Sometimes, it’s easy to be lulled into
believing that our great-grandparents lived during a time that was slower with
less stress and little to get excited about.
Truth is, the challenges and joys faced by all generations are uncannily
similar. Life is still life no matter
when you were born. Problems faced by
new technology, accidents, natural disasters, different personalities,
finances, poor decisions, job losses, health issues, and so forth are common
threads woven throughout history.
To reinforce that point a little more, I
thought it might be interesting to highlight some of the stories being reported
within the horse-drawn vehicle world prior to the turn of the twentieth
century. Rolling the calendar back one
hundred twenty-five years to 1892, it’s clear that our ancestors had plenty
of reason for stress but remained optimistic and enthusiastic in their
pursuits.
More to the point... most of us have
just returned to work from an extended Memorial Day weekend. During this annual time of remembrance, we
pay our respects to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to
America. It’s usually a shorter
work-week for most and another reminder that our workdays aren’t the same as
our ancestors. In April of 1892, the
well-known trade publication known as The
Hub reported that longer 10 to 12-hour work days (six days a week) would be
continuing for most manufacturing and mining trades...
... Although a material reduction in the hours of
labor will come in time, it is evident that the conditions are not yet such as
to make the eight-hour day practicable, as the effort toward that end must be
general throughout the entire country, so that the interests of one section
will not be made to suffer in order to benefit others.
In other nineteenth-century matters, legislative sentiment
was turning against the use of cheap prison labor by wagon makers. The result required a number of notable
builders to re-vamp their operations.
The Caldwell (Kansas) Wagon Company was one of those affected. The firm dated its beginnings to 1873 and,
for years, had capitalized on the advantage of this inexpensive resource. Two decades later, without the aid of the
incarcerated, the firm was facing a major investment in new facilities...
The proposed new wagon factory to be started in
Leavenworth, Kas., by Hon. Alexander Caldwell, will engage $300,000 capital and
it may be that $500,000 will be invested.
For many years Mr. Caldwell has employed the convict labor at the
penitentiary, but he has abandoned it and prefers free labor. He is of the opinion that convict labor
should not come in competition with free labor, and thinks convicts should be
utilized in improving the public roads.
In the August 1892 edition of The Hub, there is a brief editorial
discussing the possible viability of a mid-engine, gas-powered wagon (bus). It’s interesting to see the perspective (and
vision) in the last sentence...
A Baltimore man named Harris has invented a
mechanical appliance which promises to work a revolution in wagon
transportation, and which will also be available for street car
propulsion. To illustrate the
possibilities of his invention, Harris has built a wagon sixteen feet long,
with five seats, containing room for twenty persons, and weighing 6,000
pounds. It will be run by a 10-horse
power gasolene (sic) engine placed under the floor of the wagon, between the
front and rear axles. The engine will
cost about $600, and the remainder of the machinery is very cheap. If the invention should turn out to be
practicable, it would be difficult to overestimate its advantages.
On still another front, many folks have heard the story as to
how the Studebaker Bros. Manufacturing Company got a much-needed boost in their
start-up by helping George Milburn (Milburn Wagon Company) with a government
contract for military wagons. What
almost no one in the twenty-first century knows is that neither Milburn nor
Studebaker were originally given the contract.
To quote a legendary line from Paul Harvey, here’s the rest of the
story...
According to the November 1892 issue of The Hub, in 1857, it was another Mishawaka,
Indiana wagon and carriage-maker that was first selected to produce wagons for
the U.S. military. As it turns out, this
wagon-maker, Minor T. Graham, was in heavy debt and had taken on a partner for
a new hardware business that same year.
The hardware endeavor was meant to complement the wagon-building
enterprise and was called Graham & Travis.
Unfortunately, the overall debt was too much for both men and each business
failed. Even so, in late fall of 1857,
just before the failures...
... Mr. Graham succeeded in obtaining from the
government a contract to make 500 large transportation wagons for the use of
the army in the war with the Mormons, in Utah, which was afterwards taken by
George Milburn, who proceeded to make the wagons, but being unable to finish
them all in the time specified (the spring of 1858), he sublet to Clem Studebaker
of South Bend a part of them. Mr. Graham
afterward started a repair shop which did not pay, and his wife having died, he
married a lady of wealth, removed to Olathe and engaged in farming.
It's interesting to see how the swift turns of life can radically change plans for anyone.
Finally, the June 1892 issue of The Hub contains an article bemoaning the problems with what else but “distracted drivers.” While this particular story is focused on problems in Mexico, the irony seems to be that no matter the era, there are always those on the road who need to be paying more attention while in control of a vehicle. Here’s a section from the story...
Finally, the June 1892 issue of The Hub contains an article bemoaning the problems with what else but “distracted drivers.” While this particular story is focused on problems in Mexico, the irony seems to be that no matter the era, there are always those on the road who need to be paying more attention while in control of a vehicle. Here’s a section from the story...
... In no other great city are coachmen more fast,
furious and wildly reckless than here... Men and boys filled with pulque
(alcohol), half asleep and engrossed in cigarette making, are not coachmen from
the simple fact of having ascended the box of a coach... There is not a coach
owner in the city who is not in danger of his life every time he takes a drive...
The old article wraps up by reminding
American readers that there are similarities to this description occurring regularly in the United
States as well. Even without the
temptation of a cell phone or text message, it seems that no matter how many
centuries pass, people are still people and tendencies can remain remarkably similar.
Please Note: As with each of our blog writings, all imagery and text is copyrighted with All Rights Reserved. The material may not be broadcast, published, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written permission from David E. Sneed, Wheels That Won The West® Archives, LLC
