The Sarnia-Florence Plank Road as it is known was completed to Oil Springs in 1865. Planks were cut from white oak timbers with portable steam sawmills and laid across the right of way. Stage coaches and oil wagons operated regularly between Oil Springs and Sarnia. At the peak of the oil boom it was one of the busiest roads in North America. However, traffic declined as oil production began to fall in 1866. Lack of toll revenue eliminated road maintenance and the Plank Road fell into disrepair. Villages like Coles Corners and Lightburne which had accommodated weary travelers along the route, vanished. The final section of the road to Florence was never completed. By the 1920s, however automobiles were becoming common and the road was needed again. Gasoline taxes and auto license fees helped to finance paving of sections of the Plank Road. It has become a convenient link between Sarnia and central Lambton County.

Courtesy of Pat McGee