Misplaced Pages

#642357

130-681: A wagon (or waggon in British English ) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods , commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from carts (which have two wheels) and from lighter four-wheeled vehicles primarily for carrying people, such as carriages . Animals such as horses , mules , or oxen usually pull wagons. One animal or several, often in pairs or teams may pull wagons. However, there are examples of human-propelled wagons, such as mining corfs . A wagon

260-576: A West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the northern Netherlands. The resident population at this time was generally speaking Common Brittonic —the insular variety of Continental Celtic , which was influenced by the Roman occupation. This group of languages ( Welsh , Cornish , Cumbric ) cohabited alongside English into

390-459: A milk wagon . Tank wagons carried liquid cargoes. Water wagons delivered to areas without piped water and for military camp use. In the early 1900s, the American street flusher used a gas-powered pump to clean city streets of litter or mud, and to wet down dust in dry seasons. Liquid manure wagons were low tank vehicles for spreading manure on fields in the 1860s-1900s. Oil wagons operated from

520-413: A " teamster ", a " bullocky " (Australia), a " muleteer ", or simply a "driver". Wagons have served numerous purposes, with numerous corresponding designs. As with motorized vehicles, some are designed to serve as many functions as possible, while others are highly specialized. The exact name and terminology used are often dependent on the design or shape of the wagon. If low and sideless it may be called

650-493: A "Conestogoe Waggon" from James Hendricks on December 31, 1717, thus making this the earliest known mention of the wagon name. The name "Conestoga wagon" likely derived from the Conestoga River Valley, which was a settlement area for American colonists by the early 18th century that was about 45 miles (72 km) from Philadelphia and 60 miles (97 km) from Lancaster, Pennsylvania . The earliest usage of

780-559: A century as Received Pronunciation (RP). However, due to language evolution and changing social trends, some linguists argue that RP is losing prestige or has been replaced by another accent, one that the linguist Geoff Lindsey for instance calls Standard Southern British English. Others suggest that more regionally-oriented standard accents are emerging in England. Even in Scotland and Northern Ireland, RP exerts little influence in

910-718: A common, important element in history and life, wagons have been the subjects of artwork. Some examples are the paintings The Hay Wain and The Haywain Triptych , and on the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar . British English British English (abbreviations: BrE , en-GB , and BE ) is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . More narrowly, it can refer specifically to

1040-410: A dray, trolley or float . When traveling over long distances and periods, wagons may be covered with cloth to protect their contents from the elements; these are " covered wagons ". If it has high sides, with or without a permanent top, it may be called a " van ". A wagon might be unsprung if ordinarily used over rough ground or cobbles. A front axle assembly , in its simplest form, is an assembly of

1170-494: A driver's seat or bench, leaving the driver to walk alongside the wagon or ride atop of one of the horses. Many freight wagons had a "lazyboard," a plank that could be pulled out for sitting upon then pushed back when not needed. In America, lazyboards were located on the left side and close to the brake because wagons were steered from the left side. In the United States and Canada, the large, heavily built Conestoga wagon

1300-508: A greater movement, normally [əʊ], [əʉ] or [əɨ]. Dropping a morphological grammatical number , in collective nouns , is stronger in British English than North American English. This is to treat them as plural when once grammatically singular, a perceived natural number prevails, especially when applying to institutional nouns and groups of people. The noun 'police', for example, undergoes this treatment: Police are investigating

1430-406: A lesser class or social status and often discounted or considered of a low intelligence. Another contribution to the standardisation of British English was the introduction of the printing press to England in the mid-15th century. In doing so, William Caxton enabled a common language and spelling to be dispersed among the entirety of England at a much faster rate. Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of

SECTION 10

#1732776579643

1560-446: A lid with a central hole and a paddle for applying the lubricant of pine tar and lard to the axles. In addition to the axe and toolbox which Conestoga wagons were equipped with, the wagon jack , used for raising wagons up, was another tool that was equipped on them, specifically probably in its rear end. They were highly durable and tended to have outlasted the wagons themselves, making them valuable for antique collectors. Trends around

1690-659: A process called T-glottalisation . National media, being based in London, have seen the glottal stop spreading more widely than it once was in word endings, not being heard as "no [ʔ] " and bottle of water being heard as "bo [ʔ] le of wa [ʔ] er". It is still stigmatised when used at the beginning and central positions, such as later , while often has all but regained /t/ . Other consonants subject to this usage in Cockney English are p , as in pa [ʔ] er and k as in ba [ʔ] er. In most areas of England and Wales, outside

1820-520: A regional accent or dialect. However, about 2% of Britons speak with an accent called Received Pronunciation (also called "the King's English", "Oxford English" and " BBC English" ), that is essentially region-less. It derives from a mixture of the Midlands and Southern dialects spoken in London in the early modern period. It is frequently used as a model for teaching English to foreign learners. In

1950-445: A result of the decline of Conestoga wagon usage. The pack horses were often equipped with bells, but when such a practice started is unknown. The bells are small-sized and located on wearable "Conestoga bell arches," sturdy iron pieces measuring 16 in (410 mm) to 20 in (510 mm). The lead horses (or front horses) often had five small bells, the middle horses four, and the pole horses (back horses) three larger ones for

2080-534: A short beam with a pivot plate, two wagon wheels and spindles as well as a drawbar attached to this. A pin attaches the device to a chariot , a wagon or a coach , making the turning radius smaller. Farm wagons are built for general multi-purpose usage in an agricultural or rural setting. These include gathering hay , crops and wood , and delivering them to the farmstead or market . Wagons can also be pulled with tractors for easy transportation of those materials. A common form found throughout Europe

2210-511: A silent film released in 1923 was amongst the earliest cases of covered wagons in 20th century popular culture. The Little House on the Prairie book series features a Conestoga wagon that was owned by the Ingalls family. The cultural depictions of the covered wagons represented American values of pioneering in its early history. The Conestoga wagon is also featured in tradition in the form of

2340-474: A single specimen, is clearly distinct from Conestoga wagons despite similar appearances in different constructions of the front end panel and lower sides. The "Sheibley wagon" has similar shapes to the Groff wagon but is classified as a Conestoga wagon because of the formatting of the wagon bed and bows. The Nissen wagon is a distinct covered wagon variant originating from North Carolina that derived in design from

2470-612: A sports trophy that the football teams of both Dickinson College and Franklin & Marshall College had both competed for since 1963, and the wagon model of the trophy is meant to represent a Conestoga wagon that had transported the teams of both colleges back in 1889. In the modern day, the legacy of Conestoga wagons declined mostly to books, paintings, and historical artifacts held by museums and private collections. Nonetheless, they have been preserved to tell American history and establish appreciation for historical relics. The National Museum of American History , as an example, featured

2600-411: A team of four to six horses of a now-extinct breed, a driver, and sometimes helpers. Conestoga wagons early on may have been produced by farmers but later were often made by teams of blacksmiths, wheelwrights and wagon makers . They were primarily used as transport vehicles that could have carried 6 short tons (5.4 t) to 8 short tons (7.3 t) of raw goods from rural areas to towns or cities of

2730-415: A tongue, it has a coupling pole (a beam connecting the front and back wagon axles). The front and rear portions are very similar in appearances, the differences being very specific. The axletrees are wooden and encased with iron coverings. The wagon's wheels are kept in place by iron linchpins to keep them in position. The rear brake mechanism can be handy for the covered wagons but are not required, hence

SECTION 20

#1732776579643

2860-610: A total of twenty-four bells on the entire team. The bell sounds coming from the Conestoga team were often seen by wagoners as a source of pride and some would tune them for better sound. Traditionally, a Conestoga wagon team that arrived without any bells on, usually the result of forfeiting them to another team as a result of needing assistance on a damaged or stuck wagon, was seen as a source of humiliation. The archaic American phrase "I'll be there with bells on" therefore derived from this now-obsolete tradition. The Conestoga wagon model

2990-406: A two-wheeled "haywain" would be a hay cart, as opposed to a carriage. Wain is also an archaic term for a chariot. Wain can also be a verb, to carry or deliver, and has other meanings. Contemporary or modern animal-drawn wagons may be of metal instead of wood and have regular wheels with rubber tires instead of traditional wagon wheels. A person who drives wagons is called a "wagoner",

3120-676: A variety of wagon designs were already created. They also may have possibly brought early farm wagons with them as well. Wagons would have proven increasingly necessary in North America due to the need to haul farm goods and trade goods such as furs to other settlements such as Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania and to ports for Europe. There is no documented record of any strictly "first" Conestoga wagon to have ever been made. Covered wagon designs may have been standardized in design within colonial America, making it differ from

3250-605: A wooden wagon with both hickory bows on top to hold up a waterproof canvas and wooden wheels. Covered wagons are generally pulled by draft horses and act as both a transport vehicle and mobile home. They were specialized vehicles for transversing on rough roads, although walking or horse-riding would have been preferred in other circumstances by travelers. Although they generally made for uncomfortable travel experiences, covered wagons are considered by historians to have been vital to pioneer families whose possessions required long-distance travel while acting as temporary shelters for when

3380-400: Is a uniquely American design with no close European equivalent, being well-suited for transversal through American roads that were not yet macadam , or built from hard stone. It is boat-shaped in terms of both crosswise (horizontal) and lengthwise (vertical) dimensions, thus ensuring the ability for sagging , or curving downwards in the middle, during movements through hills and valleys so that

3510-725: Is also due to London-centric influences. Examples of R-dropping are car and sugar , where the R is not pronounced. British dialects differ on the extent of diphthongisation of long vowels, with southern varieties extensively turning them into diphthongs, and with northern dialects normally preserving many of them. As a comparison, North American varieties could be said to be in-between. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are usually preserved, and in several areas also /oː/ and /eː/, as in go and say (unlike other varieties of English, that change them to [oʊ] and [eɪ] respectively). Some areas go as far as not diphthongising medieval /iː/ and /uː/, that give rise to modern /aɪ/ and /aʊ/; that is, for example, in

3640-464: Is based on British English, but has more influence from American English , often grouped together due to their close proximity. British English, for example, is the closest English to Indian English, but Indian English has extra vocabulary and some English words are assigned different meanings. Conestoga wagon Conestoga wagons are larger and more robust variants of covered wagons , sharing similarities in usage of white hemp cloths to cover

3770-795: Is included in style guides issued by various publishers including The Times newspaper, the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press . The Oxford University Press guidelines were originally drafted as a single broadsheet page by Horace Henry Hart, and were at the time (1893) the first guide of their type in English; they were gradually expanded and eventually published, first as Hart's Rules , and in 2002 as part of The Oxford Manual of Style . Comparable in authority and stature to The Chicago Manual of Style for published American English ,

3900-475: Is the ladder wagon  [ de ] , a large wagon the sides of which often consisted of ladders strapped in place to hold in hay or grain , though these could be removed to serve other needs. A common type of farm wagon particular to North America is the buckboard . Freight wagons were used for the overland hauling of freight and bulk commodities. They were not designed for transporting people and were not built for comfort. Many were constructed without

4030-547: The Chambers Dictionary , and the Collins Dictionary record actual usage rather than attempting to prescribe it. In addition, vocabulary and usage change with time; words are freely borrowed from other languages and other varieties of English, and neologisms are frequent. For historical reasons dating back to the rise of London in the ninth century, the form of language spoken in London and

Wagon - Misplaced Pages Continue

4160-535: The American Civil War , these wagon trains would often be accompanied by the wagons of private merchants, known as sutlers , who sold goods to soldiers, as well as the wagons of photographers and news reporters. Special purpose-built support wagons existed for blacksmithing , telegraphy and even observation ballooning. In migration settings, such as the emigrant trails of the American West and

4290-570: The Blue Ridge Mountains who were running provisions and stores, expressing confidence that by early May 1755, they would have 200 wagons and 1,500 pack horses ready for deployment into Fort Cumberland . Unfortunately for Braddock, only 25 wagons were deployed for the British frontier port by April, several of which were actually unusable. The major-general was aggravated in reaction to the underwhelming resources and wanted to shut down

4420-663: The British Army officer Robert Orme , the wagons, artillery, and carrying horses were placed into three different divisions that were each overseen by an appointed superior. The wagon masters of each division were expected to keep their teams stable and replenish horses when needed. During the expedition, many wagons sustained critical damage and were replaced by wagons from other camps. Management of horses also proved problematic as they were often lost or brought home by their owners, and those that remained grew weaker over time. Some wagons had to be sent back due to being too heavy, and

4550-658: The East Midlands became standard English within the Court, and ultimately became the basis for generally accepted use in the law, government, literature and education in Britain. The standardisation of British English is thought to be from both dialect levelling and a thought of social superiority. Speaking in the Standard dialect created class distinctions; those who did not speak the standard English would be considered of

4680-522: The English language in England , or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout the British Isles taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating Scottish English , Welsh English , and Northern Irish English . Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English acknowledges that British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions [with]

4810-539: The Great Trek of South Africa, wagons would travel together for support, navigation and protection. A group of wagons may be used to create an improvised fort called a laager , made by circling them to form an enclosure. In these settings, a chuckwagon is a small wagon used for providing food and cooking, essentially a portable kitchen. In addition to horses and oxen, animals such as mules and goats have been used as draft animals for appropriately-sized wagons. As

4940-522: The Reading Company could haul goods such as coal or agricultural produce more efficiently than wagons. As a result, the use of Conestoga wagons later became largely restricted to rural areas. The displacement of Conestoga wagons by railroads and canals in the United States was a national trend. Despite the replacement not only of most wagons but also of the short-lived Pony Express mail service by more technologically advanced modes of transport,

5070-493: The Royal Spanish Academy with Spanish. Standard British English differs notably in certain vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation features from standard American English and certain other standard English varieties around the world. British and American spelling also differ in minor ways. The accent, or pronunciation system, of standard British English, based in southeastern England, has been known for over

5200-490: The Scots language or Scottish Gaelic ). Each group includes a range of dialects, some markedly different from others. The various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages. Around the middle of the 15th century, there were points where within the 5 major dialects there were almost 500 ways to spell the word though . Following its last major survey of English Dialects (1949–1950),

5330-558: The Susquehanna River via ferry boats, and heavy wagon traffic for ferrying had resulted in wagons waiting in line for up to three days. It was used to some extent for travel to the western frontier, but it was generally too heavy, required too many draft animals for hauling, and was an expensive vehicle to build or purchase. Standard "prairie schooners" were much more often used since they were lighter, had sturdier wheels, and were cheaper. The perception of Conestoga wagons being

Wagon - Misplaced Pages Continue

5460-573: The University of Leeds has started work on a new project. In May 2007 the Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded a grant to Leeds to study British regional dialects. The team are sifting through a large collection of examples of regional slang words and phrases turned up by the "Voices project" run by the BBC , in which they invited the public to send in examples of English still spoken throughout

5590-610: The West Country and other near-by counties of the UK, the consonant R is not pronounced if not followed by a vowel, lengthening the preceding vowel instead. This phenomenon is known as non-rhoticity . In these same areas, a tendency exists to insert an R between a word ending in a vowel and a next word beginning with a vowel. This is called the intrusive R . It could be understood as a merger, in that words that once ended in an R and words that did not are no longer treated differently. This

5720-672: The 1750s confirm the usage of farm wagons during the Braddock Expedition that were referred to as "Conestoga wagons." No wagon of the war campaign survives today, but archeological evidence of wagon fragments provide limited evidence of the wagon designs. The wheel diameters are typical of farm wagons rather than military vehicles, and the presence of strakes for wagon wheels indicate the lack of brakes in early farm wagons that later Conestoga wagons had. The wagons used by Braddock's men also carried smaller loads compared to later Conestoga wagons due to their smaller sizes. According to

5850-523: The 1880s to 1920s and held up to 500 gallons of oil or spirits. In the city center of Schwäbisch Gmünd , Germany, since 1992 the city's plants are irrigated using a horse-drawn wagon with a water tank . Wagons have also served as the first mobile homes , as mobile workshops, and mobile kitchens. Travelling circuses decorated their wagons to be able to take part in the grand parade —even packing wagons for equipment, animal cage wagons, living vans and band wagons. Popular in North America was, and still is,

5980-406: The 19th century. "The Wagoner's Curse On The Railroad" was a song sung in reflection of the saddened and disgruntled wagoners whose ways of life were displaced by the rise of the railroads. A brief 1937 poem for The Denver Post made a comparison of covered wagons and the more recent autotrailers, drawing upon the mythical status of Conestoga wagons to promote an autotrailer camping craze. However,

6110-629: The 21st century. RP, while long established as the standard English accent around the globe due to the spread of the British Empire , is distinct from the standard English pronunciation in some parts of the world; most prominently, RP notably contrasts with standard North American accents. In the 21st century, dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary , the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ,

6240-458: The British army as they quickly retreated, meaning that a majority of the remaining wagons were lost. Most of the wagons at Dunbar's Camp were burned by the British to prevent the French and Native Americans from seizing their materials as they anticipated pursuit by the enemy forces. Only a few wagons of the Braddock Expedition ultimately remained, and they were returned to their original owners when

6370-563: The British provinces of what is now Canada as well, typically carrying 8 short tons (7.3 t) of goods, and roads were built to accommodate wagon travel. Wagoners, especially in Pennsylvania, often stopped by at taverns, also at the time called "stations." From Chambersburg, Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, there were about 150 taverns, or roughly 1 tavern for each mile. The inns of the 19th century often contained large signs containing painted figures and words that were mounted on posts at

6500-518: The Conestoga wagon such as toolbox lids. The tendencies by blacksmiths to decorate Conestoga wagons with motifs, often those of Pennsylvania Dutch culture such as tulips, hearts, serpents, and birds, are the result of competitive efforts to catch interest of their wagons by customers. Toolbox lids today are valuable collector's items for both museums and private collectors. Women played roles in Conestoga wagon production as well, using loom devices to weave simple canvas covers and ensuring that they fit with

6630-410: The Conestoga wagon. Therefore, Nissen wagons can superficially resemble Conestoga wagons, but the former differs from the latter in usage as lightweight carriage of people and items instead of as heavyweight carriage of goods and the presence of a box in the front area where a driver and a passenger could sit. The Nissen wagon uses just two draft horses given its lightweight nature and is synonymous with

SECTION 50

#1732776579643

6760-410: The Conestoga wagon. The Weber wagon , utilized in the early 19th century, differs from typical Conestoga wagons in the presence of a front end panel and an almost vertical tail gate. Whether it and the similar Sternberg wagon and Shantz wagon can be considered Conestoga wagons is a matter of subjectivity according to Shumway and Frey. On the other hand, the Groff wagon of the later 19th century, known by

6890-836: The English Language (1755) was a large step in the English-language spelling reform , where the purification of language focused on standardising both speech and spelling. By the early 20th century, British authors had produced numerous books intended as guides to English grammar and usage, a few of which achieved sufficient acclaim to have remained in print for long periods and to have been reissued in new editions after some decades. These include, most notably of all, Fowler's Modern English Usage and The Complete Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers . Detailed guidance on many aspects of writing British English for publication

7020-513: The German immigrants of Lancaster County produced their own Conestoga wagons for hauling crops elsewhere and for traveling on dirt roads. The covered wagons often carried flour and iron ores from Lancaster to Philadelphia in exchange for tools, clothing, and furniture. They were also hauled from Conestoga, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, where they returned to the former area with basic goods such as lead, gunpowder, rum, and salt. Conestoga wagon usage

7150-613: The Germanic schwein ) is the animal in the field bred by the occupied Anglo-Saxons and pork (like the French porc ) is the animal at the table eaten by the occupying Normans. Another example is the Anglo-Saxon cu meaning cow, and the French bœuf meaning beef. Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the Anglo-Frisian core of English;

7280-922: The Oxford Manual is a fairly exhaustive standard for published British English that writers can turn to in the absence of specific guidance from their publishing house. British English is the basis of, and very similar to, Commonwealth English . Commonwealth English is English as spoken and written in the Commonwealth countries , though often with some local variation. This includes English spoken in Australia , Malta , New Zealand , Nigeria , and South Africa . It also includes South Asian English used in South Asia, in English varieties in Southeast Asia , and in parts of Africa. Canadian English

7410-544: The Pennsylvania mountain front to protect settlers from Native American raids, as diplomatic relations had been damaged due to the French and Indian War. Some of the most significant roads included the Conestoga Road and the Great Wagon Road . Beginning in the early 19th century, wagons became larger as evident by the size increase of the wagon jacks over time. They were also hauled across rivers such as

7540-712: The South East, there are significantly different accents; the Cockney accent spoken by some East Londoners is strikingly different from Received Pronunciation (RP). Cockney rhyming slang can be (and was initially intended to be) difficult for outsiders to understand, although the extent of its use is often somewhat exaggerated. Londoners speak with a mixture of accents, depending on ethnicity, neighbourhood, class, age, upbringing, and sundry other factors. Estuary English has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some features of RP and some of Cockney. Immigrants to

7670-550: The UK in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country and particularly to London. Surveys started in 1979 by the Inner London Education Authority discovered over 125 languages being spoken domestically by the families of the inner city's schoolchildren. Notably Multicultural London English , a sociolect that emerged in the late 20th century spoken mainly by young, working-class people in multicultural parts of London . Since

7800-534: The US horse population did not experience a corresponding decline in numbers. The decline of the Conestoga wagon and most other covered wagons in the later 19th century did not include the decline of all covered wagon variants, however. The Nissen Wagon, originating in North Carolina, was still a popular transport vehicle throughout the 19th century; contemporaneous production numbers reflect that high demand. In

7930-640: The United Kingdom , as well as within the countries themselves. The major divisions are normally classified as English English (or English as spoken in England (which is itself broadly grouped into Southern English , West Country , East and West Midlands English and Northern English ), Northern Irish English (in Northern Ireland), Welsh English (not to be confused with the Welsh language ), and Scottish English (not to be confused with

SECTION 60

#1732776579643

8060-465: The West Scottish accent. Phonological features characteristic of British English revolve around the pronunciation of the letter R, as well as the dental plosive T and some diphthongs specific to this dialect. Once regarded as a Cockney feature, in a number of forms of spoken British English, /t/ has become commonly realised as a glottal stop [ʔ] when it is in the intervocalic position, in

8190-410: The adjective little is predominant elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within the United Kingdom, and this could be described by the term British English . The forms of spoken English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken and so a uniform concept of British English is more difficult to apply to

8320-431: The alternate term "Salem wagon." The running gear of the four-wheeled Conestoga wagon is assembled into two parts. The first is the front portion, which contain the front wheels connected by the front axletree, front wagon hounds (parts binding the axles to the wagon), front wagon bolster (a wood beam connecting an axletree to the wagon body), and the tongue. The rear portion is made up of similar components, but instead of

8450-488: The award of the grant in 2007, Leeds University stated: that they were "very pleased"—and indeed, "well chuffed"—at receiving their generous grant. He could, of course, have been "bostin" if he had come from the Black Country , or if he was a Scouser he would have been well "made up" over so many spondoolicks, because as a Geordie might say, £460,000 is a "canny load of chink". Most people in Britain speak with

8580-484: The axles (or wheel centers) could clear through or move over low obstacles such as tree stumps and mud. The wheels, equipped with iron tires , ranged in size in accordance to the wagon's size, the largest having been used for the Pitt wagon variants of the early 19th century for mountain-freighting. The rear wheels of large wagons on average have diameters between 60 in (1,500 mm) and 70 in (1,800 mm) while

8710-474: The camping wagons failed to make the same cultural impacts that covered wagons had. The legacy of the Conestoga wagon endured as a symbol of the early United States, being viewed in romantic light along with regular covered wagons in the 20th century. The popular image of the Conestoga wagon was roughly comparable to that of another American horse-drawn vehicle called the Concord coach . The Covered Wagon ,

8840-465: The corresponding wagons according to the wagons' sizes and the curvature of the wagon beds. By the time Conestoga wagons were commercially produced for the United States, the wagon makers individually tended to employ some 20 to 25 assistants in the construction process, but they did not strictly compose any single factory. Also, the Conestoga wagon was never completely standardized in design. Covered wagons resembling Conestoga wagons were built throughout

8970-417: The country, but true Conestoga wagon production, fairly organized in structure, was almost entirely restricted to eastern Pennsylvania. In the later 19th century in comparison, wagon shops in the United States tended to compose less than five workers total. The region now known as Lancaster County was first permanently settled by European colonists, more specifically a Swiss Mennonite Conference group led by

9100-567: The country. The BBC Voices project also collected hundreds of news articles about how the British speak English from swearing through to items on language schools. This information will also be collated and analysed by Johnson's team both for content and for where it was reported. "Perhaps the most remarkable finding in the Voices study is that the English language is as diverse as ever, despite our increased mobility and constant exposure to other accents and dialects through TV and radio". When discussing

9230-405: The county referred to themselves as " Pennsylfawisch Deitsch ," leading to the confusion by Englisher speakers who established the term "Pennsylvanian Dutch" despite them not actually being Dutch. By 1720, farm wagons were already put into usage within the British colony of Pennsylvania as they carried merchandise from Philadelphia to Lancaster county in exchange for furs. In the mid-18th century,

9360-643: The early 20th century, the Nissen Wagon Works continued to produce Nissen Wagons in high numbers for southeastern states, but by the 1940s their use had declined. By the American Civil War , Conestoga wagons were viewed in a romantic light by Americans. Several poems about Conestoga wagons and their wagoners were produced, such as "The Wild Wagoner of the Alleghenies" by Thomas Buchanan Read in 1863 and "Wagoning" by H. L. Fischer in 1888. There were many wagoner-based songs that were produced within

9490-452: The eastern United States, typically bringing back commodified goods in exchange. Conestoga wagons were common presences in the northeast, especially Pennsylvania, as thousands of them may have traveled to different areas annually. Although it was sometimes used for westward frontier travel in the 19th century, lightweight and cheaper covered wagons were generally preferred by the pioneers. The Nissen wagon , likely deriving from Conestoga wagons,

9620-730: The expedition, but he later commissioned Benjamin Franklin to gather some 150 wagons and 1,500 pack horses from the locals. Franklin eventually succeeded in Braddock's demands but with great difficulty due to farmers being unable to afford giving up their resources and the Pennsylvania assembly having little interest in the war due to Quaker affinities. Another challenge was of building roads, as several road builders under Colonel James Burd were being killed by Native Americans, leading to many others threatening to quit their work unless they were given protection. Letters and newspaper accounts of

9750-425: The float or show wagon, driven by six horses pulling a highly decorated show wagon with a token payload, and heavily painted with company or owner advertising. Horse-drawn wagons are popular attractions at tourist destinations for leisurely sightseeing. During the transition to mechanized vehicles from animal-powered, vehicles were built by coachbuilders and the bodies and undercarriages were substantially similar to

9880-469: The former term saw common usage by February 5, 1750, for a Philadelphia tavern named "The Sign of the Conestogoe Wagon." The synonymous term "Dutch Waggon" was also used for the location for another advertisement in the same newspaper publication on February 12, 1750. The Conestoga wagon is a more robust variant of covered wagon (or prairie schooner) – it has the general characteristics of being

10010-757: The front wheels were smaller and generally measured approximately 50 in (1,300 mm) in diameter. Medium-sized Conestoga wagon rear wheels meanwhile generally measure between 54 in (1,400 mm) and 60 in (1,500 mm) in diameter. The tires of large Conestoga wagon rear wheels usually measure 3.75 in (95 mm) to 4 in (100 mm) in width while those of medium Conestoga wagon rear wheels measured about 3 in (76 mm) in width. Conestoga wagons used for hauling and farming may have been complimented with different wheel size sets for performing different transversal duties, from small wheels for farms to large ones for road travel. Medium-sized wheels normally contain 14 spokes (or rods connecting to

10140-924: The highway to catch the attention of wagoners, including those who were illiterate. The taverns were numerous, but not all of them welcomed wagoners in for service. In the winter, the wagons were parked on planks so that the wheels would not freeze while the wagoners stayed in overnight. The taverns were normally crowded on busy days, and wagoners may have expected greetings from other tavern guests, ranging from fellow wagoners to community members meeting up there. Tavern keepers, generally influential men of their communities, made profits from selling liquor and meals to them, but their revenue mainly came from overnight stays, which would have costed less than $ 1.75. The next morning, wagoners followed typical schedules of eating breakfast then tending to their horses (i.e. feeding and watering them) before departing. The Conestoga wagon's extended period of use in North America gradually declined in

10270-592: The horse-drawn vehicles. In modern times, the term station wagon survives as a type of automobile. It describes a car with a passenger compartment that extends to the back of the vehicle, that has no trunk, that has one or more rear seats that can be folded making space for carrying cargo, as well as featuring an opening tailgate or liftgate. In migration and military settings, wagons were often found in large groups called wagon trains . In warfare, large groups of supply wagons were used to support traveling armies with food and munitions, forming "baggage trains". During

10400-458: The idea of two different morphemes, one that causes the double negation, and one that is used for the point or the verb. Standard English in the United Kingdom, as in other English-speaking nations, is widely enforced in schools and by social norms for formal contexts but not by any singular authority; for instance, there is no institution equivalent to the Académie française with French or

10530-588: The lack of them in some Conestoga wagons. The front hounds are made from oak wood and are the connecting piece between the wagon tongue and the front axletree. They are bound by a transverse oak and iron brace piece that can keep the wagon tongue up. The front hounds can also support the curved iron pieces that minimize sideways swaying and preventing toppling for the front wagon portion. The left front hound may also hold an iron sheath for an axe that wagoners can use to cut through wood obstacles or make new tongues and axletrees. The Conestoga wagon wheels were high so that

10660-523: The last southern Midlands accent to use the broad "a" in words like bath or grass (i.e. barth or grarss ). Conversely crass or plastic use a slender "a". A few miles northwest in Leicestershire the slender "a" becomes more widespread generally. In the town of Corby , five miles (8 km) north, one can find Corbyite which, unlike the Kettering accent, is largely influenced by

10790-518: The later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core of a more elaborate layer of words from the Romance branch of the European languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of great flexibility and with a huge vocabulary . Dialects and accents vary amongst the four countries of

10920-416: The latter half of the early 19th century as technological change ushered in more practical alternatives. This was especially true in the state where the covered wagons had originated, Pennsylvania, as the introduction and spread of canals provided a cheaper and faster way to transport goods. Another major factor in the decline of Conestoga wagons was the construction of railroads, over whose lines companies like

11050-721: The latter option. Early Conestoga wagons in the mid-18th century were smaller, had four draft horses for each wagon, and may have had been capable of carrying up to 1 short ton (0.91 t) of goods for hauling. The weight capacity of early Conestoga wagons is estimated, however, as none have survived to the modern day. The later, more advanced Conestoga wagons in comparison were pulled by six draft horses and were capable of carrying up to 6 short tons (5.4 t) of goods for travel. The largest Conestoga wagons may have been capable of carrying up to 8 short tons (7.3 t) of goods. Some Conestoga wagons had as many as 8 draft horses, but none ever had fewer than 4 of them. The Conestoga horse

11180-401: The left side of the Conestoga wagon is a short but strong white oak board known as the "lazy board." It is able to bear the weight of the wagon driver, or his helper if he hired one, who managed his draft animals plus team and operated the brake there. This meant that the driver had a habit of operating Conestoga wagons on the left side, starkly contrasting with modern operations of automobiles on

11310-405: The loads remained centered. However, the curvatures of the boxes could have also been for stylistic purposes, as consumers may have preferred their designs over those of straight-sided wagons. The wagon body of a Conestoga wagon, known also as a "box" or "bed," has a complex design compared to typically simple rectangular wagon boxes. The designs of the Conestoga wagon's body were intended to make

11440-457: The mass internal migration to Northamptonshire in the 1940s and given its position between several major accent regions, it has become a source of various accent developments. In Northampton the older accent has been influenced by overspill Londoners. There is an accent known locally as the Kettering accent, which is a transitional accent between the East Midlands and East Anglian . It is

11570-463: The modern period, but due to their remoteness from the Germanic languages , influence on English was notably limited . However, the degree of influence remains debated, and it has recently been argued that its grammatical influence accounts for the substantial innovations noted between English and the other West Germanic languages. Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting

11700-761: The name "Conestoga" was previously applied to a river stream by the Bohemian merchant Augustine Herman in 1665, and it was also used as a name for the now-extinct Susquehannock tribe. The slang term "stogie," used for long and cheap cigars made from rolled leaves and at times smoked by Conestoga wagoners, may have derived from the Conestoga wagon term. Farm wagons became increasingly prevalent in Philadelphia since after 1720, many of which were referred to as "Conestoga" or "Dutch" wagons. Advertisements in The Pennsylvania Gazette indicate that

11830-597: The others had loads removed in order to reduce their weights. The Braddock Expedition ended with the Battle of the Monongahela , which ultimately proved to be disastrous for the British Army. Many of Braddock's soldiers were killed or wounded by the opposing French and their allied Native American forces, and Braddock himself was mortally wounded. Most of the British artillery, wagons, and supplies were abandoned by

11960-607: The pioneers needed to sleep. Wagoners did not ride inside the Conestoga wagons themselves; instead they either walked beside the wagon's team, rode on the backmost and left-sided horse (known as a "wheel horse"), or sat on the "lazy board" of the wagon's left side in front of its rear wheel. The difficulty of Conestoga wagon travel was weighed largely on the road surface conditions, the poorer conditions leading to larger rolling resistance . Conestoga wagons derived in design from earlier covered wagons. They had general boat-like shapes, their sides slanting outwards. The interior floors of

12090-521: The preferred vehicle of choice for traveling westward in North America is seemingly the result of them being better-represented in literature and media compared to the smaller prairie schooners. Still, by the 1840s, the Conestoga wagon saw usage in the Santa Fe Trail , being distinguished in purpose from the medium and light covered wagons used by settlers migrating to California or Oregon. Conestoga wagons saw also some usage by German immigrants of

12220-414: The rear axletree, or an underside bar connecting two wheels, of the wagon. Conestoga wagons may also be equipped with water barrels on the side, toolboxes for wagon-fixing, and a pot of tar for keeping the wheels moving. The feed box measures 5 ft (1.5 m) to 6 ft (1.8 m) long, approximately 12 in (300 mm) wide, and 10 in (250 mm) deep in dimensions. The top edges of

12350-401: The rear wheels were 7 feet (2.13 m) in diameter, and the wagons weighed 7,800 pounds (3,500 kg) empty. Freight wagons in the American West were hauled by oxen, mules or horses. Freight wagon teams would generally haul between three and thirty-five tons of freight when hauling to mining outposts. On the return, they would haul ore to steamboats or to railroad depots. A delivery wagon

12480-566: The religious leader Hans Herr , by 1719. The Ephrata Cloister religious community settled there in 1732 followed by the Amish around 1760. German immigrants arrived to Lancaster County within the 18th century because of the rich-quality land. The Pennsylvanian town of Lancaster was founded by John Wright in 1730 and grew to become one of the largest towns in the American colonies by the American Revolution . The German immigrants of

12610-459: The right. The heavy and sturdy brakes served to slow down the wagon's wheels when the driver held the iron handle (or "lock patent") down, and the handles were also used to lock the brakes. The brakes were vital for managing the wagon through unsmooth roads. The tongue, or a long board in the wagon's front area, may be plated in iron then painted. There are several other covered wagon variants, known from complete wagon evidence, that closely resemble

12740-505: The romanticized image waned by the 21st century. The exact origins of covered wagons and the derivation of Conestoga wagons from earlier covered wagons remain not well known. The less adequately documented history of Conestoga wagons is in part due to the overall lack of specificity of the wagon types from early American colonists of the 18th century. Knowledge of wagon production in colonial America originated from that of English and German immigrants of Great Britain and central Europe where

12870-563: The size increase of wagon jacks is correlated directly with the increased size of the covered wagons. Conestoga wagon production depended largely on the labors of blacksmiths and similar occupations since the colonial era of the United States, coinciding with increased land colonization and the rise of the American iron industry. The American iron industry was fueled by the abundant lumber from land-clearing that could be converted to charcoal and be used by blacksmiths to melt iron in furnaces into needed products. The American colonial iron industry

13000-401: The spoken language. Globally, countries that are former British colonies or members of the Commonwealth tend to follow British English, as is the case for English used by European Union institutions. In China, both British English and American English are taught. The UK government actively teaches and promotes English around the world and operates in over 200 countries . English is

13130-579: The suggestions in early United States history books that the Conestoga wagon boxes allowed for traveling passengers and goods across rivers—the boxes were not water-tight and would have leaked if placed in water bodies. The wagon bed is typically created from the hardy woods of white oaks ( Quercus alba ). It measures 16 ft (4.9 m) in length from its front to rear ends and never more than 4 ft (1.2 m) in width. Six to twelve sloping hooplike hickory bows or "tilts", reaching individual grounded heights of 12 ft (3.7 m), are arched over

13260-603: The theft of work tools worth £500 from a van at the Sprucefield park and ride car park in Lisburn. A football team can be treated likewise: Arsenal have lost just one of 20 home Premier League matches against Manchester City. This tendency can be observed in texts produced already in the 19th century. For example, Jane Austen , a British author, writes in Chapter 4 of Pride and Prejudice , published in 1813: All

13390-403: The traditional accent of Newcastle upon Tyne , 'out' will sound as 'oot', and in parts of Scotland and North-West England, 'my' will be pronounced as 'me'. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are diphthongised to [ɪi] and [ʊu] respectively (or, more technically, [ʏʉ], with a raised tongue), so that ee and oo in feed and food are pronounced with a movement. The diphthong [oʊ] is also pronounced with

13520-403: The trough are embedded with light iron straps to prevent damage of it by the horses' teeth. The iron lug and pin of the feed box, positioned at the opposite ends of the trough from each other, are intended to fix the box's position at the tongue while the horses feed. The water bucket fills a similar purpose for consumption of water from nearby water sources by horses. The tar pot was wooden and had

13650-422: The turn of the 19th century marked a shift towards specialized craftsmanship as wheelwrights and wagon makers became separate occupations from blacksmiths, all three of whom worked together to produce Conestoga wagons. Blacksmiths at times also hired apprentices to operate or produce tools. Blacksmiths used various tools such as vises , hammer and anvils, pliers , and drills to iron the wagon's gear and decorate

13780-428: The varied designs of English farm wagons of the 18th–19th centuries. They may have possibly derived from both English road wagons and large wagons of Germany although this remains speculative. The earliest documented usage of the American wagons was in 1716 when Philadelphia fur trader James Logan , who took over William Penn's business estate after his death, wrote in his account book the usage of an individual wagon by

13910-750: The varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. One of these dialects, Late West Saxon , eventually came to dominate. The original Old English was then influenced by two waves of invasion: the first was by speakers of the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who settled in parts of Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries; the second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and ultimately developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman . These two invasions caused English to become "mixed" to some degree (though it

14040-501: The vehicles arrived at Wills Creek in Pennsylvania. Both the owners who their wagons and/or horses returned to and those who did not due to their being lost were compensated for accordingly. In total, 156 wagons are thought to have been employed for the disastrous Braddock Expedition, the only wagon to survive intact being that of William Douglas. Conestoga wagons, strictly speaking, are generally thought to have had widespread usage within North America lasting from 1750 to 1850, although

14170-546: The wagon bed. Early on, they built most of the wagon except for the wheels, but the wagon builder occupation later arose by the turn of the 19th century to help with the construction process. The construction of the Conestoga wagon was a laborious process and required light but strong wood of pure qualities. Because of the long process and importance of the wagon in the United States, a finished product could have costed as much as $ 250 in 1820. Blacksmiths of high expertise were able to not only iron but decorate different elements of

14300-521: The wagon last a long time and be flexible for traveling through roads that are normally rough for heavy-loaded vehicles. As a result, the Conestoga wagon is more representative in technological niches as a large-sized basket on a set of wheels than a box. Its designs were meant to replicate large-sized watercrafts that serve the dual purposes of carrying heavy quantities of goods and withstanding hostile environmental conditions such as currents. Historians George Shumway and Howard C. Frey considered nonsensical

14430-400: The wagon type were slightly curved. The wagons combined with three pairs of hauling horses could have measured up to 60 ft (18 m) long. Depending on the weight load of the wagons, the terrestrial vehicles were transported by some four to six horses. In comparison, American western frontier covered wagons were often transported by oxen instead of horses, but travelers tended to prefer

14560-445: The wagon's bed to hold the white canvas sheet that covers them. The canvas, a cloth made from hemp fiber, was tied down to both sides of the wagon body but were left overhanging at both its front and rear ends. The white sheet measures approximately 24 ft (7.3 m) long. The positioning of the canvas serves to shield the wagon's contents from rainfall while allowing for air circulation for cargo and passengers. The Conestoga wagon

14690-479: The wagoner John Miller for hauling goods from Philadelphia to the Conestoga River Valley in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania . Two other wagons were created and put to use by other individuals from the Conestoga valley named James Hendricks and Joseph Cloud, respectively in 1717. In November of the same year, Logan established a store for selling hardware and household goods to German settlers and Native Americans in Conestoga. Logan then purchased what he called

14820-609: The wagons and horses to be employed for British-American military service to capture the French Fort Duquesne . Neither the Pennsylvania assembly nor those of Maryland and Virginia passed any law to cover military transport. The Major-General Edward Braddock arrived to North America in February 1755 to carry out his role as commander-in-chief of the British forces during the French and Indian War. Colonel Sir John St. Clair informed Braddock about settlers at

14950-401: The wagons, large wheels to travel on non- macadam road surfaces, and intended usage as vehicles to transport items elsewhere. It differs from most other covered wagon variants mainly by the curvature of the wagon body's sides and floor, which replicated boats and served the dual purposes of keeping the luggage centered while also looking visually pleasing to wagon customers. They were operated by

15080-411: The wheel's center) while large wheels usually have 16 of them. Additional accessories may be paired with the Conestoga wagon for utilitarian purposes. On the rear end of the wagon is a wooden trough known as the "feed trough" or "feed box" that wagon operators were able to remove, fill with grain, and place on the tongue to feed the draft animals. Also present was a water bucket that was usually hung on

15210-402: The word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity". Variations exist in formal (both written and spoken) English in the United Kingdom. For example, the adjective wee is almost exclusively used in parts of Scotland, north-east England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally Yorkshire , whereas

15340-568: The world are good and agreeable in your eyes. However, in Chapter 16, the grammatical number is used. The world is blinded by his fortune and consequence. Some dialects of British English use negative concords, also known as double negatives . Rather than changing a word or using a positive, words like nobody, not, nothing, and never would be used in the same sentence. While this does not occur in Standard English, it does occur in non-standard dialects. The double negation follows

15470-403: The year range is by no means strict. Several authors argued that the "golden age" of Conestoga wagons (or time of peak usage) lasted from 1820 to 1840. As the main terrestrial vehicles of transport in North America, they frequently hauled farm goods from rural areas into towns and cities in exchange for other manufactured commodities. In the 18th century of the United States, the Conestoga wagon

15600-602: Was a predominant form of freight wagon in the late 18th and 19th centuries, often used for hauling goods on the Great Wagon Road in the Appalachian Valley and across the Appalachian Mountains. Even larger wagons were built, such as the twenty-mule team wagons , used for hauling borax from Death Valley , which could haul 36 short tons (32 long tons; 33 t) per pair. The wagons' bodies were 16 feet (4.88 m) long and 6 feet (1.83 m) deep;

15730-492: Was a specialized breed of heavy and large draft animal as well as one of the few horse breeds to have originated from North America. The origins of the breed is unknown, but they probably originated from a few individual horses from Pennsylvania. They were popularly used because of their abilities to haul loaded heavy Conestoga wagons. Conestoga horses typically came in black or bay hair coat colors but were sometimes dapple gray . The Conestoga horse breed went extinct likely as

15860-532: Was also lightweight despite superficially resembling them and was a dominant vehicle type in the southeastern states compared to the heavyweight wagons. Conestoga wagon usage likely declined as a result of displacement by canals and railroads in the 19th century, which proved to be more efficient means of transporting goods. Despite this, the cultural legacy of the Conestoga wagon endured in the later 19th and 20th centuries as they and other covered wagons became icons of early American history including pioneering, although

15990-601: Was broadened to American settlers for pioneering west as time passed. The Conestoga wagons were notably the major transport vehicles used during the Braddock Campaign of the French and Indian War . They were first referenced in relation to the war campaign by the Pennsylvania governor Robert Hunter Morris when he advised the Pennsylvania General Assembly that they cover the expenses of

16120-569: Was challenged by the British implementation of the Iron Act in 1750, which limited American production of cast iron and bar iron products. Nonetheless, pig iron (or crude iron) was still a prominent good within and near the Lancaster County of Pennsylvania. In the 18th century, farmers were expected to support themselves and their families by combined knowledge of farming and blacksmithing. Based on tax assessments in Lancaster County,

16250-471: Was correlated with the growth population in the western region and the rising economic development of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . From 1750 up to 1775, more than 10,000 Conestoga wagons traveled within the Pennsylvania region to Philadelphia annually, and 50 to 100 wagons traveled daily. At times, a whole train of 100 wagons traveled at once. Wagon travel was made possible by the construction of roads across multiple provinces to make travel easier and forts within

16380-510: Was extensively painted given the prominence of flair in Pennsylvania Dutch culture. The wagon box has light blue color tones whereas the ironworks were black and the wheels, running gear, and sideboards were vermilion in color. The prominence of color in Conestoga wagons make it partially differ from other covered wagons, many of which had no painted colors due to concerns that draft animals were frightened by bright colors. On

16510-444: Was formerly called a wain and one who builds or repairs wagons is a wainwright . More specifically, a wain is a type of horse- or oxen-drawn, load-carrying vehicle, used for agricultural purposes rather than transporting people. A wagon or cart, usually four-wheeled; for example, a haywain, normally has four wheels, but the term has now acquired slightly poetical connotations, so is not always used with technical correctness. However,

16640-422: Was never a truly mixed language in the strictest sense of the word; mixed languages arise from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication). The more idiomatic, concrete and descriptive English is, the more it is from Anglo-Saxon origins. The more intellectual and abstract English is, the more it contains Latin and French influences, e.g. swine (like

16770-412: Was the most popular transport vehicle of the American frontier, and as many as one hundred of them traveled in individual groups, extending in geographical range from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Augusta, Georgia . However, Conestoga wagon travel was still costly, so merchants often preferred transport of goods by sea. The increase in usage of Conestoga wagons within Pennsylvania in the later 18th century

16900-452: Was used to deliver merchandise such as milk, bread, produce, meat and ice to residential and commercial customers, predominantly in urban settings. The concept of express wagons and of paneled delivery vans developed in the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century, delivery wagons were often finely painted, lettered and varnished, serving as image-builders and rolling advertisements. Special forms of delivery wagon include an ice wagon and

#642357