North Country At Work

Laying a layer of crushed stone while building a road. Team of horses with dump wagon in the background, dumping crushed stone. Circa 1915. Saint Lawrence County.

Traction steam engine connected to wagon hauling stone to stone crusher. Another steam engine and wagon on the other side. Circa 1915. Saint Lawrence County.

A traction steam engine and two workers on a newly rolled road. Circa 1915. Saint Lawrence County.

A work crew comprised of men and teams of horses hitched to wagons, clearing the way for a road. Circa 1900-1905. Canton. Photo taken and processed by F.J. McCormick Studio in Canton.

Early construction workers filling a horse drawn wagon drop wagon with crushed stone. A steam engine powers the stone crusher via a flat belt to make road fill. Features a Case Steam Roller, which the town of Hermon bought for road building. Circa 1910s. Hermon, NY.

Road construction in Canton, from Evergreen Corners to Pierrepont. Using both horses and a mechanical, cable-driven back hoe. Circa 1920s. Canton, NY.

Workers digging by hand and with a mechanical, cable-driven back hoe to build the first state road from Canton to Ogdensburg, which eventually become State Route 68.  Circa 1920s. Canton, NY.

Sewer work in progress on upper Main Street in Canton. Pictured is a work crew above a deep ditch filled with wooden scaffolding, two men are at the bottom of the ditch. Circa 1881-1900. Canton, NY.

Early fire reports in the village mention equipment becoming mired down in the mud especially on the heavily traveled lower State Street.  In some photos, there are wooden crosswalks in evidence; there may be one at the corner of State and Mechanic streets in the center of this picture, as well as the one in […]

Putting through a cut near Crooked Trestle or between Streeter & The Jackworks. Pictured are more than 20 men using picks and shovels to dig a road bed. Circa 1910-1920. Town of Clifton, NY. From the William Kellogg Collection.