The Library of Congress has a massive and public archive of photos and slides that they have digitized over the decades. There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of photos and images. I went trolling through to see what cool stuff I could find and boy, did I ever! From huge logging trucks in the Pacific Northwest to Americans welding gas and oil line in Iraq and digging the Panama Canal just after the turn of the (20th) century. My affinity for so called, “working vehicles” is well documented here on BangShift and this load of photos has some truly awesome stuff along those lines. Teddy Roosevelt sitting in a steam shovel in Panama and ancient rigs, probably with mechanical brakes loaded with chunks of trees that measure feet across headed for saw mills are just a couple of the more than 30 images show here.

For a look at the vehicles and brave souls who built our country and forever (literally) changed the Earth with construction like the Panama Canal, scroll down! (Oh, there’s some GIs getting BangShifty in a Jeep as well that will make you smile!)