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.