Existing comment:
Conestoga wagon, about 1830, stenciled by its maker on its back door, "J. B. Kiger/Sperryville, Va.,"1993.48 The Conestoga wagon (developed near Conestoga, Pennsylvania) was designed for hauling freight up and down steep slopes: contents would settle at the middle of its curved bed rather than shift to one end or the other. A lightweight, flat variant carried pioneers from Missouri to the West Coast |