It’s been close to a quarter century since
I became intrigued with America’s first transportation industry. In the beginning, it was tough to know where
to find accurate, well-researched information.
The internet was in its infancy so there was no real option to “go
on-line” and find material. My quest to
know more eventually led me to a used book store in Springfield, Missouri. I took home a single book on my first visit but, that
successful find provided the encouragement to keep digging.
After that, anytime I happened to be in
the city, I stopped by the bookstore.
I’d say that at least every other trip resulted in the discovery of an
additional resource covering some aspect of nineteenth century vehicles. From there, I scoured the credits and
bibliographies, leap-frogging from one period source to another until I had
acquired many of those same books for my library. Most of the volumes were out-of-print and
tough to find. However. eventually, the internet
became more mature, helping expand my search options. On-line stores like
Ebay and others became a fertile hunting ground for original materials. As I secured more and more primary source pieces
(period brochures, flyers, correspondence, photos, news accounts, ledgers, and
the like), I not only began to see notable differences in many builders but
also saw generational design shifts and other details that helped me determine
what was and what wasn’t a good investment opportunity.
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A
small grouping highlighting the hundreds of brochures and countless original
documents in the Wheels That Won The West™ Archives.
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This photo shows a detailed segment of an 1875 warranty for a Fish Bros. wagon. The document includes imagery of the vehicle designs and features for that era. As was the case for many wagons built in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the warranty was for 1 year. |
As time went on, I began writing feature
articles on the topic and we launched a website to share some of the things
we’d discovered. Then, six years ago, in
a moment of clear delusion and weakness, I took on another, even weightier challenge
– writing weekly blog posts. I soon
discovered how little I really knew about this whole subject. In fact, if you want to know how much you
truly KNOW about any historical element – beyond your own life story – start
writing about that theme with an objectivity that requires first-hand accounts
to back you up. In other words,
eliminate hearsay, speculation, best guesses, and unsubstantiated claims from
all of your documentation. It’s
surprising just how much of our world runs on unsupported notions.
In our files, I have quite a number of
stories that are started yet unfinished due to the need for more research (and
time). As the past half dozen years have
transpired, the self-imposed exercise of discovery has done something I didn’t
expect – it sucked me even deeper into an abyss of questions and long-forgotten
history. In truth, I never had a plan
for the writings – just the launch of a new topic every week. It’s a direction that has the potential to
never reach an end while constantly delivering new revelations. In fact, even with all of those hours of intensive
research, extensive travel, dead-end investigations, surprise discoveries, and hurried
writings to meet our Wednesday morning deadlines, some things never
changed. The process has consistently
delivered some of the most exciting, challenging, frustrating, time-consuming,
knowledge-enhancing, and personally rewarding segments of my life – as well as
the opportunity to meet a host of wonderful and truly interesting people.
Even so, this much writing is not a milestone
I set out to achieve. If I’d known how
much commitment it would take, I likely wouldn’t have had the courage to start.
After researching and writing almost 325
regular blogs and multiple feature articles during the past 72 months, it’s
been a true exercise in humility. That
said, it’s also been a privilege as we’ve helped shed more light on the depth
and complexity of America’s first transportation industry.
During the first half of December in 2011,
I wrote and posted the first weekly blog.
It was pretty short-and-sweet compared to later pieces. Some of the stories we shared came easy while
others made me dig deep for answers and forgotten details. The subjects surrounding America’s early
wagons, coaches, and western vehicles are so involved that it can be
overwhelming to realize just how much we still don’t know. It’s made me often wonder that, if we truly
live in the ‘Age of Information,’ how can we know so little about the very
products and industry that drove virtually every aspect of our nation’s growth
in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Honestly, how much history have we all
overlooked because we didn’t know how, when, where, and why to look? How much do we still share as truth that
couldn’t be proven if a person wanted to try?
Why aren’t we more curious about these things? These, and so many more questions, are areas
that I still want to discover more about – before the last primary sources are
lost forever.
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Keeping investment-grade vehicles and other collectibles inside and protected from the weather, insects, animals, dirt floors, and other adversities is important to the well-being of each piece. |
I’ve said all of this a prelude and, I
guess, an apology of sorts. As we close
out 2017 and I wrap up this week’s blog, I’ve come to the hard decision that I
need to ease up on the frequency of my posts. There are only so many hours in the day and
there are a host of other duties my day job rightly requires. To so many of you that have been loyal
supporters along the way, I want to express my sincere thanks. My interest in the heavier farm, freight, ranch,
coach, business, and military vehicles so prominent in the development of the
United States hasn’t waned. Likewise, I
expect my historical search and rescue efforts to continue unabated. I’m as intrigued with the discovery process as
I’ve ever been and the location and preservation of primary source materials (including
the vehicles themselves) remains a top priority. Nonetheless, it’s become increasingly
challenging to share the depth in the posts that I’d like.
So, for the time being, I’m looking at
spreading out the blogs a bit. If you’re
reading this and haven’t signed up for notification of these postings, you may
want to consider it. Those folks that
are on the list will receive priority notice when new blogs are released in the
future. In the meantime, I still expect
to embrace occasional speaking engagements and will likely write more feature
articles. As with many avid collectors,
I have objectives and goals for our vehicle, signage, and ephemera collection
and those efforts will continue.
Likewise, it’s my hope that these writings will continue to help others
in their own collections, research, and understanding of such a central and
important part of U.S. development.
In the meantime, I wish each of you the
very best as well as a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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
