Warren County
Local History by Dallas Bogan |
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Dallas Bogan on 13 September 2004 |
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original article by Dallas Bogan |
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The Conestoga wagon replaced horse pack trains, and were the long distance
freight carriers before the railroads were completed. The Conestoga was first
built in the middle 1700's; it was named for the Pennsylvania valley in which
it was first built. These wagons carried most of the freight and people that
moved west over the Alleghenies from the time of the Revolutionary War until
about 1850. They were sometimes called the "camel of the prairies."
Both ends of the wagons were built higher than the middle. The white canvas
roof was high and rounded. Wheels with the broad rims prevented bogging down
in the mud. The wheels could be removed and the wagon could be used as a boat.
These Conestoga wagons were drawn by teams of from four to six horses.
Very heavy loads were transported on the early turnpikes. The freight wagons
were very heavy, awkward vehicles. These wagons had tires, three or four inches
wide. The wagon beds were not built on a straight line, but were curved and
lowest in the middle. White covers were stretched over bows bent into semicircles.
With the great length and weight of the wagon and a team of six horses, managing
was not easy. The harness and other appliances of the horses were enough to
burden the strongest drivers.
Tonnage hauled on these freight wagons was unlimited. As much as seven tons
was distributed on these vehicles. Complaints were made concerning these extra
heavy loads. The toll charge was established by the number of horses pulling
the loads rather than by the tonnage. Thus, a team of six horses pulling an
empty load was charged the same as a team of six horses pulling a heavy load.
The officers of the Great Miami turnpike thru Franklin in their report for 1843
said: "The directors would suggest the propriety of an increase of tolls
upon heavy loaded wagons. It has been ascertained that about twenty wagons pass
down and up the road in each week, generally having broad tires, four or five
inches, drawn by five or six horses, carrying each from five to seven tons.
Such wagons injure the road by crushing bridges, spreading the grade and pulverizing
the metal to a far greater extent than all the tolls they are liable to pay
can compensate."
The covered wagon was used mostly in transporting families to the great unexplored
western states. However, it was also used in the Miami Valley but not in great
excess. An early writer of this period describes one of these wagons outfits
as follows:
"Imagine a boxlike cart nearly as long as an ordinary bedroom and so wide
that I could stretch myself out full length across the body. The top and sides
were covered with Osnaburg sheeting, which is cloth made of flax or tow...It
makes excellent wagon covers for the rain cannot soak through the cloth, and
it is so cheap that one can well afford to use its double thickness, which serves
to keep out the wind as well as the rain. The front of the wagon and a small
window-like space at the end are left open, but could be securely closed with
curtains that buttoned at the side.
"Underneath the cart were hung buckets, the churn, lanterns, water kegs,
and farming tools...Around the inside of the wagon were hung such things as
we might need on the journey. There were pots and pans, towels, clothing, baskets,
and two rifles...Our beds were laid in the bottom of the wagon and covered with
bed-clothes to save them from being badly soiled, as would be likely if we slept
upon them at night and cooked and ate and did the housework on them during the
daytime. Our cook stove was set up at the rear end of the wagon where it could
be pushed out on a small shelf fastened to the rear axle when we wanted to use
it...We did not carry many dishes, and nearly everything of the kind was of
metal such as tin or iron. We carried plates, cups, and basins of tinware."
"Carriage making did not reach its greatest development until the nineteenth
century was far advanced. Various improvements in roads and in the construction
of the vehicles made travel in carriages easy and pleasant. Elliptical springs
were invented in England in 1804. Rubber tires did not come into use until near
the close of the century.
"Fashion and taste brought about many changes in the forms of carriages
in the United States to which different names were applied and all of which
are now nearly obsolete. There were many forms of light carriages drawn by one
or two horses, one of the most common being the one-horse buggy.
"The stage coach, the omnibus and the hack were the most common vehicles
used by the general public. In England a carriage kept standing for hire was
called a hackney-carriage, in the United States, a hack. As late as 1908 there
were over 30,000 hackney-carriages with their drivers in London. Long lines
of hacks with their drivers standing by could be seen in Cincinnati until the
close of the 19th century.
"The keeping of livery stables for the hire of horses and vehicles and
for the board and sale of horses was an important business in the United States
during the greater part of the last century. The horses kept in livery stables
were chiefly driving horses and it is a striking fact that none of the improvements
in roads or travel of the 19th century affected the popularity or value of the
horse. Even the steam railroads increased rather than lessen the value of the
horse and did not injure the business of the livery stable.
"According to `Conteur' in the Sunday Enquirer, livery stables in Cincinnati
increased rapidly in the latter half of the last century and declined more rapidly
in the present century. He got his figures from the Cincinnati Directories.
In 1820 there were only two or three; in 1850 there were 36 and thenceforward
they increased much more rapidly than the population. In 1870 there were 70
and in 1880 there were 103.
"Wagon-making was an important business in Lebanon soon after the War of
1812 and in 1839 there were four wagon-making shops in that town employing 37
men.
"But carriages for carrying passengers came slowly into use. They were
called pleasure carriages and in the rural districts were looked upon as marks
of aristocracy. The legislature regarded them as luxuries which should be taxed
and in 1825 they were the only wheeled vehicles in Ohio which assessors were
required to return for taxation, but the rich man's carriage of the value of
$100 or over could not escape.
"In 1825 when Ohio had grown to be the third state in the Union assessors
were required for the first time to return carriages for taxation and they were
found in only one-third of the 73 counties when in the state, and in several
counties only one or two were found. In Warren County there were three of the
total value of $715. The whole number of carriages in the state in 1825 returned
for taxation was 113 and their average value was $185. More than one-half of
the whole number were in the four counties which had the large towns of Cincinnati,
Chillicothe, Columbus and Zanesville. In Hamilton County there were 35, more
than one-half of all in the state.
"As wealth increased costly carriages became more and more common and by
the middle of the 19th century the rearing and training of fast carriage teams
had become an important industry."
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This page created 13 September 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
© 2004 Arne H Trelvik
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