Covered Wagons
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Since the footpaths and trails along the streams made by animals and Indians are gradually being widened into rough roads, the people are starting to travel west to the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains. They are traveling overland by foot, horseback and by covered wagon. The covered wagon, pulled by oxen or horses can carry a family, food, seeds and some household necessities.

A blacksmith can build a satisfactory wagon, but a man who is well versed in building one is called a wainwright. The dimensions of a wagon are the result of experimenting and from the limitations of man and animal (horse or oxen).

Wagon wheels are hard to construct. A man called a wheelwright, who is often helped by a blacksmith, makes them. Sometimes the wooden wheel rims are covered with curved strips of iron. The wheels are made large for easy rolling over rough ground.

The Conestoga wagon, developed by the German settlers, is about 24 feet in length, curves up in front and rear and curves outward at the sides so that the load will not shift or spill on the hills. Over the arches, on the top of the wagon, is stretched a homespun covering. Oxen pull most of the wagons. They are slower than horses, but are very strong. A wagon and a team of 6 horses can stretch to a length of 60 feet. If horses pull the wagon, the driver rides the left-hand horse nearest the wagon.

Sometimes as many as twenty or thirty wagons join together to form a "Wagon Train". At night they make a circle with the wagons and keep the animals in the center of the circle to protect them from the Indians, wild animals and from running away.

Many dangers and difficulties are faced: bad roads, Indian attacks, wagon breakdowns, sickness, bad weather, and loss of oxen and other live­stock. Still people are leaving with their covered wagons and are traveling over the Wilderness Trail or the Cumberland Trail.

Last modified on May 14, 2008