Here's a question that deals with a somewhat obscure question of historical trivia. The photo below is of a covered wagon (which I've incorporated into a painting that I've almost finished this weekend) displayed at a former US Army fort on what was the Texas frontier, active from 1854 to 1891. The paint job is olive drab, which seems unlikely to be correct for anything before WWI (subject to the contrary being shown) and the question is: "When was this model of wagon made?"
If you'll entertain guesses (and it's a wild ass guess).....after 1880. My reasoning is the short wheel base and relatively small wheels.
But I'm guessing it is military issue. Most draft equipment utilized a device known as an "evener"...an array of draw bars that equalized the pull from more than one draft animal. The pic has a single drawbar..meaning more than one animal, but no evener. Leave it to the military to make things more difficult.;-)
edit:
here's a pic of the Kentucky Wagon Works model "Old Hickory". Mfg'd after 1879. Note the similarities in construction.
> here's a pic of the Kentucky Wagon Works model "Old Hickory". Mfg'd after 1879. Note the similarities in construction.
>
>
That wagon in the photo above looks very similar to the one in the photo I posted and, interestingly, the paint color that I thought was olive drab may well be the same paint originally used on "Old Hickory". The rear wheels are slightly larger in diameter, not greatly so, and both are 12-spoke wheels. The details of the sides of the wagon box are nearly identical, it would appear.
> Hope the Davis Mountains make it into the painting.
Yes, the Davis Mountains are the backdrop to the scene I've painted. The wagon is in the foreground, the end of the row of officer's quarters behind it, and behind them is the columnar red basalt of the foothills of the Davis Mountains.
A dark greenish-blue. That seemed to be the color of some very, very old wagons I recall around farms locally almost 60 years ago. Still, their origin would be a few decades later than your wagon.
> .. The paint job is olive drab ....
That greenish color may be the residual product of linseed oil, mildew, and a century of weathering.
Maybe its just faded John Deere green.
