Old horse drawn wagons in the collection of Lambert Florin, Portland, Oregon
Byron Larson of Portland, Oregon is the photographer and the publisher of the deckle edged postcard shared this week. The card was distributed by Princess Continental and has the number 131360 and a logo in the place where the stamp is to be affixed on the reverse. Deckle edges were popular from the 1930s to the 1950s with some showing up even into the 1960s. There is an informational blurb at the lower left corner on the reverse explaining that these horse drawn vehicles were part of the atmosphere of the Old West. They are part of Lambert William Florin’s collection of items from the early American West.
Beginning at the left side of the card is a successor of the buckboard and is called a spring wagon. The spring wagon has four wheels and was drawn by draft animals, usually horses. It had a square box and two to four movable seat boards. The seat in the photo looks like a luxury model. It was called a spring wagon because it had a spring-loaded gate and the box body was hung on platform springs, front, rear, or both. It was used as a delivery van.
The next vehicle is a sulky. It had two wheels, was a lightweight cart, and had a seat for the driver. It could be pulled by horses or dogs and was used in harness races. Another form of the sulky was used as a form of rural transportation.
The third wagon, blue and white, in the photo is a regulation horse drawn mail wagon first introduced in the 1870s. These wagons were often embellished with painted eagles, decorative trim and red, white and blue stripes. Before automobiles these mail wagons were used for local mail deliveries.
The fourth wagon on the card is the familiar covered wagon or Conestoga used by “overlanders” migrating westward. They could be pulled by horses, mules or oxen.
This old Schroder family photo, above, taken about 1914, shows a couple, with the woman holding a baby, riding in a wagon similar to what many people of that era would have used. Not a buckboard or spring board but slightly fancier. Written in the album margin was "the old hosh [horse] shay," like the poem about the one horse shay; although, this one has two horses. The seat bench looks like it is made of wicker. "How do you suppose women in those long dresses got up into the wagon?" I asked Bob, thinking there might be a stool or folding step. He suggested that they either had to "claw" their way up or get help from a man.
The collector, Lambert William Florin, was born in Oregon in 1905. When he was a teenager he worked at a number of odd jobs, as a cook, a fisherman, a busboy, and also working on a gladiola farm. In 1923 he moved to San Diego, California where he worked in the florist business for the next 18 years. Alcoholism caused the collapse of his marriage, loss of his job, and ill health brought a return to Portland, Oregon where he was active in Alcoholics Anonymous for many years.
Florin worked for the U.S. Forest Service as fire lookout. He was also a substitute firefighter for the Portland Fire Bureau. He climbed nearly ever peak in the West at least once. He also worked for several local florists. He became interested in ghost towns and photography. He wrote and illustrated 14 Western Ghost Town books in a series. He was a collector of Early American West memorabilia, minerals and gems. He also cultivated roses and had a large collection of orchids. He died in Portland, Oregon in 1993 at the age of 88.
The logo at the upper right corner on the reverse shows a K in a diamond shape with a crown and includes the identifying number. The K in the diamond logo appears on other cards and until this one distributed by Princess Continental that logo had remained a mystery.
For additional information, see:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107365669/lambert-william-florin
https://www.britannica.com/technology/spring-wagon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covered_wagon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulky
http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/dating/mail_service/mail_wagon.php
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