Last week, we shared a number of true/false questions
related to America’s early wagon industry. Overall, it was a massive wood-wheeled dynasty that left us with some incredible, albeit largely forgotten stories from our nation’s history. Over the next
few weeks, we’ll gradually share the answers to the questions. Even more importantly, we're looking forward to highlighting some intriguing parts of our transportation past. With that as
a lead-in, below are the answers to the first dozen questions we presented...
1) The American
Wagon Company only made wagon boxes – not running gears...
This one is true. The American Wagon Company factory was located in Dixon, Illinois (Ronald Reagan's boyhood hometown). Their specialty was the manufacture of multi-purpose boxes/beds that could be folded into multiple shapes and accommodate numerous job needs; from moving chickens, hogs, and sheep to hauling hay, grain, and even people to a picnic. I wrote a feature article on this firm that can be found in the May 2005 issue of Farm Collector magazine. These wagon boxes can be hard to locate but we do have an extra one in our collection that’s available for purchase.
 |
'American' brand folding wagon boxes were protected by multiple patents. |
2) A sure way to identify a Winona wagon is through its
exclusive use of iron clad hubs...
The correct answer here is ‘False.’ While Winona used metal
coverings (Iron Clad) for many of their wagon hubs, they did not use the design
for all of the wagons produced in their factory. Additionally, they were not the only users of
this design. As I reported in our book, Borrowed Time, the
Weber Wagon Company also used this design.
Additionally, the Peter Schuttler brand even had a patent on it during
the 1800’s.
3)
Peter Schuttler
offered more than a dozen sub-brands of vehicles...
While many
builders offered multiple brands within their umbrella of vehicle offerings – usually
to fulfill a ‘good-better-best’ type of product sales strategy – the legendary
“Chicago Wagons” tended to focus on one brand and one quality throughout. Period directories indicate that this well-known firm primarily labeled their wagons with either the 'Schuttler' or 'Peter Schuttler' moniker.
4) You can identify
a wagon as a Studebaker anytime you see the Studebaker name cast into the
skeins...
This is
false. When it comes to early vehicle
identification, no single element should ever be used as the only point of
identification. Parts were often lost, broken,
and substituted with little regard given to using an original as a
replacement. In this case, Studebaker also had its own foundry and sold thousands of Studebaker skeins separately from
their own wagons. These skeins were used
as general replacement parts as well as parts for other wagon brands.
5) The Ft. Smith
Wagon Company was among an assortment of firms receiving contracts to build
vehicles for Native Americans during the early twentieth century...
This is a true
statement. There were a number of wagons
– especially 1 horse – built by the Fort Smith brand that were made
to fulfill government contracts for Native American wagons.
6) The giant
western wagon referred to as the “Fortuna” featured 6-inch-wide tires, 8-foot-tall rear wheels and an overall height of 13.5 feet. It was built by the legendary Stockton,
California firm of M.P. Henderson in 1899 and sold to a man who purportedly
used a fortune teller to guide him in his mining decisions...
This statement
is also true. In the early 1880's, Charles Lane
(being encouraged by a medium) acquired the “Utica” mine in Angels Camp,
California and threw himself into what he hoped would be his fortune. Over the years, he spent everything he had,
often with little left to feed his family.
Day after day, he dug. Tunnels honeycombed the underground.
Still, there was little to show for it.
Many in the community and beyond counted him as a reckless nut. The label seemed appropriate until the early
1890’s when the mine finally gave up its true fortune. It turned out that the Utica held the richest
vein of gold in all of California.
Ultimately, it yielded millions upon millions of dollars. It’s an intriguing bit of news for our
collection as well. The stage wagon we
were able to help preserve several years ago was operating throughout the Angels
Camp community during this entire timeframe.
Due to his proclivity to find precious minerals, some began to refer to
C.D. Lane as ‘Lucky Lane.’ Just prior to
the 20th century, Mr. Lane was working another mine operation in Arizona called the “Fortuna.” He commissioned M.P. Henderson to build the giant wagon for use at the mine.
 |
This stage wagon was used throughout the Angels Camp, California area during the same time when the Utica Mine was producing millions of dollars in gold. |
7)
Henry Mitchell
first started building wagons in Chicago in 1850...
Only part of this statement is true. Many are familiar with the Mitchell Wagon Company during its days in Racine, Wisconsin. Throughout Mitchell’s history, the firm built countless styles of wagons as well as small stage wagons and even early automobiles. While Henry Mitchell did start out building wagons in Chicago, he was there considerably earlier than 1850. His official start year was 1834.
8) Horse-drawn
wagons can be equipped with different tongue configurations. In the nineteenth century, a ‘drop tongue’
was also referred to as a ‘falling’ or ‘shifting’ tongue...
This point is also true and is part of the reason that terminology for designs within the early wagon industry can be complicated. Oftentimes, there are multiple names describing the exact same feature.
9) In 1848, a
seasoned freighter made the roughly 800-mile trip from Santa Fe to Independence,
MO in just under 6 days...
Incredibly, this is true. Traveling from Santa Fe to Independence, Missouri in September of 1848, Francois Xavier (F.X.) Aubry made the trip in 5 days and 16 hours – despite being challenged by rain and mud. The record speed won him $5,000 and the title of ‘Skimmer of the Plains.’ A mere 24 years of age, this feat occurred during his third year of freighting on the Santa Fe Trail. There's a great deal more to Mr. Aubry’s story. Look him up sometime.
10) Of the
200,000 wagons said to have been built by Joseph Murphy in St. Louis, only a handful
are known to have survived...
As well-known as Joseph Murphy is to many people, surprisingly, there are no known surviving examples of his wagons.
11) We have no way of knowing what the first chuck wagon
did or didn’t look like...
This one is definitely false. Even without supporting photos from the period, there are numerous research tools at our disposal that can be helpful. We do know from several primary source writings that the first chuck wagon was drawn by oxen. Beyond that, what do we know? Well, sometimes, when we’re researching a subject, we have to begin by defining what it did not entail. The process helps refine facts while eliminating non-pertinent details. In this case, it’s generally accepted that Charles Goodnight built the first chuckwagon in 1866. Even if we didn’t know anything about the wagon, we can look at the date and know what elements were most likely on a wagon from that era. This is where it gets interesting as certain design/construction technologies did not come into play until specific time periods. To date, I’ve only seen one or possibly two chuck wagons with designs that would qualify for a mid-1860’s look. If you’d like to know more, I’ll be sharing additional details on specific technologies and their time frames of introduction during my presentation to the Santa Fe Trail Association in September. Hope to see you there.
12) The U.S. Army used dozens of different types of
wagons...
Absolutely true. While the Army Escort wagon and even the Ambulance receive a lot of attention today, there were numerous other designs employed on and off the battlefield. Among them were the battery wagons, signal corps wagons, lance wagons, artillery wagons, chess wagons, pontoon wagons, Dougherty wagons, buckboards, farm wagons, sprinkling wagons, mountain wagons, tool wagons, and many more.
 |
The U.S. Army utilized Tool wagons as early as the Civil War. We were extremely fortunate years ago to discover a full set of blueprint drawings of this vehicle. |
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
