Wagons for the Santa Fe Trade: Wheeled Vehicles and Their Makers, 1822-1880

Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. First Edition Stated . Trade Paperback. Fine. 6" x 9. 204 Pages Indexed. As new book with bright, tight, and white pages. Brown pictorial cover. No marks.Illustrated with 80 figures. This profusely illustrated history explores Santa Fe Trade freight wagons and wagon makers. For a half-century until the railroad reached New Mexico in 1880, hundreds of freight wagons yearly hauled commercial goods over the Santa Fe Trail, the major traffic artery between Missouri and New Mexico. The author identifies wagon types and examines wagon makers and their factories, power sources, woodworking machinery, and construction processes. Individual chapters examine Pennsylvania and Missouri wagons, characteristics of freight wagons, the transition from shop to factory, and Dearborns, personal vehicles, and provision wagons. The author also devotes a chapter to the legendary wind wagon. Appendices offer first-person descriptions of merchant trains, rolling stock, and wagon factories. Contents in Nine Chapters: Early Wagons on the Santa Fe Trail, Wagons from Pennsylvania, a Missouri Wagon Industry, Characteristics of Freight Wagons on the Santa Fe Trail, From Shop to Factory, The Santa Fe Wagon 1858-1880, Wagon Remnants, Dearborns, Personal Vehicles and Provision Wagons, and To Sail Upon the Prairies Sea.