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Friday, July 22, 2022

Heavy Freight Wagons of the American West

One of the least appreciated but important jobs during the era of the western expansion was moving freight to provide everything from food to machinery, household goods, ore, and needed equipment for the rancher, miner, farmer, households, and storekeeper. Yet the “mule skinner” or “bull whacker” ranked near, if not at the bottom, on the scale of importance in stories about the old West, and even during their time they were looked down upon.

This article will provide a snapshot of the operation and men (mostly) of early freighting in the period before wheeled vehicles. The use of steamboats on navigable waters in the west, and the steady growth of railroads from the 1840’s well into the latter part of the century provided a huge slice of the freight transporting business, but those modes generally reached cities and large towns, off loaded and needed to be transported.

The focus of this article is on heavy duty freight wagons. Light weight express wagons, farm wagons, “Prairie Schooners“ and Conestoga wagons typically used along the trails heading West, military supply/escort wagons, and stage coaches will not be addressed. I hope readers will be as surprised, interested and entertained as I was doing the research.

15 comments:

  1. The best known freighter of the Northern Mother Lode of the Sierra in the late 1800s was Andrew Kneebone. He drove teams of up to 26 mules and horses both to the Comstock Lode over the Henness Pass and on freight runs hauling grain and other staples from Wheatland, CA to Grass Valley, then returning to the valley with firewood and other freight.

    He was well known for being able to turn his teams around on the narrow main street in front of the Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley using only voice commands. People would come from miles around to watch him work his magic.

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    1. Interesting piece of history. How did you come to know that, please? I would like to read more about Kneebone.
      Thanks

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    2. The Kneebones were a prominent Bridgeport CA family.
      Family cemetery info:
      http://www.syrpa.lindberglce.com/Cemetery.htm

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    3. This has a little info also.
      https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114613128/andrew-reed-kneebone
      There used to be a really good history of the Kneebone family on the Penn Valley Chamber of Commerce page but it seems to have been taken down.

      I'm familiar with the Kneebones because my wife's family has a ranch very near where the Kneebone ranch was near the old townsite of Spenceville. That, and her cousin's grandmother was Esther Kneebone.
      The thirst for historical knowledge runs deep in the family.

      The story of Andrew tuning his teams around is pretty common knowledge around Grass Valley.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks, I enjoyed it too. American Western History fascinates the hell out of me.

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  3. Kind of like truckers today. They are only important to most people when they are on strike.

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  4. Very interesting piece; puts you in the place and time very nicely.

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  5. Youtube has a piece on this called "Here's What it Was Really Like To Pioneer On The Oregon Trail." Probably not as in-depth as the article.

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  6. Some of my ancestors lived in Northwest Colorado. Every summer they would ride their teams to Denver, buy wagons and goods, then return over two tough mountain passes and lots of "ornery" country. In Craig, they would sell off the goods and wagons. Once the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad reached Craig their business ended.

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  7. That was a good read. Things of necessity done in the West were often outside the experience of civilized people east of the Mississippi River. Some teamsters were women, who did the jobs because they needed employment or just because they wanted to, dammit.

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  8. My father was born on a farm in 1910, near the end of that era. When he was young, they had a rig consisting of six boards with leather straps attached at the top . It was used to train teamsters. A kid was expected to be able to raise and lower each board without disturbing the other five. That was how they trained to handle a wagon or plow team. What remained of it was still on the side of the fence by the barn when I was little. Dad's last team of horses, Stub and Dude, were killed by lightening when I was a toddler. By then dad was using tractors. He may have been the last farmer in our area to use a team.

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  9. Noone notices the "infrastructure" people until they need things. Truckers for sure, but warehouse folks (Hi Kenny!), garbage men, construction crews (except to cuss them for blocking traffic), and all the rest of the "Iittle people" who keep the elites well off In their clueless bubbles...

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