Wednesday, January 07, 2009

A tale of two wagons

Amazing the difference a little bit of paint will make. Well, paint plus some lumber plus more than a little elbow grease. Case in point: a pair of old buckboard wagons at the Sharlot Hall Museum grounds. (Those are buckboards, aren't they? Not being of the rural persuasion, I've no background in the finer points of passenger wagons.)

Admittedly, there are more than a few folk who like their farm equipment from yesterday thoroughly rust-ic. No doubt they would prefer this moldering heap of a wagon in a less conspicuous corner of the grounds (below). I actually did not see it til the other day, when I entered through the uphill parking lot.


Yavapai Central: After the election, what next for Georgene? News, that's what. This morning she posted the very first story on her new county news blog -- all about the big proposed expansion of the Granite Gate senior facilities. Be sure to take a good look today and stop by on a regular basis -- Yavapai Central will soon be a major player amongst local media.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buckboard wagon, via Google images and TinyURL.com:

http://tinyurl.com/73nof8

Glad I never had to travel in one, but I sure respect my great-grandparents (and, some grandparents) who did.

~Anon in AV.

Granny J said...

anon av -- they'd probably make a good ride on a modern, paved road -- but consider what the "highways" were back then!

meggie said...

OMG, I can imagine the sore rump, having travelled in my brother's less than sprung utility vehicle!!
That 2nd one is just a pile of bones really!LOL.

Anonymous said...

Are those rubber on the tires of the one in the last photo?

Linda G. said...

Well..of course I had to look it up..buck was old english for the sides of a wagon and the boards were long and springy which makes sense as they would have had to have some flexibility..
The tires are interesting too. I know they used to band the wheels with metal or the wood would have quickly worn away..
Thanks for another thought provoking post:)

Linda G. said...

my little brain is exhausted from all that thinking about buckboards! Sorry to have commented the same twice, but in review, should have said the floor boards were long and springy..

Granny J said...

meggie -- I think I'd rather be on the back of the horse than bouncing around in the wagon!

steve -- it sure looks like rubber on the rusticated wagon.

brain -- thanks for the explanation. I'd still rather be on the back of the horse.

Anonymous said...

Okay, here's my take on "buckboard" vs. "wagon": If you put a canvas cover on it and it looks like it belongs in a wagon train it's a wagon. If it has low sides and looks ridiculous with a cover on it it's a buckboard. I recall watching Rifleman and when he told his son to get the buckboard, the son got the low sided four wheel contraption. On Wagon Train when they circled the wagons they were always high sided contraptions with canvas covers. Then again what the heck do I know?

Granny J said...

AZ -- come on now, wagons with all that canvas are covered wagons (or prairie schooners). After all, there are also wagons that strictly for goodies, not for people. Then there are all those other thingies, like surreys (fringe or not), chariots, shays, drays, carts, etc. (OK, forgive me, I went to Roget to come up with some of those...)

Anonymous said...

I went online and checked and their description for wagon was a four-wheeled horse, mule, or ox drawn wagon use to haul heavy loads, buckboards on he other hand were considered light duty vehicles. Carts and chariots fall into the two wheel category.

Anonymous said...

I had to look up "schooners" and I think I have the lowdown! Schooners are wagons drawn by two horses, mules or oxen. Covered wagons are larger and drawn by a team of six horses, mules or oxen. Who knew it's all determined by horse power!

Granny J said...

Whoa, AZ -- what a lot of data on wagons I'm having to digest! And I probably won't remember it all the next time I have to distinguish one type of vehicle from the next. But -- as long as we're at it, what type of cart/wagon/etc. is used in a harness race?

Anonymous said...

That would be a sulky or jog cart.

Granny J said...

AZ -- and these are all words/concepts with shades of meaning that are likely to be missing from our vocabularies if not our language in another generation!

Linda G. said...

This is a great wagon chat! My understanding of schooner was simply that the big white covers on the wagons as they ventured out across the wide prairie made them look from afar like the great schooner ships sailing on the sea, so they were nicknamed prairie schooners.

Granny J said...

brain -- I was going to suggest wrapping it all up by visits to either that source of All Knowledge, Wikipedia, or The Great Oracle at The Google, but I think that AZ has done a great job of wrapping it all up!Thanks, AZ

 
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