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Oxen Tale #20 ~ By: Frank Tortorich
THE PIONEER WAGON
There are many misperceptions about the wagons that came west in the 1840s and
1850s. One is that in many books and
movies they mistakenly assert that the Conestoga wagon brought the 49’ers to the
gold fields of California. The Conestoga
was a large 16-foot long, slanted body wagon used to carry freight. It was used
extensively on the Santa Fe Trail but no
Conestoga ever reached the west coast of Oregon or California. However, it was
the smaller straight body farm style wagon
that carried the possessions of thousands of pioneer west. Its box was 10 feet
long, 3½ feet wide, and had 5 bows to hold the
cover. This pioneer wagon had no brakes, no springs, and no seat being primarily
pulled by three yoke (pairs) of oxen. The
drover walked along the left side of the lead team for control. The women and
children, along with the men, mostly walked
the 2,000 miles in seeking their dream. If you were to measure the wagons wheel
span from the center of one rear wheel to
the center of the other rear wheel, it would measure 5 feet. If you were to
measure the center of one track to the center of the
other track on a standard gauge railroad, it would measure 5 feet. If you
measure the center of one rear wheel to the center of
the other rear wheel of most of our automobiles, it will measure 5 feet. This is
exactly the same measure of the wheel of Roman
chariot. (Hummer is 6-feet centers.) If you measure the diameter of the rear
wheel of a standard wagon, it will measure
4 feet 8 inches. Exactly 360 revolutions of that wheel measures exactly
one mile.
This knowledge allowed the pioneers one way
to measure the distance traveled each day. A typical wagon box was painted a
blue/green color with the running gear being
painted an orange/red color and it was well cared for. The canvas cover was
treated with linseed oil for waterproofing. If a
pioneer could arrive in California with their wagon in good repair, they could
make a good living hauling freight.
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