The Republican., 1925-07-30

IOHS anu ueep, DenulHg upward at the
bottom in front and rear. The lower
broadside was painted blue, with a
movable board inserted above il
which was painted red, so that
whether by design or accident, the
white canvas top completed a color
scheme that was eminently patriotic.
The average load was 5000 pounds,
although 10000 pounds was not infre-
quently carried. Some of the wagons
although not all, boasted a chime of
bells. These were cone-shaped, with
an open end somewhat similar to a
dinner bell. They were attached to a
thin iron arch sprung over the top of
the names and tinkled dreamily as
the horses moved along.
The first wagon wheels used on the
; National road were made with narrow
rims that soon were discarded in fav-
or of broad tread to secure lighter
tolls. The rear wheels were much
higher than the front wheels.
! Since rubber was not then used in
relation to vehicles, and to save the
brakes from too quickly wearing out,
because of steep grades, the wagner
cut light poles, from 10 to II feet
long, to tie to the bed of the wagon
with lock chain. 1t was then bent
/ against the hind wheel and tied to the
feed trough or the hind part of the
wagon just tight enough to let the
wheels go slowly.
Trees Used at Brakes.
Sometimes from fifteen to twenty
such poles wore out between Balti-
more and Wheeling. Another and
simpler method was to cut down
young trees and drag it behind the
wagon to retard progress on steep in
clines.
Since there were no bridges across
the Monongahela or the Ohio rivers,
wagons were ferried across on lat
boats; and sometimes drifts were so
deep in the mountains near Frostburg,
Md, that three days were required to
make nine or ten miles.
The whips of the wagoners were
five feet long, of rawhide, thick and
hard at butt and tapering to end in a
/ silken cracker.
Feed troughs for the horses were
slung at the end of the schooner, D."
the bucket for water swung under
meath and usually bull dog was tied
to the rear of the wagon and trotted
amiably along with his tongue hang
ing out.
The huge prairie schooner, as these
wagons were called, carried Balti-
more's commodities to the Western
frontier and returned ladened with
/ flour, corn, whiskey, etc.
| WagOners by Thousands.
The wagoners numbered thousands
Ohio and Daniel Barcus, both of the
commercial road, lived in Frostburg,
Nd. Daniel, in 1898, engaged with
Johns Hopkins, then engaged in busi-
ness at Light and Pratt streets, to
haul load of general merchandise,
weighing $500 pounds, to Mount Ver-
non, Ohio, the agreement being that
he was to deliver the goods, hauled
over the National road, within thirty
days after date of departure from
Baltimore.
Daniel Barcus is authority for the
statement that the first lot of goods
shipped over the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, after its completion to Cum
berland, destined for Wheeling, was
consigned to Shriver & Dixon, COM
mission merchants, Of Cumberland,
and by that firm consigned to For
sythe & Son, Wheeling. 1t weighed
6,143 pounds, an average load for a
six-horse team.
Returned After Years.
The National road had its "Enoch
Arden" in Frank Bradford, a youth
who drove his fathers team to the
old Maypole Tavern on Paca street,
remained overnight and then myster-
iously disappeared and was accounted
dead by those who found his deserted
team in the wagon yard.
Years after, it transpired, ne had
enlisted for service in the Mexican
War; and when he returned to mis-
fathers tavern at Petersburg, Va,
his father did not recognize him. His
aged mother did, however, and tainted
in his arms when she realized that he
whom she mourned as dead, was re-
stored to her.
His father, John Bradford, was one
of the best-known wagoners and gen.
eral agent of the first transportation
company upon the road, for the wag-
ons were as a rule owned and operat-
ed by transportation companies.
Taverns in Baltimore.
One old wagner, Robert Fleming,
of Uniontwn, hauled whisky for many
years from the Overholt distillery,
near Mount Pleasant, to Baltimore,
and carried back to the West mer-
chanaise. One of his earliest return