# Talk:Conestoga wagon

This article misunderstands the difference between a Conestoga and a prairie schooner. I suspect that further revisions will continue this error. NONE of the illustrations on this page are Conestogas. A Conestoga is a very specific type of heavy freight wagon with a curved bed. Prairie schooners were ordinary farm wagons, which had the lightness and durability necessary for a cross-country trip. Conestogas are associated with the 18th century and the East Coast; prairie schooners with the 19th century and the overland trails. For an authoritative discussion of the difference between the two wagons, restrict your Googling to authoritative Oregon Trail sites.Bentruwe (talk) 07:49, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
Yes, what is really needed is a separate page for covered wagons (includinging the "prarie schooner", with a link to this page), and this page should be modified to be specifically about Conestoga wagons (the heavy cargo wagons). -- Mshark 2008-07-24
I removed the references to westward expansion, the irrelevant photos, and added a paragraph, with reference, to the effect that Conestogas were not the same as prairie schooners. Not a very neat or tidy job, but at least it gets this whopping misinformation out of Wikipedia. --DPL — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.228.152.241 (talk) 16:40, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

17 years later and this is still a pervasive error.    ▶ I am Grorp ◀  16:46, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I am removing the new content ("as is still the standard arrangement of North American market vehicles") because it is an attempt at correcting what was actually WP:OR by the original author of that content who wrote "starkly contrasting with modern operations of automobiles on the right". The source cited said no such thing; it said "One might note that a driver in a prairie schooner or other wagons and carriages, sat on the right side of the seat, while this Conestoga horseman took the left side, just as the drivers of automobiles do today." I had written something similar at Talk:Wagon § Right or left side of the road last year. The original OR was incorrect; the new change is unnecessary, and the concept is covered sufficiently without the mention of modern vehicles. Therefore, am removing both versions.    ▶ I am Grorp ◀  15:56, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

I also read today on page 4 of Wilkinson, "Driving from the left side of the Conestoga, when other vehicles were driven from the right, made this a forerunner of the current practice of driving from the left side of the vehicle." I'm quite sure that the wiki-editor was confused at "when other vehicles were driven from the right" which was referring to the driver of a carriage or wagon who sat on the right side of a front seat, and was not referring to a side of the road. This caused me to look at the two other times that wiki-editor used Wilkinson, and I augmented the citations with specific page numbers.    ▶ I am Grorp ◀  16:29, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Sources available for online reading at Open Library, and written by subject-matter experts include:

Berkebile, Donald H. (1959). Conestoga Wagons in Braddock's Campaign, 1755. Bulletin 218: Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology. Smithsonian Institute. OL 22373268M. page 150
Berkebile, Donald H. (1978). Carriage Terminology: An Historical Dictionary. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. ISBN 9781935623434. OL 33342342M. pages 106-113, but particularly page 113
Smith, D.J.M. (1988). A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles. J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0851314686. OL 11597864M. pages 55-56
There is also this online source where one must be sure to recognize that "west" means "west of the Allegheny Mountains" and not "west of the Mississippi River".    ▶ I am Grorp ◀  16:03, 10 April 2025 (UTC)