From Horsepower to Motor Trucks: The Early Motorization of Industrial America: Utility and Lumber Company Fieldwork Archive, 1920–1924

Motorization of Industrial America

Photograph

Early 1920s industrial field-work collection documenting the change from horse-drawn power to motor trucks, company crews, utility poles, and rough work roads that supported American electrification, lumber production, and regional infrastructure after World War I. The Phoenix Utility scenes place linemen and service vehicles within Carolina power construction, including the Asheboro to Deep River 60 kV line, while the Weed Lumber Co. snapshots show company transportation and pole work in a Northern California lumber-town setting. Both groups belong to the same transitional moment, when trucks were becoming central to industrial field labor and companies depended on mobile crews to maintain power, communications, transport, and construction work far from office settings.

Archive of 9 photographs, ranging from 2.5 x 3.5 inches to 5 x 3 inches, of Phoenix Utility Company and Weed Lumber Co. 1920 to 1924. Two men pose beside a Weed Lumber Co. truck marked “No. 13,” while related views show workers with climbing belts, spurs, rope, and a wooden utility or communications pole along an unpaved company road. The Phoenix Utility group includes service trucks, field crews, a horseback rider passing early motorcars, and a verso stamp reading “Phoenix Utility Co. Carolina Operations Office” and “Asheboro-Deep River 60 K V Line.” The handwritten verso caption reads: “As motly a crew as ever scuttled a ship. 8/12/24.”
This archive spans two different industries through the shared labor culture of the early motor age. Showing men in work clothes, numbered company trucks, pole-climbing equipment, unpaved roads, and outdoor maintenance scenes tied to large industrial operations. Weed Lumber Co. represents the company-town world of timber production, where mills required trucks, power, and communications lines, while Phoenix Utility represents the contractors and crews extending electrical service across the Carolina Piedmont. Some tears, light handling wear, and album residue, with the images generally clear and complete. Overall in good condition.

Item #23415

Price: $550.00