Wagons at the Centennial Exposition

By all accounts, the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was an ambitious and momentous event.  Lasting six months, from May 10th to November 10th, this first World’s Fair was ostentatious with extraordinary architecture showcasing countless treasures and innovations of the known world.  The Exposition included over 200 buildings and 30,000 exhibits spread over 450 acres.  Among the vast technology displayed was Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and a Remington typewriter as well as a mechanical calculating machine (a precursor to today’s computers).  This half-year celebration in honor of the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence was heavily photographed and hosted almost 10 million visitors with countless promotional souvenirs handed out. 

Rare photos taken during the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

While original tickets and other mementos can be found today, there are less than a handful of the magnificent buildings that still exist.  In like fashion, and in spite of the world-wide attention and extensive photography at the event, very few records remain of the horse-drawn vehicles shown during this renowned pageant.  Several years ago, I wrote an article called “A Ticket to Tomorrow” for our website and added even more details in our “Borrowed Time” book regarding one of the innovative wagons that was displayed at the Exposition.  The wagon was built by Jacob Becker, Jr. of Seymour, Indiana and was equipped with patented braking and steering designs.  It took two full years to conclusively identify the wagon in the photo as the one owned and shown by Becker.  For an even longer period, that photograph and the actual Studebaker Centennial wagon (currently on display at the Studebaker National Museum) have been the only known surviving visuals of wagons shown during this larger-than-life experience.  

A one-of-a-kind image showing Jacob Becker, Jr.’s “Champion Wagon of the West” shown at the first World’s Fair.

Since the identification of the Becker wagon (shown above), we've spent years looking for more records of wagons presented at this first World’s Fair.  The persistence has paid off and, today, we’re celebrating the discovery of yet another photo of a vehicle demonstrated at this event.  Ironically, this wagon appears to have been located very close to Jacob Becker’s wagon display.  This latest original photo shows a patented crane-neck dray in full ceremonial style; ornate striping, exquisite woodwork, and an exclusive design.  It was built by John Beggs & Sons of Philadelphia.  The firm was known for quality fabrication of numerous wagons and city vehicles.  The photo immediately below is excerpted from the image which shows the entire wagon.  It was taken on the grounds of the Exposition in 1876.  As a point of reference, the photo was likely taken just weeks before General Custer met his demise at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. 

John Beggs & Sons displayed an exclusive dray design at the Philadelphia Exposition.

We have another century-plus-old book in the Wheels That Won The West® Archives that gives us even more detail on the color, features, and striping of the vehicle.  In fact, it is possible that enough details are now available that a replica could be built in honor of America’s 250th Anniversary in 2026, less than a dozen years from today.  Below is part of the 1867 patent for the vehicle.  Collectively, these ultra-rare resources are helping us put the pieces back together for what effectively introduced America as a new industrial world power.    

With fewer than 3 dozen wagon builders competing for attention and awards at the Centennial Exposition – including legendary makes such as Milburn, Moline, Kansas, Jackson, Schuttler, Cortland, Studebaker, Fish Bros., and Wilson, Childs & Co. – it might seem that there would be more details available.  Regrettably, that is far from the case as each one of the discoveries mentioned have required substantial effort to locate and recognize their significance.

John Beggs & Sons was granted a patent on their dray in 1867.

With each find, though, there is hope - hope for future discoveries and hope for greater recognition of these pieces.  Ironically, it’s that same hope for tomorrow that every exhibitor held at that first World’s Fair.  Today, it still drives us to look forward in anticipation and expectation; a great blessing of our democracy and the very foundations of American independence.

More Moline Discoveries

In keeping with our pledge to share more on the Giant Moline farm wagon should we come across additional details, below is a scanned section from another of our more recent acquisitions.  As you may recall, in our January 8th and February 12, 2014 blog posts, I shared some best-guesses on the uses of this wagon beyond its initial appearance at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.  After locating multiple photos of the wagon as it was shown at two additional fair venues (Minnesota & Nebraska), it was a safe bet that the Moline Wagon Company had kicked off a multi-level promotional campaign beginning with the huge celebration at St. Louis.

The assumption that the actual Giant Moline was used for years as a promotional tool can now be considered a fact.  It’s one more element of America’s early wagon history we’ve been fortunate to help uncover and confirm.  The photo above shows a portion of a two-sided promotional flyer given out during the tour of fairs attended by the massive wagon.  While the front of the hand-out shows an image taken during the St. Louis event, the back further explains the involvement of this goliath-sized set of wheels in fair events occurring after the 1904 Exposition in St. Louis.  The flyer further outlines the significance of the wagon as it was built to help illustrate the proportioned balance and engineered design strengths of every Moline wagon.  This promotion was likely among the last significant marketing campaigns for the legendary brand; a brand that had become well-known for building premium quality farm, freight, ranch, mining, business, and logging designs for generations.  Less than a handful of years after the close of this promotional tour, the Moline factory was purchased by John Deere with the Deere label ultimately replacing Moline as the top-of-the-line offering from the company.

The image above shows a loaded “New Moline Ironclad” wagon.  Dating to around 1910 or slightly earlier, the full photo shows a number of the design’s construction advantages.  As with the thousands of other images in our Wheels That Won The West® Archives, each offers information helping us to better understand the realities of the day.  Ultimately, we share so many of these discoveries because it serves to help grow appreciation for the intricate and complicated nature of early wagon manufacturing and marketing.  For wood-wheeled vehicle collectors, knowing the differences and distinctions that set the most coveted pieces apart has become increasingly important.  Our archives not only house a world of visual and informational history for countless brands, but simultaneously help restore identities, authenticity, recognition, and appreciation for these rolling survivors of America's past. 

We’ve recently made a number of other early vehicle discoveries and hope to share more in upcoming posts.  In the meantime, if you have a question or subject you’d like to see covered sometime, drop us an email and we’ll do our best to help.  

Newton Wagon Company

With a beginning dating prior to the California gold rush, the Newton Wagon Company produced a wide variety of vehicles during almost a century in business.  Several years ago, I wrote a brief history of this brand and you can still find the two-part article on our website by clicking here. 

Moving from New York to Batavia, Illinois in 1854, founder Levi Newton worked hard to establish the brand as a premium builder of buggies and carriages as well as a vast array of wagons including farm, freight, spring, delivery, mountain, potato, and rack bed wagons as well as teaming gears and lumber and log wagons.  The firm employed a number of different construction designs throughout its history.  As with many other brands, the paint and striping of earlier designs was often more flamboyant and ornamented.  Circular box rod washers, triple riveted side board cleats, and even multiple folding end gates were common on some models. 

Another unique feature of later Newton models is what was referred to as a ‘drop front hound.’  With this design the front hounds on the gear were curved downward.  This feature reduced wear and tear on the reach and sway bar while also allowing for tighter turning when the box was removed.   While a drop front hound is fairly easy to spot on a wagon gear, it was not common in the industry as a whole.  Even so, Newton was not the first to have promoted this feature.  As I shared in Volume One of the “Borrowed Time” western vehicle book series, the legendary Peter Schuttler brand actually had a patent on a very similar design in the 1880’s (see a portion of the patent below).

 

As a further note to this innovation, it doesn’t appear that Newton made use of the design until well after the original Schuttler patent expired.  For historians and collectors, it’s an important point as collective examination of all vehicle features can help to identify, date, authenticate, and place values on individual wagons.   That commitment to historical details and collector support is another reason we continually search for the rarest details from this industry.  As of this writing, illustrated Newton materials in our Wheels That Won The West® Archives span almost sixty years from the 1870’s through the 1920’s. 

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Memorial Day Weekend 2014

Week in and week out, I spend a lot of time talking about early western vehicles.  It’s the kind of rare history that takes us back to our roots as a nation.  Like many others, I enjoy learning and sharing these parts of our past.  The subject is deeply connected with our heritage and consistently points to the sacrifice and struggles of a young nation.  While the values of many of these early western wheels continue to grow, there are other possessions we hold that too often go undervalued.  In addition to the blessing of life itself, the most prized possessions we have in America are freedom and the opportunity to pursue our dreams.  They’re precious gifts secured by generations of brave men, women, and families who put honor and country ahead of self.

Freedom, after all, isn’t free.  It has a high cost.  Over the last several years, we’ve been harshly reminded how costly and fragile freedom is.  Countless Americans have given everything they have to preserve that privilege for you and me.  Many are still in harm’s way.  This weekend is part of our nation’s salute to so many who have sacrificed so much for this amazing country.  Memorial Day in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave is a time to pause, reflect, and express our appreciation for their bravery, commitment, selflessness, and readiness to stand in the gap, defending what we hold dear. 

To all those who have served and those who continue in service to this great nation – Thank you.  Thank you for your time.  Thank you for your courage.  Thank you for your sacrifice.  You are not unnoticed.  You are our heroes; the very essence of liberty and guardian of innumerable dreams.  May God bless you and continue to bless America.

Peter Schuttler & Christoph Hotz

I never cease to be amazed at the complexity, sophistication, and competitive drive possessed by those in America’s early transportation industry.  With thousands of horse drawn vehicle makers to measure up against, deciding to open up a wagon shop in those days was not a suitable choice for folks lacking finances, marketing savvy, manufacturing prowess, or just plain guts.  With so much competition in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it clearly took more than a strong work ethic to be successful.  Ultimately, some didn’t last more than a few months and others never produced more than a handful of vehicles per year.  A few beat the odds, not only surviving but manufacturing tens of thousands of wagons and western vehicles annually.

One of the most revered of those early brands is Peter Schuttler.  Founded in 1843 in Chicago, the company’s two and four-wheeled products were well known on the western plains and trails as well as remote mountains and towns.  From freighting and ranching to farming and mining, the name ‘Schuttler’ carried a strong reputation.  It was a preeminent brand delivering exceptional quality, strength, style, and innovation.  During the late 1860’s, the company was looking to grow its competitive edge and a young German emigrant, newly-arrived in America, was destined to fill the bill.  His name was Christoph Hotz.  An talented engineer and machinist by trade, it didn’t hurt that Peter Schuttler II was his brother-in-law.  The founder and patriarch of the firm, Peter Schuttler I, had passed away just a few years earlier and this new partnership with Christoph Hotz was destined to underscore the Schuttler brand as an even more impressive western icon.  

Beyond the family relationship, what really set Mr. Hotz apart was his inventive genius.  He was full of ideas and instantly took to the wagon trade.  Patents began to flow out of the Chicago firm and continued from the 1870’s until the time of his death in 1904.  Among the inspirations credited to Hotz were new concepts for wagon axles, end gates, standards, gears, tongues, and more.  The concepts just kept coming, with some destined to reappear well into the twentieth century. 

To that point, many wagon enthusiasts are likely aware of a swivel reach offered on Weber brand wagons and patented in 1922 by parent company, International Harvester Corporation (see above).  A similar patent awarded to Christoph Hotz and Schuttler more than four decades earlier is less known.  Nevertheless, it helped pave the way for future designs of this type.  From the 1800’s through the early 1900’s, the rugged terrain created constant problems for wagon travel.  The racking, rocking, knocking, and twisting of the wagon wreaked havoc on every part of a gear – especially the reach or coupling pole.  In the 1880 Schuttler patent (see below), Hotz engineered his own nineteenth century version of a rotating reach, allowing wagons to overcome challenges inherent in the roughest country.  Effectively, the design reduced pressure on the reach, hounds, and other parts.  To date, I’m not aware of any surviving examples of this configuration from Schuttler, but just maybe, this blog post may help us find one someday.

Just as a point of reference, by 1904, the Peter Schuttler Wagon Company is reported to have employed some 600 workers, turning out 20,000 wagons per year†.  By all accounts, the firm was a formidable foe but like so many others, the clock was ticking and within two more decades, the doors were closed in Chicago.

†American Machinist, January 28, 1904

Hand Built with Machined Speed & Precision

History has given Henry Ford a lot of justly-earned credit for building and selling automobiles so affordably that they could be enjoyed by the masses - not just those with deep pockets.  Long before Mr. Ford’s entry into the transportation business, though, there were countless other horse-drawn vehicle makers with a similar business plan; one focused on creating a quality set of wheels that individuals could afford in business and pleasure.  While Ford encountered numerous challenges in his commitment to building a better mousetrap, America’s earliest transportation pioneers were also continually faced with the trials of maintaining a successful business.  Manufacturing requirements, raw material availability, a viable labor supply, marketing, sales, warranties, resale values, loyalty, competition, distribution channels and a myriad of other issues were dealt with daily. 

Far from being small-time business neophytes, many early makers of vehicles used throughout the U.S. were educated and business-savvy.  Even in the 1800’s, some of the biggest wagon builders were finishing tens of thousands of wagons per year.  In fact, during Studebaker’s peak production years, the firm boasted that it finished a vehicle every six minutes.  The legendary brand also claimed to have built – and sold – a million wagons in the decade between 1897 and 1907†.  By any measure, those are impressive numbers.  Equally noteworthy is the mechanization and repeatable factory processes that were employed to accomplish such feats of mass production.

While some small blacksmith shops may have still been hammering out hand-forged iron work in the late 1800’s, most western vehicle builders of any size had recognized the value of time as it related to profits.  Hence, as the turn of the 20^th century approached, these larger manufacturers may have been engaged in forging some parts but they were often using cast and pre-formed pieces available from wholesale outlets.

As pointed out in Thomas Kinney’s book, “The Carriage Trade: Making Horse Drawn Vehicles in America,” these early vehicle makers clearly recognized that ‘time is money.’  As a result, there were entire subgroups of companies that sprang up to provide equipment, parts, and supplies to assist with more rapid production of quality western vehicles.  This was not just working faster, it was working smarter and, in most cases, delivering a higher quality product in a more timely manner.  At its core, this involved very similar business thoughts as those covered in some of the most elite corporate boardrooms of today. 

A growing agricultural economy along with the Civil War, with its massive need for vehicles, did its part in driving innovation and productivity.  Numerous technological advances and specially fabricated machines were introduced during this timeframe.  Patents for automatic axle lathes were issued as early as the 1860’s with designs committed to greater accuracy, speed, efficiency, and productivity. 

Eventually, other instruments engineered for even higher production capacities were also introduced.  Heavy equipment like automatic spoke lathes, spoke throating machines, belt polishers, and felloe sawing machines were joined by automatic hub mortisers, automatic wagon box floor nailers, and wagon box boring machines for gang drilling all of the holes at one time in the box sides of a wagon.  Each innovation made the production process more efficient, vehicles more affordable, profits more attainable, and customers more satisfied with the final product.  Collectively, it was a commitment to excellence that’s still reflected in rolling works of art all over the country.  

†  Wheels That Won The West® Archives, www.wheelsthatwonthewest.com

Davenport Wagon Company

I’ve shared several John Deere-related blogs over the past few months.  With connections to Fort Smith, Moline, Mitchell, Old Hickory, Deere & Webber, Cyclone, and more wagon brands, the depth of Deere’s early involvement in wagon sales was truly amazing.

Soon after the turn of the 20th century, Deere determined to acquire its own wagon factories and began purchasing some of the best-known brands.  One of the makes Deere secured in 1911 was the Davenport Wagon Company.  Headquartered in Davenport, Iowa – just minutes across the Mississippi River from Moline, Illinois – the brand was among the more unique and uncommon firms because of the design of their gears.  These undercarriages were made entirely of metal and were promoted as being “built like a bridge.”  Other features such as roller bearings, a reinforced tongue and reach, and the use of linch pins instead of wheel nuts helped these workhorses stand out from other, potentially less reliable vehicles.

The excerpt below is from a 1912 catalog; possibly the first feature-length brochure about the brand as it was produced under the new John Deere ownership.

“The Davenport Wagon, with steel gearing, steel wheels, and roller-bearings, after the most severe and thorough tests, has easily proven far superior to the old style farm wagon… Because of the scarcity and inferior grade of wood the old style wagon is not, today, of as good quality as it was years ago… Particularly about the farm do we notice advance and improvement in everything excepting the wagon.  The implements are practically all steel.  The steel wheel is used almost entirely on implements, the wooden wheel is rarely seen.  The farmer appreciates the roller-bearing, its use is constantly increasing on farm equipment of all kinds…”

All of these statements supporting Davenport’s steel gears and wheels are especially interesting when one considers that – at the same time – other John Deere-owned wagon brands were singing their separate, yet equally self-indulgent praises of wood-wheeled superiority.  Clearly, the company was working to optimize wagon sales in every corner of the market.  When it came to the foundation of a Davenport gear, they were known for using steel I-beams, C channel steel, and angle irons – much like many quality trailer and equipment manufacturers still do today. 

Benefits of the steel wheels and gear weren’t limited to strength and durability.  Quietness and ease of maintenance were joined by the incorporation of steel roller bearing pins; promoted as helping to reduce the draft of the load by as much as 30 to 50 per cent.  Compared to traditional wooden wheels – which were more prevalent in the industry – the company pointed out that these steel wheels were not affected by temperature and moisture, so the dish always remained the same, allowing the wheel to run on the full face of the tire.  The system was advertised as one which allowed the gear to maintain truer tracking with plumb spokes and noticeably less wear to the wheel.  Lubrication of the wheels was accomplished through “oil cups” positioned on the hubs, allowing each wheel to be cared for without a need to jack up the wagon and wheels.

While Davenport Wagon Company’s beginnings date to 1904, the idea for metal wagons originates much earlier.  Patents for an iron wagon gear in the U.S. were issued as early as the time of America’s Civil War.  Nonetheless, even with its advantages, it was an idea that had trouble gaining traction.  Deere’s vast distribution network and strong marketing budgets helped draw even more attention – and profits – to the design.

Among the Davenport brand offerings were standard farm wagons, mountain wagons, cut-under wagons, lumber wagons, teaming gears, and even trail wagon equipment utilizing a horn and bumper.  Boxes on the wagons were made of wood but were touted as being heavily ironed and using additional hardwood cross sills, larger self-centering box rods, anti-spreader chains, and three sets of straddler cleats.  Even though the Davenport wagon brand ceased production nearly a century ago in 1917, the foundation for steel gears and wheels was laid and the combination would be used for decades more on the farm – long after the company closed.