Duchesne Courier | 1930-08-15 | Page 2 | The Original "Covered Wagon"

0 lf l- l f 7 Cove d ff f- f o ye Wagon Wag f 1 t a Y 1 S a a f r T i y 4 pt y f ti p Zat ti y 4 4 Tr e a 1 k E I Conestoga Wagon from from a a p painting D by TOC C. DarleY 1874 t 4 u l t I n IM I'M t w ay DY SCOTT vurr WATSON OVER D WAGON CENTENNIAL CENTEN which Is being celebrated at atar various cart vari arous w cE ous places along the route of ot t theOld the theOld e Old Oregon Trail this year ha has again focused sed public attention upon a type of or vehicle which once traversed tra that historic highway t a and has served to fix fir more firmly In the minds of most Americans the IJ prairie schooner as the one outstanding outstanding outstanding out out- r standing symbol of that epic migra migra- migration st st. tion which won the trans trans sippi West Appropriate though the prairie schooner may be as symbol of that era In our history It was not the original c covered vered wagon That distinction belongs to another vehicle 7 which antedated the prairie schooner by at l least ast a n century but which like its successor played an Important role In the westward march of the American people even en though It did It amid the rich rolling farmlands the fertile valleys and the wooded slopes of ot the Appalachians In the East rather than across the broad plains paIns of ot the Great West For Tor the Conestoga wagon of Lancaster county Penns Pennsylvania was the original covered wagon even though that name Conestoga wagon wagon wag wag- on means nothing to thousands ot of Americans In whose minds a definite aery very ery picture forms when you rou speak the words prairie schooner One hundred years ago ngo was at Its height und and on the Conestoga trail the trail the road from to Pittsburgh wh which ch was the gateway to the Ohio country were country were fleets of great white- white t topped wagons There were said to be three thou sand daily on this road alone Som Some carried six sis or ton eight loads of ot provisions and necessaries for the western cou country try and back loaded with furs furs' and skins flour and wheat from the Vest for tor the eastern markets Others carried families t who were going to the new country to make It their homes and all of ot their household goods Of t contemporary records of ot all this activity activity- there activity there are few and no stress is laid hild upon the wagons or their heavy six horse bell teams They were so much a part of or every day that they are simply taken for tor granted Historians who wrote just after their era was past mention them only cas cas- as- as they nally they were still such a commonplace as to the Penns Pennsylvania hanla countryside as Its farms and orchards or Its hills tills themselves Today a Conestoga wagon Is a n rarity even In the land of Its origin Tomorrow It will be found only In museums But fortunately for all those who cherish the tradition of things typically and essentially American the Conestoga has wagon had Its historian who has collected In one volume all the available information about this Instrument instrument ment of empire building before it was too late He Is John now a resident of Cincinnati When John was a boy In Pennsylvania his uncle Wesley Koons operated a big farm near Greencastle in Franklin county In th the Cumberland Cumber Cumber- Cumberland land valley After the Civil war war he was one of the few who kept their Conestoga bell teams to be brought to tp Q t town wn on election day mu and on other public occasions One of young joung ambitions ambi ambi- ambitions was to some some day and mid own drive as fine n n a team as os tn Uncle le Wesley Koons' Koons That bo boyhood hood wish was n never v r fulfilled but the next best to write a b book ok about this thing was unique bit of ot Pennsyl Pennsyl- vania's varila early life Ute and the result The was the book hook Conestoga Six Horse Bell Ben Teams of or Eastern Pen Pennsylvania anla 1750 1850 which Mr re reo printed for private distribution In the preface to his book Mr To o most of us today a Conestoga says wagon means rather vaguely Just any covered The Tile Conestoga wagon But nut It hicle for wagon was a perfect vehicle ve ve- existing conditions and the highest t of ot a commodious type pe freight carrier that has hns been Known It started ever as a farm wagon and with the grew v country It rumbled farther and farther from Us Us' home farm farm to to the mill to the market and beneath Its ponderous wheels trails widened and became roads fords became ferries fernes bridges horizons and then ns broadened and the Conestoga wagon was the carrier between the East and the West whose need George Seen Been Washington bad had foreSeen fore fore- Although h the fi first t of these vehicles were modi fied En English covered cohered farm tarm wagons which came t p J Eio Conestoga wagon dates ia iron t Conestoga Wagon built in 1813 All f front Conestoga Wa on the Nation It 51 IX- IX HO so r t. t s ieso hu G W. W by I Jefferys JOHN America o Hi University PV Wagon Bens Bells Into use In New England and other places on the Atlantic seaboard early In the rite colonial da days s 's local conditions In Penns Pennsylvania Pennsylvania notably notably notably the greater distances between the producer and his market which made it essential that the Pennsylvania farm wagon hold twice as much as the New Eng Eng- la land and nd farm wagon where distances were shorter hence the sturdier built and heavier wagon requiring re re- re- re q quiring from four to eight horses to pull pun It It- It quickly resulted In the development de of ot a distinctive tive t type pe of or wagon for this region Gradually the excellence of the wagons made by the wheelwrights of the Conestoga vaU valley y of ot Lancaster Lan Lan- c caster aster county caused them to become famous throughout the country and Conestoga wagon became a sort of trademark for this type of ot freight carrier They differed from the English wagons from which they sprang in that the bed bedwas was longer and deeper and had considerable sag In the middle both lengthwise and crosswise cross There was a aery very ery good reason for this If It while the wagon was pursuing Its way wa over some same rough trail or down a n steep mountainside the load toad would shift settle toward the center and not throw Its bulk against the Unlike the bows which held the white cover corer of the English wagon w which were vertical the bows of the Conestoga followed the line of or the he ends of the body and s slanted outward thus keeping out tofu rain and dust The whole appearance of the Conestoga was that of ot a boat and ns as Dir Mr sn says s 's It is easy to see Wh why this wagon should have ha been called the Ship of ot Inland Commerce as It cruised with Its great grent white top between the green Pennsylvania hU hills s. s Even had It not been for its striking contour he continues the Conestoga wagon would have been een Imposing because of its sheer bulk Th The top of the front hoop was teas elc eleven ven feet teet from the he grou ground The white homespun cover coyer was two dozen feet l long ng The top ends of the wagon bed were sixteen feet apart and the rear wheels flee five or six feet feet- high When the six hoi se team was tiros pUl pulling the team and wagon stretched to sixty feet The wagoner was selected because of his abil ity and dependability and when anyone interfered w with ith his charge he knew how to defend his its rights There were many things to quarrel about and the wagoner In the popular mind became a dashing daredevil u who bo was to the Pennsylvania countr countryside what the cowboy was to the West These great wagons which carried such Buch large loads of freight required sturdy horses to draw them and gradually there evolved ol a breed of draught animals known ns as Conestoga horses which were ere as distinctive as the wagons themselves They were the pro product of ot English or Flemish drau draught ht horses and Virginia mart mares s and were a n race of large patient animals with short arched necks full manes good le legs s sl sleek el round bodies bodies- and weighing around fourteen to hundred pounds or more Just as the Conestoga wagons and horses were distinctive so were the various pieces of f equip ment meat which helped to make up the whole freightIng freight- freight Ing l ug outfit The most striking ing of these were the bells which gave the name came of six horse bell teams At first these bells were Yere very ery necessary for tor the roads were narrow natto and winding and It was desirable that other traffic be given warning I of ot the approach of one of these heavy outfits But Bul later these bells survived serviced as a n sort of a n t trade trade- mark They hey lh y varied In size number shape and arrangement arrangement a but the early day traveler on a a. P Penns Pennsylvania Penn Penn- enn s sylvania Iania road could not mistake the sound of their heir t tinkling approach Then th there re were distinctive fent features res In the tool boxes boles the feed boxes the tar buckets and a dozen d oxen other things The Iron work on these wagons was especially Interesting revealing as ns It did th the e artis ar ar- arI I tic aspirations of the blacksmiths who toll abo rated with wheelwrights In making the Cones Conestoga toa wagons Usually the blacksmith put somewhere here on the wagon the date In iron and the figure one as It Invariably appeared on the Conestoga w wa wagon agora on and antI nowhere else Is Interesting It Is a dou double b le I crossed and according to Mr 11 it m means mean cans Jahr Herr Jesu or the lithe year of our Lord Jesus Je sus Then there were other details which gave gay e to the wagon a pIcture picturesque and que Impressive appear ap pear pear- ance ante Its wheels and ube removable sideboards were painted a bright vermilion while the running gear was a soft blue and antI white cover er gleamed In the sunshine sunshine sunshine-a a brave sight crul cruising ing between the green fields and the w wooded oded hills I think the painting of the Conestoga wa wagons gong was the result of ot conditions rather than an any ny y esthetic es es- preC preference rence although the Amish today have a decided liking for light blue pink and cl ch cherry terry rry red I The Conestoga wagon came into existence In time to ha have hae Just e a n part in making American hlo hip tory As early as 1745 1795 Benjamin Franklin Vl was Issuing a broadside urging to enlist with their wagons and ten teams In the kings king's se service against the the e French and Indians n ni T D- D Ten years ears later luter 00 set out upon his ill fated nr fated expedition exp ft It was very necessary that he have hn ade ado quate transport for his provisions match maich Into the during his wilderness Securing this was wits one of ot only the many difficulties I of that harassed leader lead lead- er and It was not until Benjamin Fra Franklin to his came aid and persuaded the Pennsylvania ers to wagon enlist that the expedition was able to make any progress westward Conestoga accompanied Gen John Frobes also on his years later to accomplish march three what Braddock failed tailed had to do the do-the the capture of th the the forkS forkS' of the Ohio French tort fort at In The Conestoga wagons pla played ed their part part the struggle for too liberty It was these which vehicles carried supplies to the tic ing that terrible winter American nimy twiny dur dur- at Valley Forge and In the spring of 1778 1773 a sturdy by four horses and with Conestoga a n full fun wagon drawn sol soldiers Hers company of Continental Continental Con Con- as s a guard brought s silver sUver the loan of ot the French in Portsmouth N N. N n. n to the government from at nt York I Pa a. a where the Continental government go treasury then meeting But nut It was in the period congress was iVas Devolution that the after the Conestoga glory glory glory-as as the carrier of ot rose to Its full the West and freight back an and 1 forth to as the vehicle of the the emigrants I Kentucky y and Ohio Into country It once mor more as ns a weapon of ot also served of 1812 when Conestoga war during the War IVar from front the wagons carried powder Brandywine mills be used In lu lerr Perry's Perrys B brilliant to Lake Erie there to victory at 0 Q Cf by bl Western n Put Bay I Newspaper Union I