Like
the Twenty Mule Team, another well known icon of the Old West is the
Wells Fargo wagon, it's still in use today, actually. In the
beginning, it was all about delivery, the best possible. Whether by
wagon, ship, horse, dog sled, on foot ... of mail, packages and
people. At one time there were more than 100,000 miles of routes and
included shipments to Mexico and even China. Women were hired to run
the offices, handle the mail, send messages ... and even drive one of
the wagons! (This was not discovered, however, until the death of
'Charles' Pankhurst, proved that one of the best drivers, one who
smoked, drank and even voted, was female). The company was forward
thinking in many ways: those working the southern route had to be
bilingual, for example. Often Wells Fargo was the first to have the
new technology, from phones to punch cards, credit cards, drive-
through banking, and so on. Wells Fargo, from the Images of
America series, by Dr. Robert J. Chandler, differs from others in
this series in that this company is still in existence. (Yes, the
song from The Music Man, "Wells Fargo Wagon" by
Meredith Willson did run through my mind as I read this book)!
I
found The Horse in the City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth
Century, by Clay McShane and Joel A. Tarr, to be a "scholarly"
read ... which to me, means it was both interesting and a bit dry!
Beautifully researched, the authors used everything from newspapers
to Teamster magazines, agricultural journals, city directories,
veterinary manuals and so forth to gather information. In some
chapters (as in how much land it took to provide hay for working
horses) this came across as a bit tedious, and every so often I got
the impression that the authors aren't horse folks ... but .... that
being said, for the most part this was a fascinating look at a time
when the horse played a vital role in city life. They had to be
housed, and fed. Streets were designed so they could safely make a
corner without backing up, or gradual enough on a slope so they
wouldn’t slip. There was a huge support industry, which provided
thousands of jobs, including removal of waste, and carcasses ...
which happened more quickly than you might think as every part of the
body was useful for something (talk about a detailed chapter here!)
and some times it needed to be salvaged before rigor set in. The
horse trolley paved the way to life in the 'burbs, giving citizens
access to work, shops, churches, etc. but able to live out where the
air was clean. To my surprise, there are more similarities to the
auto industry than you might think. :-)
The
Frederick & Nelson stores used to be huge, and offer all kinds of
goods and services such as a staff library, kindergarten for staff
and shoppers, staff chorus (which sang at holidays), even an ice
skating rink. In 1950 there was live coverage of election returns in
the front window, and once, even live animals in their window
displays. The motto was that they would find what the customer wanted
even if it wasn't at their store. At one point there was a separate
entry for men to use on (whatever) floor so they did not have to pass
through the lingerie department, which made them uncomfortable. For a
wonderful look back at this iconic store, look no further than the
Images of America book Frederick & Nelson, by Ann
Wendell. I have a dim memory of this store, but I was small, and it
was big, and that's pretty much the extent of said memory! :-)
Reading
Hermit With Dog
