Page:The Triumph of an Idea.djvu/18

 of a square in Beliefontaine, Ohio, and only in 1908 was the first mile of rural concrete built in Wayne County, Michigan. Incidentally, Henry Ford was a member of the county's Board of Road Commissioners in 1906-07.

But that is getting ahead of our story. When Ford developed his first definite plan of building an automobile, he thought of a car which would run on the rough roads of Detroit and its vicinity. If he visioned a six-lane concrete highway, he was dreaming as far into the future as Jules Verne dreamed when he forecast the undersea boat.

The idea of gas engines was old, but Otto's effort to put one on the market was the first sign that anybody  considered them of practical use. Ford studied the contraption