A steamroller packs coarse stone onto a new road near Shelby, Michigan, while a horse-drawn wagon waits beside it and a steam locomotive passes on the parallel railroad. The photograph captures the transition from horse travel to the automobile age in one frame.
Oceana County records say early roads were often rough two-tracks, and growing automobile use created demand for harder surfaces. The county’s first mile of hard-surface road was built in 1906-07 with state assistance, and road improvements soon spread to other communities.
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