The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-27
Martins Handcart Company, 1856
No. 8.
BY JOSIAH ROBERTSON.

our Article No. 2, to read: Crossing
the Iowa river, Iowa, between and 8
p M, on the Goth day of July, 1856 as
written), with four Sehuttler wagons,
etc." and near the close of the same
paragraph. read land till the guarding
and the snow had buried many of his
nightly platoons," instead of mighty
platoons.
After describing the size and make
up of the open and covered handcarts,
provisions, wagons, etc, for the Jour-
ney, we shall commence again with
the diary and journal. leaving the Flor
ence camp ground Monday. Aug. %.
How Handcart Was Made.
The open handoart was made Of
Iowa hickory or oak, the shafts and
side pieces of the same material, but
the axle generally of hickory. In
length the side pieces and shafts were
about six or seven feet, with three or
four binding crossbars from the back
part to the fore part of the body of
the cart; then two or three feet space
from the latter bar TO the front bar or
singletree for the lead horse or lead
boy of the team. The carts were the
usual width of the wide track wagon,
so as to fit the wagon tracks across
the meadows of Iowa, and the buffalo
pastures of Nebraska and Wyoning.
Across the bars of the bed of the cart
we generally sewed d strip of bed-tick-
ing or Counterpart and on this wood
en- cart of a thimbleless axle, with
about two and one-half-inch she ul-
der and one-inch point, We're loaded
on many cart, 400 or 500 pounds of
Hour, bedding, extra clothing. cooking
utensils, etc, and a tent How the
flimsy Yankee hickory structure held
up the load for hundreds of miles has
been wonder to US since then, but my
brother Bill and 1 and Tom Dobson,
and Willard and hundreds of Others,
pulled similar loads from Florence to
Ash Allow, Wyoming, and miles far
Their west. We felt 1t a generous re-
lease of our burdens when Captain
Wignall would come and say TO the
Jonathan Clegg: Take
a sack from this cart today, and a sack
from another cart tomorrow, to be dis
tributed, one pound to cvegy adult, to
each member of his company that
evening.
The Family Cart.
The covered or family cart was SINH
lar in size and construction, with the
exception that il was made stronger,
with an iron axle. about an inch in
thickness at the shoulder, and three
quarters of an inch at the point; a
small twagon) box, three to four feet
long, with side and end boards about
eight inches high. This cart, as will
be seen, was made more for the carry
ing of children than the open cart.
Two persons We're. assigned to the
pulling Of each open cart, and where &
father and son of age and strength were
found in one family, with smaller chill
dren, they were allotted a covered cart,
but in many instances the father had
to pull the covered cart alone.
Our six provisions wagons, loaded to
the bows, with two and three yoke of
oxen to the wagon; one four-mule
team, which was utilized for carrying
the tents and poles, picking up the fee
bic, aged and children as they became
tired on the way; one light spring
wagon, with two mules, and one riding
pony, formed the advance part OF our
train. The COS members of the COM
pany now were divided into six COM
panies of 100 each, with VIM. Wignall
captain of the first 1o0 and Peter
Mayo, Thomas Ord, John Toone, Rob
ert Holt (for many years previous pres
ident of the Manchester conference),
and 1 think man named Robinson,