Wheelwright

On the Oregon Trail the one thing that kept the settlers moving, was their wagon (and the promise for a new life west of the mountains). The wagon held all of their supplies needed to continue the westward movement. Without them, the trail would not have been nearly as successful. This also means that wagon wheels were extremely important, if anything happened to your wheels while you were on the trail you were stranded. Most settlers on the trail did not carry spare wheels, the wheels that they started out with where hopefully the wheels that they ended with. The big issue with wagon wheels during this time was of all things dehydration! The wooden wheels would dry out, and end up falling apart. To counteract this the wheels needed to be constantly hydrated with any form of liquid (water, urine). However over hydration could also make the wheels fall apart, so one task of the settlers was to make it to their destination before they lost their wheels.

The person that constructs wagon wheels is called a "Wheel Wright", they are responsible for making sure that every measurement of the wheel is exact. If a measurement is off, then the wheel will fail to function. It is said that the wheel is one of man's greatest engineering achievements, it seems like a very simple concept, but in fact there are many things about the wheel that make it very complicated. It would seem that Wheel Wrights would need to be very skilled in mathematics to construct such an ingenious thing (because of the measurements needed), but in fact many Wheel Wrights in the 19th century were illiterate (they could not read or write, let alone do math).

It is a remarkable thought to think that the wagon wheels used on the Oregon Trail were not held together with nails, bolts, or glue. In fact the only thing holding the parts of the wheel together is the "Tyre,". The Tyre is the large iron band that surrounds the outer part of the wheel, by making the Tyre slightly smaller than the rest of the wheel it provided force against the spokes and the felloes thus holding the wheel together. During the final process of construction (after all the parts of the wheel where made) the Tyre is heated over a wood fire until it expands to a bigger circumference than the wheel. It is then hammered down around the circumference and cooled with water until it tightens back around the wheel.

Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration during the construction of the wheel, is the wood used. Typically one wheel is made with about three different types of wood, the wood that is used depends on the location (the availability of the wood), and the use of the wood. For example a Wheel Wright might use Elm for the "Nave" (the center part of the wheel that holds all of the spokes together), because it won't spilt even with 12-spoke holes cut in it. Both Oak and Hickory could be used for the "Spokes", because they have the strength to hold the load of the wagon; and "Ash" could be used for the "Felloes", because of its flexibility.

Angling of the wheels (once they are put on the wagon) is another strategy used by Wheel Wrights, it insures more stability and it strengthens the wagon against lateral movements (side to side). One angling strategy used, is to tilt the ends of the axils downward so that the wheels are tilted out at the top and in at the bottom. This strategy of inclination called the "Hollow" better steadies the wagons. In addition to this the wheels are shaped like a saucer with the open end away from the wagon, this brings the working spoke more vertical so the force is applied more efficiently between the spokes and the ground.

The size of the wheels on a wagon are varied to affect the efficiency of the wagon (bigger wheels are easier to run), and to increase the turn angel. The wheels in the front are smaller than the wheels in the back, because the wheels in the back are on a fixed axel and don't need to move. The wheels in the front need to shift direction (allowing the wagon to turn) as a result they end up rubbing against the wagon, so by making them smaller this problem is eliminated. The size of the front wheel also affected the wagon's line of draft that the animal was pulling at, this means that the animal is pulling up as well as forward on the wagon. This upward pull makes overcoming obstacles easier.

Most parts of the Wagon were manufactured, the parts made separately (like the wheel) were parts that required more skill and effort to complete. During this time wagon companies included "Sears", "Montgomery Ward", "Mitchell", "Wilimina" and "Studibaker". Studibaker was the preferred wagon company of the time, most wagons were made by this company.