A covered wagon, also called a prairie wagon, whitetop, [1] or prairie schooner, [2] is a horse-drawn or ox-drawn wagon used for passengers or freight hauling.

prairie schooner, 19th-century covered wagon popularly used by emigrants traveling to the American West. In particular, it was the vehicle of choice on the Oregon Trail. The name prairie schooner was derived from the wagon’s white canvas cover, or bonnet, which gave it the appearance, from a distance, of the sailing ship known as a schooner.

Pioneers needed wagons strong enough to haul people and supplies for five months or more. To outlast the rugged trail and months of wear, the wagon needed to be constructed of seasoned hardwood. Most pioneers used the typical farm wagon with a …

2012年10月23日 · Covered wagons helped push the American frontier all the way to the Pacific Ocean, but for western trails the Conestoga wagon morphed into the prairie schooner. Smaller, lighter, and lacking the distinctive curve, prairie schooners carried household goods and some family members—most settlers walked.

2023年2月2日 · On a good day, a wagon train might cover 20 miles — seven days a week, with no holidays, trying to take advantage of good weather before autumn and winter struck, trying to cover some 2,000 miles in about five months.

2024年1月15日 · In this list, we’ll take a look at ten surprising facts about what it was really like to travel in a covered wagon. The trips were rough in all senses of the word: physically, psychologically, emotionally, financially, and in the time commitment it took to trek across inhospitable terrain.

2023年9月7日 · Long wagon trains of families trekked across the plains, doing all they could to stay together in order to help each other. Struggling over treacherous mountain passes and parched deserts, the pioneers inched their way west in long, snaking wagon trains.

2019年4月15日 · Referred to as prairie schooners, they had white canvas covers that resembled the appearance of ship sails, and were smaller as well as lighter versions Conestogas, which were animal-drawn freight wagons that originated in …

2018年6月11日 · COVERED WAGON, the means of transcontinental transportation used for two centuries of American history. The covered wagon was fundamentally a wagon box with a framework of hoop-shaped slats over which a canvas tent …

Most modern illustrations of covered wagons, for example, depict the huge and lumbering Conestoga, with its boat shaped bed and sloping sides, its cover overhanging front and rear to give the whole a “swayback” appearance. Originating about 1750 in …