Note: the above is the original article word button if this doesn't load right for you. many people were accessing this site recently so I thought I would re-share it because so many people seem interested in this article.I took the first picture by the way around this time. It was at a Shell Station in the Big Sur area next to a restroom. I took this picture I think with my Iphone 4 before I accidentally ran it through the wash in my jeans about one month later.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wooden Wheels on Cars before 1925 or 1930
OLD WOODEN SPOKE WHEEL
You just don't see many like this anymore. My father talked about his
father having wheels like this on their touring car while traveling from
Texas to California. There were no paved roads between Texas and
California except in large cities. He said going across the desert they
broke a spoke on a wooden wheel and put the spare wheel on. So they had
spare tubes so they wouldn't get stuck without a tire and a tire pump
and an extra wooden wheel in case a rut in the road broke the wheel or
too big a rock or a combination broke the wheel or punctured a tire.
When it rained it wasn't usually a good idea to travel unless you were
on a graveled or rocked road because you would get stuck. This was about
1915 and probably before to 1925 when my Grandfather rode on Wood spoke
wheels. Somewhere around Arizona they broke a front spoke wheel so my
Grandad stopped to put a new wheel on that was tied onto the trunk of
the car. The dogs rode on the running boards (they tied them on) so they
wouldn't mess in the car back then because they were outdoor dogs and
mostly to hunt with so were not housebroken. My Uncle was 4 years old
and went and stood over on a large red ant hill and his screams when
they bit him all over drew everyone to save him. Where they lived in
Oregon and Washington and Texas I don't think they had the large red
ants that will attack humans sort of like bees if you are near their
hives. I myself, when I was 4 had this same experience in El Cajon, near
San Diego, because they didn't have ants like this in Seattle where I
had come from either. It is so painful that it only takes one time to
learn the lesson of the large red ants of California and Arizona and
possible a couple of other areas as well. My father said that the alkali
dust roads were so bad that only the driver wasn't crying from eye
irratation and it also created sores in your mouth from the dust that it
took about a month for all the sores in your mouth to heal from all the
dust. Only the driver, my Granda who had goggles on didn't have eyes
watering from the alkali roads. And everyone had the mouth sores for
over a month after they reached California likely in the early 1920s. I
found this wood spoke wheel in Big Sur on the coast of California next
to the rest room. It is near the Shell Station($5.99 a gallon for
premium) today in between the River Inn and the Post Ranch and Ventana
Ranch. If you want to see more wooden spoke wheels go to google images
and type in: 'Wooden Spoke wheels'.
Later: I was talking with my son about wooden spoke wheels on cars and
trucks. They were a natural outgrowth of mostly wooden wagon wheels. On
very rough roads wooden wheels absorb more concussions at slow speeds
than light enough metal to build with could in the early 1900s. Also, my
father told me that no one drove over 25 mph ever on the rough roads
over most of the country because if you did it would completely destroy
your vehicle. So, all metal wheels that you started to see likely in the
early to late 1920s on the more expensive cars were not usually driven
over bad dirt roads because it would destroy the vehicle. So, even if
you were going across the country you needed a more truck like vehicle
to survive the terrible mostly unpaved roads outside of the cities. So,
most vehicles that people did this with resembled more the SUV's of now
more than anything else. However, 4 wheel drives were not very common
back then except maybe in some trucks.
CIRCA 1920 NASH QUAD 4 FIRE TRUCK
This was a four wheel drive truck from: http://www.ci.chippewa-falls.wi.us/Departments/Fire%20Emergency/History.htm
So, the touring car that my Grandfather drove from Texas to California
was likely a big Dodge that could hold his wife and three or 4 kids
(there were eventually 5) and their two hunting dogs (on the running
boards) and whatever clothes and goods they brought along that they
didn't ship by railroad. In emergencies a group of men would go to
rescue people or put out fires by getting 4 or 5 men on each running
board and heading off at 10 to 25 mph in emergencies. Also, if one rode
the running boards while going through fence gates he or she could open
the gate so no animals got out, let the vehicle through and then close
the gate and then hop on the running board until the next gate so the
cattle or other herds didn't get out past the fences.
Also, most places didn't have ambulances back then and a doctor might be
50 miles away for many many people. So, unless you could take care of
yourself and anybody else around sometimes you just didn't survive at
all. Under those circumstances a snake bite, a broken arm or having a
baby might be fatal as often as 50 percent of the time if you were that
remote. And also, in 1900 only 1 person in 12 lived to be 60 years old.
And this was an average that included the whole the U.S. The larger
black 6 passenger (or more) vehicles among those below with wooden spoke
wheels likely is what my grandparents and father drove from Texas to
California and eventually to Oregon and Washington in. The top 4 are
from 1917 and the bottom 4 are from 1924. I found wooden spoke wheels on
some Dodge vehicles in pictures up to about 1927 or more recent.
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