In the early 1900s, many Americans wished to reestablish a link with nature they felt they had lost with the growth of cities and industry. Many took to the road in automobiles, a new invention that was itself a product of the industrialization and pollution people wished to escape. The Mohawk Trail (Massachusetts State Route 2) in Western Massachusetts was a popular motoring and tourist destination. This mountain spring along  the trail offered refreshment to travelers and horses (although few horse-drawn vehicles used the trail by the time this photograph was taken.) Water was also useful for car radiators that had run dry as motors overheated from the strain of driving up steep mountainsides.