Description
According to the journal of North West Company fur-trader Alexander Henry the younger, the carts made their first appearance in 1801 at Fort Pembina, just south of what is now the United States border. Derived either from the two-wheeled charettes used in French Canada or from Scottish carts, it was adapted to use only local materials.
Because nails were unavailable or very expensive in the early West, these carts contained no iron at all, being entirely constructed of wood and animal hide. The cart was buoyant and could be floated across streams, yet it was strong enough to carry loads as heavy as 450 kg. Two 12-foot-long (3.7 m) parallel oak shafts or "trams" bracketed the draft animal in front and formed the frame of the cart to the rear. Crosspieces held the floorboards, and front, side and rear boards or rails enclosed the box. These wooden pieces were joined by mortices and tenons. Also of seasoned oak was the axle, lashed to the cart by strips of bison hide or "shaganappi" attached when wet, which shrunk and tightened as they dried. The axles connected two spoked wheels, five or six feet in diameter, which were "dished" or in the form of a shallow cone, the apex of which was at the hub.
Motive power for the carts was originally supplied by small horses obtained from the First Nations. After cattle were brought to the Selkirk Settlement in the 1820s, oxen were used, preferred because of their strength, endurance, and cloven hooves, which spread their weight in swampy areas. The cart, constructed of native materials, could easily be repaired. A supply of shaganapi and wood was brought; a cart could break a half-dozen axles in a one-way trip. The axles were ungreased, as grease would capture dust, which would act as sandpaper and immobilize the cart. The resultant squeal sounded like an untuned violin, giving it the sobriquet "the North West fiddle"; one visitor wrote that "a den of wild beasts cannot be compared with its hideousness."
Read more about this topic: Red River Cart
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