5 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2020
    1. covered wagon

      The Wikipedia article links to this discussion. Note that the author, Martha Sandweiss never mentions a Conestoga wagon. Rather she calls the wagon depicted as a "covered wagon"

    1. A finished wagon, approximately twenty-six feet long, eleven feet high, weighing between three thousand and thirty-five hundred pounds, and capable of holding five hogsheads or thirty barrels of flour, cost the equivalent of about $250— an incredibly low figure by today’s standards. By contrast, the four to six powerful Con- estoga horses that pulled the wagon were valued at about $170 to $200 each.

      One wagon cost about the same as one horse so a team of horses was worth much more than one wagon.

    1. Excellent old HTML page. Photo showing man on a Lazy Board. A few topics discussed:

      • evolution from the small farm wagon to the Conestoga wagon. Bowed bottom.
      • Large wheels. Largest wagons between 14-16" long and pulled by 6 large horses.
      • Colors often blue body, red wheels, white top.
      • What equipment was carried - tool box, grease, jack for the wheels.
      • Lead horse was on the front left. Driver would walk on left - thus wagons passed slower traffic on the left.
      • Wheel lock chain on back wheel to keep wagon from overtaking the horses.
      • Canals began to appear in the 1820's
    1. Trails to Trains exhibit at Meadowcroft Rockshelter. Transportation exhibit. 19,000 years of transportation history. Conestoga wagon and Stage coach on display. Not much info on line but a nice photo clearly showing the curve of a conestoga wagon bottom.