THE CONESTOGA WAGON AND THE PRAIRIE SCHOONER
Styles in farm equipment change slowly, and it is probable that the farm-type Conestoga wagon of about 1850 shown in figure 7 is similar in many respects to the Pennsylvania wagons used by Braddock a century earlier. The prairie schooner, too, bore many of the characteristics of these early farm wagons. It was about the same length as the Conestoga wagon, but the lines of the bed were straight rather than curved and the bows supporting the cloth cover were upright rather than slanting fore and aft. Also, the prairie schooner had a seat where the driver, or at least his family, could ride during the seemingly endless days of the journey.
In this respect the prairie schooner differed not only from the early farm wagons, but also from the large freighting Conestogas, like that in figure 6, which dates from about 1830. In the years following the Revolution and before the coming of the railroad these freighters were used to carry all types of merchandise to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia by way of present route U.S. 30 and from Baltimore by way of present route U.S. 40.
The freighting Conestoga had no inside seats, and the teamster, when not walking by his team, either rode the left wheel horse or the "lazy board" projecting from the left side of the wagon, just in front of the rear wheel. It is distinguished by its distinctive, overhanging end bows, from which swept down the characteristic homespun cover, and by its lines, which are longer and more graceful than those of either the later prairie schooner or the earlier Pennsylvania farm wagon.
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Figure 8.—Freight-Carrying Wagon of the Period 1800-1820. (Drawing by Donald W. Holst.)]
This drawing and those of figures 9 and 10 are from specifications, sketches, and photographs, now in the files of the division of transportation, U.S. National Museum, taken in 1925 by Paul E. Garber from a wagon then the property of Amos Gingrich, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This wagon is illustrated in John Omwake's Conestoga six-horse bell teams, 1750-1850, Cincinnati, 1930, pp. 57, 63, 87.
a: Bed and running gear, right side: 1, Bows for supporting cover. 2, Ridgepole, or stringer. 3, Top rail, with bow staples and side-board staples. 4, Side-boards, removable. 5, Feedbox in traveling position. 6, Rubbing plates to prevent wheels wearing wooden frame. 7, Side-board standards, forming framework of sides (on the inside, a few of these sometimes project a few inches above the top rail to support the side-boards). 9, Securing rings for the ends of the spread chains, two of which span the bed to give extra support to the sides against inside pressures.
b: Tongue, or pole, top and side views: 1, doubletree hasp, shown in proper position over the doubletree in the lower drawing: the hammer-headed doubletree pin goes through it, then through the doubletree and the tongue. 2, Wear plate for doubletree pin. 3, Feedbox staple; in use, the feedbox is unhooked from the rear, the long pin on one end of the box is passed through the hole for the doubletree pin, and the lug on the other end of the box is slipped through the staple. 4, Hitching rings, for securing horses while feeding. 5, End ring.