What was used before the steam engine?
Sources of power before steam were:
1) People; human muscle power did most of the world's work for
most of history.
2) Animals: horses, or more usually oxen, mules, donkeys. Even a
donkey can power a mill if you harness it to a pole attached to a
vertical rotating shaft and drive the donkey round and round in a
circle all dy.
3) The wind - windmills are now coming back in a big way! and
don't forget sailing ships. sailing ships were still used for trade
up to the first half of the 20th century.
4) The strongest sort of power - water. Remember that a
watermill did not necessarily just grind corn; water power can
drive any sort of machinery, and indeed began the Industrial
Revolution, which steam merely amplified.