Skip to main content
Go back

Laganière & Houde tarmac roller, circa 1920

Black and white photo of nine men in front of a roll of tarmac.

Source: Les Grondines. Trois cent ans d’histoire, Laurent Leclerc, 1980, p.144.

Before asphalt roads were built, macadam was used. The method involves first removing the top layer of loose soil from the ground, then spreading crushed rock. Smaller and smaller layers of rock are then laid, watered and compressed using a steam roller.