Many lakes and rivers were used to transport lumber, which they did until the early 1970s. That meant that many lakes that now have million dollar lakefront homes didn't have any because the logging made swimming and boating filthy and dangerous in all but the wide areas.

Many lakes had a dam and a mill at one end to process the lumber. Just imagine all those logs you see on huge trucks being floated down lakes and rivers.

Most roads were gravel or dirt, which is why early cars had such a high clearance so that they good still get through during mud season.