
They range in diameter from about 15 centimetres to 35 centimetres.
Ideally, he’d like to have about 50 pieces in his collection to help bolster his research, and he hopes anyone who received a piece during the two handouts but has decided they no longer want or need it will donate it to this project.
Ultimately, Trant hopes to use his data to gain better insight into the environment throughout uptown Waterloo and along Laurel Creek 400 years ago. He said it might be possible to develop public installations that detail what the natural environment was like long before the pavement and brick buildings we see today appeared.
“I think it’s really important for people to connect with the landscape they’re in, and in urban landscapes it’s easy to forget it wasn’t always an urban landscape,” Trant said.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation