Sometimes, it’s easy to be lulled into believing that our great-grandparents lived during a time that was slower with less stress and little to get excited about. Truth is, the challenges and joys faced by all generations are uncannilysimilar. Life is still life no matterwhen you were born. Problems faced bynew technology, accidents, natural disasters, different personalities,finances, poor decisions, job losses, health issues, and so forth are commonthreads woven throughout history.
To reinforce that point a little more, Ithought it might be interesting to highlight some of the stories being reportedwithin the horse-drawn vehicle world prior to the turn of the twentiethcentury. Rolling the calendar back onehundred twenty-five years to 1892, it’s clear that our ancestors had plentyof reason for stress but remained optimistic and enthusiastic in theirpursuits.
More to the point... most of us have just returned to work from an extended Memorial Day weekend. During this annual time of remembrance, wepay our respects to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to America. It’s usually a shorterwork-week for most and another reminder that our workdays aren’t the same asour ancestors. In April of 1892, thewell-known trade publication known as TheHub reported that longer 10 to 12-hour work days (six days a week) would becontinuing for most manufacturing and mining trades...
... Although a material reduction in the hours oflabor will come in time, it is evident that the conditions are not yet such asto make the eight-hour day practicable, as the effort toward that end must begeneral throughout the entire country, so that the interests of one sectionwill not be made to suffer in order to benefit others.
In other nineteenth-century matters, legislative sentimentwas turning against the use of cheap prison labor by wagon makers. The result required a number of notablebuilders to re-vamp their operations. The Caldwell (Kansas) Wagon Company was one of those affected. The firm dated its beginnings to 1873 and,for years, had capitalized on the advantage of this inexpensive resource. Two decades later, without the aid of theincarcerated, the firm was facing a major investment in new facilities...
The proposed new wagon factory to be started inLeavenworth, Kas., by Hon. Alexander Caldwell, will engage $300,000 capital andit may be that $500,000 will be invested. For many years Mr. Caldwell has employed the convict labor at thepenitentiary, but he has abandoned it and prefers free labor. He is of the opinion that convict laborshould not come in competition with free labor, and thinks convicts should beutilized in improving the public roads.
In the August 1892 edition of The Hub, there is a brief editorialdiscussing the possible viability of a mid-engine, gas-powered wagon (bus). It’s interesting to see the perspective (andvision) in the last sentence...
A Baltimore man named Harris has invented amechanical appliance which promises to work a revolution in wagontransportation, and which will also be available for street carpropulsion. To illustrate thepossibilities of his invention, Harris has built a wagon sixteen feet long,with five seats, containing room for twenty persons, and weighing 6,000pounds. It will be run by a 10-horsepower gasolene (sic) engine placed under the floor of the wagon, between thefront and rear axles. The engine willcost about $600, and the remainder of the machinery is very cheap. If the invention should turn out to bepracticable, it would be difficult to overestimate its advantages.
On still another front, many folks have heard the story as tohow the Studebaker Bros. Manufacturing Company got a much-needed boost in theirstart-up by helping George Milburn (Milburn Wagon Company) with a governmentcontract for military wagons. Whatalmost no one in the twenty-first century knows is that neither Milburn norStudebaker were originally given the contract. To quote a legendary line from Paul Harvey, here’s the rest of thestory...
According to the November 1892 issue of The Hub, in 1857, it was another Mishawaka,Indiana wagon and carriage-maker that was first selected to produce wagons forthe U.S. military. As it turns out, thiswagon-maker, Minor T. Graham, was in heavy debt and had taken on a partner fora new hardware business that same year. The hardware endeavor was meant to complement the wagon-buildingenterprise and was called Graham & Travis. Unfortunately, the overall debt was too much for both men and each businessfailed. Even so, in late fall of 1857,just before the failures...
... Mr. Graham succeeded in obtaining from thegovernment a contract to make 500 large transportation wagons for the use ofthe army in the war with the Mormons, in Utah, which was afterwards taken byGeorge Milburn, who proceeded to make the wagons, but being unable to finishthem all in the time specified (the spring of 1858), he sublet to Clem Studebakerof South Bend a part of them. Mr. Grahamafterward started a repair shop which did not pay, and his wife having died, hemarried a lady of wealth, removed to Olathe and engaged in farming.
It's interesting to see how the swift turns of life can radically change plans for anyone. Finally,the June 1892 issue of The Hub contains an article bemoaning the problems withwhat else but “distracted drivers.” While this particular story is focused on problems in Mexico, the irony seems to bethat no matter the era, there are always those on the road who need to be payingmore attention while in control of a vehicle. Here’s a section from the story...
... In no other great city are coachmen more fast,furious and wildly reckless than here... Men and boys filled with pulque(alcohol), half asleep and engrossed in cigarette making, are not coachmen fromthe simple fact of having ascended the box of a coach... There is not a coachowner in the city who is not in danger of his life every time he takes a drive...
The old article wraps up by reminding American readers that there are similarities to this description occurring regularly in the United States as well. Even without the temptation of a cell phone or text message, it seems that no matter how many centuries pass, people are still people and tendencies can remain remarkably similar.
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