Heritage Park built this structure in 1998 to illustrate the equipment and methods used for the construction of roads, irrigation ditches and railroad grades prior to the First World War. Before the 1870s, the only roads in Western Canada consisted of rough tracks made by fur trading companies to connect major waterways.
In 1884, the construction of highways became the responsibility of the Crown, and implements such as the Fresno scraper, bob sled, dump cart, scrapers, road grading plough, water wagon and Waterous steamroller were indispensable in opening up the West to road traffic. Heritage Park’s original road construction equipment exhibit opened in 1971.