Workmen laying wooden water pipeline east of Lewsiton, Idaho. 1891.

Neat old pic.Seems like a lot of work for something that wouldnt last too long.

cool pic.

Those wooden sewers lasted longer than you'd expect. My home town of Racine had many of those and were only replaced in the 1980's while they were already ripping stuff up.

Wood was actually an upgrade from the Romans lead pipes. Of course wine from lead pots was sweeter than that from wooden ones.

That is some tough country to dig in too!

The first home I owned had wooded gutters.

Yessir. Here in MI I was on a jobsite maybe 10 years ago and dug some up. Wasn't in use anymore, but still one piece and mostly complete. Complete enough, I brought a section home as a souvenir. Zip tied it together.

In the early '60s I was going by train along the Truckee river and I saw wooden troughs coming down out of the mountain and couldn't figure what it was. An old man told me it was water for the village down below.

A blind ditch with buried poplar logs can last 100 years if kept wet and away from the air.

When the home owner asks if you can do it cheaper.

... and just as effective without the dreadful environmental impact of using plastic,concrete or galvanized steel, yup.

There's old ones around kodiak and Dutch harbor still working from ww2 .I understand them are redwood

Cool picture, I never knew they used wood culvert back then.

Your statement is a treehuggers nightmare.

There is a reason why they dont use that method anymore.

Yeah, they probably prefer the "dangerous" stuff instead. Dumb azzes

MANY reasons ... duhhhhhh
Look at the title of this topic ^

Sure concrete and iron will last longer buy wood isn't a terrible option.

There's a number of very large buildings in downtown Milwaukee that are built upon wood pilons that they have to keep wet.

This: about the Venice foundations.

How many poles are there in the Venice foundations?
The answer is simple : millions of poles!
Venetians chose trunks of firs, oaks and larches that arrived through the rivers in Venice.
But how old is this system?
Many poles were put down, more or less, in the age of Columbus and the discovery of America (about 500 years ago!!!) and they are still in good condition… how is it possible?
The secret is in the mud : bacteria that decompose wood are unable to act because the oxygen is missing. So mud has protected poles from bacteria and water corrosion.