The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-04-21
CAPT. PEPPARD'S LAND SHIP
HIS V0Y1GE FROM KANSAS no
DENYER.
Part of the Way Mt Thirty Miles an
Hour.

In these days of automobiles motor
cycles and horseless vehicles it may
not be uninteresting to know that one
of the early inventions of this country
to do away with animal motive power
originated In Kansas City, Kan.
Samuel Peppard was the genius who
constructed a vehicle that carried him
and three companions over the plains
from Oshaloosa almost to Denver.
And with such rapidity, too that he
not only passed all the white people
journeying the same way, but easily
distanced Indian pursuers and won
for his rig the unstinted admiration of
the red men,
1t was during the time of the ex-
element following the discovery of
gold in Colorado A great many
people had set out for this Ell Dorado,
and long wagon trains were to be seen
every day moving across the plains,
Mr.. Peppard was anxious to go, but
there was one great difficulty in the
way-he didn't have the money to buy
horses and wagon. SO he sat down
and thought it all over, and then as
result he gave out that he was going
to build wagon with sail, which he
thought would make the trip in about
as good time as any prairie schooner
that was eating around over the wild
and woolly West
When he first began to build the wa
gon, the wise men of the town all
laughed at him for wasting his time
on such craft, just as other wise men
OF Noah's time scroffed at the good
Patriarch Mr. Peppard's advisers de-
cared that If he attempted to navigate
such craft he would certainly be
killed. and the people in general look
ed the wagon over, shook their heads
and called it "Peppard's folly"
But Mr.. Peppard kept on saving
wood and turning it into wheels and
running gear and boards. At last it
was finished. 1t was made of rough
lumber and shaped like a skiff. 1t
was feet long from PROV TO stern and
3 feet across at amidship and 2 feet
deep. The bed was placed on a run
ming gear with aXles feet apart, the
wheels all the size and about as large
as the front wheels of buggy. A 10
foot mast was fastened to the front
of the wagon box, and to this two sails
were rugged the larger 11xS feet, the
other 7x5. They We're both to be work
ed by rope through pulley at the
top of the mast.
If the wind was high the smaller
: was to be used, and if it was low the
larger was to be employed, The wa
gon had brake and a rudder for
steering, The hounds, instead of hav-
Ing tongue attached, came up over
the top of the bed and were welded to-
gether. A bar was fastened here and
extended backward three feet. There
was seat placed at the end of the bar
for the captain, and he steered by
pushing the bar to the right or the
left. The craft rugged out weighed $50
pounds, carried a crew of four men, a
cargo of 500 pounds, the camping out
fit and provisions serving as ballast.
Before Mr.. Peppard started on his
overland voyage he made trial one
mile south of Oskaloosa on the pre-
sent site of the Jefferson county fair
grounds. There is a level stretch of
several miles, and a good, stiff breeze
was on, When it struck the large sail,
the craft stuck it's nose down to the
ground and came near capsizing. He
Stacked sail and set out again with the
large sheet reefed and the smaller full
against the wind, and away it whiz.
zed 1t went so fast, in fact, that the
boxing in the wheels heated. Then,
when it went over a little knoll, it
leaped about thirty feet into the air
and came down with a crash
His vessel was a wreck, but Mr.. Pep
pard was not discouraged. He made
new spindles, repaired the damage,
and in "a few days he and three com
panions were ready to start Profit
ing by his first experience, Mr. Pep
pard chose a day to start when the
wind was blowing only about ten
knots an hour The first day they
went fifty miles. Their route lay
northwest, through Kansas and across
the southwestern part of Nebraska I'M
til they struck the South Platte River, |
and form there they went toward Den
yer.
"Our best time was two miles in four
minutes" said Mr.. Peppard in deserb- |
ing the incidents of the journey. I'VE J
could not run faster than that rate, |
as the boxing would have heated. One |
day we went fifty miles in three hours
and in doing so passed 625 teams"-
From the Kansas City Journal.