Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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THE JPECTATOD However, in 1750, a new type of vehicle, the Conestoga wagon, appeared in Pennsylvania. It was a truly American product and a perfect vehicle of transporta- tion. The wagon was huge and heavily built; the bed was constructed concave in shape to prevent the contents from falling out when the wagon was going up or down hill. The body was arched over with six or eight bows, of which the middle ones were the lowest. Then each bow was covered with a strong hempen cover, corded down strongly at the sides and ends. The rear end of the wagon, on which the feed- trough for the horses was hung, could be lifted from its sockets; and on one side of the body was a small tool-chest that contained a hammer, hatchet, wrench, and pincers. A tar-bucket and water pail were suspended under the rear axle-tree. More- over, as in the case of the early carriages, the manufacturers showed delight in using bright colors, for the underbody of the Conestoga wagon was usually painted blue while the upper woodwork was a bright red. The use of these wagons was extensive. At one time three hundred ran between Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania towns. Sometimes there would be a hundred in a close row. The Conestoga was a symbol of progress, and for many years served as an im- portant vehicle in overland travel. It was one of the agencies by which men con- quered the continent. April the tenth of this year marked the one hundredth anni- versary of the journey of the first covered wagon from St. Ixuiis over the Oregon Trail into the northwest. From that time. 1830, until 1869 the Conestoga continued to be in the van of progress, years ahead of the stage-coach, steam-boat, canal, and railroad. The men who had charge of these wagons were a distinct class of society. In the affairs of life they occupied a position similar to that held on the rivers by the flatboat men. In the early morning, after hurried breakfasts, the drivers assembled their caravans and set off for the day’s journey. They usually stopped for an hour or two, in the middle of the day, at some well-known road tavern where they fed their horses, ate lunch, and met and argued with such friends as had reached that point traveling in the opposite direction. Many of the countrymen and settlers of the near-by districts also assembled at the taverns at such times, and the occasion of the arrival of several wagons at the inn caused much excitement. With the beginning of the nineteenth century there was introduced into Phila- delphia and Pittsburgh a form of the European bicycle. It had no effect upon the problem of transportation, and impresses us as being somewhat of a toy. The wheel merely sustained the weight of the rider’s body. Consequently, strange as it seems to us, the driver had to push the gfound with his feet if he were to travel at any rate exceeding a walking speed. The most important vehicle of the new century was the stage-coach, a closed four-wheeled carriage with a body shaped like a football and built of wood combined with sole leather. Of such vehicles, the Concord coach, which first appeared in [Ul

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THE PECTAT®P consequently, a tavern keeper usually refused to give lodgings and meals to a wagoner who was expected to content himself with the humbler wagon houses. T he names of some of the inns were characteristic of the times, a number of them having been named after Revolutionary heroes. Near the twentieth mile- stone of the Lancaster Turnpike was the famous General fVarren tavern, which was a house of entertainment for Revolutionary leaders. Here the Tories met to make their plans, and Major Andre also visited the inn to make a map of the surrounding country for spying purposes. Five miles beyond the Warren were three old inns, the Sheaf of ff heat, the Ship Tavern, and the Exton, which arc still standing. These are only a few of the taverns and inns that became famous. I hat the highways were lined with them, so to speak, is shown by the fact that along the Lancaster Pike there were sixtv-one taverns inside the sixty-six miles from Philadelphia to Lancaster. If some of these old inns which still remain could relate the history of their past, they might reveal interesting chapters in the lives of the generations who helped to establish not only our state, but our nation. II Early Means of Travel Charlotte Cramer Before the colonization of North America by the Europeans the Indian’s only means of traveling overland was on foot. However, after the introduction of the horse into America, the Indian contrived a vehicle known as the Indian travail—a device consisting of two poles and cross-bar that dragged on the ground behind the Indian pony. When he undertook a journey, the man put his squaw, papoose, and household goods on the travail, while he walked beside it. The first carts of the white man were nearly as crude as this Indian travail. These carts with immensely high and solid wheels made by taking a thin cross sec- tion of a great log, could go safely wherever oxen could draw them. The hubs of the carts were usually three feet from the ground; this raised the body of the cart clear of any ordinary stream at a ford. The carts were also narrow enough to pass along the paths of the pack-horses. By the end of the seventeenth century, the settlers saw the need for wheeled vehicles in the cities and near the sea-coast. To meet this need, three distinct types of wheeled vehicles appeared. The first was a two-wheeled private coach made for town use only. As springs were unknown at the time, the brightly painted body of wood or leather swung on stout braces of wood. A dozen or more of these two- horse carriages existed in Philadelphia before 1700. Another type of vehicle, known as the chair, appeared at the same time. Then, by simply adding a covered top of leather to this carriage-for-two, the chaise was made. [12]

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HE JPECTATGD 1827, was the most important. In fact, it has been pronounced the only perfect passenger vehicle for traveling that has ever been produced, although it had a peculiar lurching motion that made a long journey very wearisome, especially when the roads were bad. In his travels through the States of Xorth America. Weld gives a vivid de- scription of the way in which the passengers and driver of the stage-coach met the difficulties that accompanied the journey. He writes: “The driver frequently had to call to the passengers in the stage to lean out of the coach, first on one side, then on the other, to prevent it from oversetting in the deep ruts with which the roads abound. Now, gentlemen, t the right! 1 hereupon the passengers stretched their bodies half way out of the coach to balance on that side. ‘Now, gentlemen, to the left!’ and thus the journey progressed.” THE STAGE COACH OF 1 28 It is interesting to note the cost of early transportation. In 1812 the expense of traveling between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, a trip of two hundred and ninety- seven miles, was twenty dollars by stage-coach with way expenses of seven dollars. The expense by' v agon was five dollars a hundred weight for persons and property, and the way expenses were twelve dollars. The wagon required twenty days to make the trip while by stage-coach it took hut six days. But the greatest improvement in means of transportation was yet to be made, the Main Line of Public Works. This water-rail route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh consisted of a double-track railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia; a canal from Columbia to Hollidaysburg; the double-track Allegheny Portage Railroad from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown, and the canal from Johnstown to Pittsburgh. As early as 1828, the building of the line from Philadelphia to Columbia was authorized and by October of 18.14 the road was opened to traffic. Horse-drawn cars that closely resembled the earlier stage-coaches but which ran on rails served as the forerunners of the present-day passenger roach. The year that marked the completion of the Philadelphia-Columbia line also marked the completion of the Portage Railroad from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown. [14] Kri.m Knrip: Stage Coach nn.l Tavern Pays. I »e.l by i.eriuUxIun of the Macmillan Co.