Wagon Making in Southern Arizona
by James E. Sherman and Edward F. Ronstadt, with quotations from the memoirs of Fred Ronstadt, pioneer wagon maker
Reprinted from the Tucson Corral of the Westerners
The Smoke Signal Number 31, Spring 1975
Footnotes
1 Today the site is located at the northeast corner of Congress and Granada
Avenue at the site of the Federal building.
2 Today the site of the wagon shop is occupied by the northeast corner of
the Community Center exhibition hall.
3 In 1886, Dalton and Vasquez
dissolved their partnership in the wagon making
business. Dalton became involved in farming and mining ventures and
Adolfo Vasquez leased the shop to Fred Ronstadt for $30 a month.
4 This wagon was constantly in use until 1940.
5 In 1903, the Tucson Street Railway
Company contracted with Ronstadt's Carriage Works to manufacture the
wood work and construct a mule-drawn car to be used in the Tucson street
car system.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the following for helping to make
this article possible: The Arizona Historical Society for their assistance
in providing many of the pictures and other materials used; George W. Chambers
for encouragement in the writing of this article, as well as furnishing
copies of interviews with Fred Ronstadt and other data; George Eckhart
for his many years of inspiration and encouragement which led to the writing
of this document; Gilbert and William Ronstadt for assistance in the correcting
of the manuscript and furnishing of some of the pictures used; Mrs. Fred
Ronstadt and Henry A. Dalton for furnishing data about their father, Winnall
A. Dalton; Don Bufkin for preparing the map accompanying this article;
Lloyd C. Vath for advice and help with some of the photographs used; Miss
Hallie Hauck for the proofreading; and Mary Catherine Ronstadt and Barbara
Sherman, our wives, for their patience and understanding.
SELECTED REFERENCES
-
Arizona Historical Society. Misc. Collections.
-
Arizona Weekly Citizen. Arizoniana. The Journal of Arizona History. Vol.
III, No. 2. Arizona Pioneers Historical Society, 1962.
-
Eggenhofer, Nick. Wagons, Mules and Men. New York: Hastings House, 1961.
G. & D. Cook & Co. Illustrated Catalogue of Carriages and Special
Business Advertiser. 1860. Reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc., New York,
1970.
-
Haney, John and Cirino G. G. Scavone. "Cars Stop Here, A Brief History
of Street Railways in Tucson, Arizona."
-
The Smoke Signal. No. 23. The Tucson Corral of Westerners, Spring, 1971.
-
Hilzinger, J. George, Treasure Land 1897. Tucson: Arizona Advancement
Company, 1897.
-
Hinton, Richard J. The Handbook to Arizona. Tucson: Arizona Silhouettes,
1954, republished from 1878 edition.
-
Lewis, Oscar. The Big Four. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941.
-
Morris, William. (ed). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1969.
-
Myrick, David F. New Mexico's Railroads. Golden, Colo.; Colorado Railroad
Museum, 1970.
-
Myrick, David F. Pioneer Arizona Railroads. Golden, Colo.: Colorado Railroad
Museum, 1970.
-
Ronstadt, Fred. "A Few Lines About How Wagons Were Made." Paper given at
The Southwesterns Club, Tucson, Ariz. March 4, 1952.
-
Ronstadt, Fred. "The Lost Art of Carriage and Wagon Making," unpublished
manuscript, December 1951.
-
Ronstadt, Fred. "Personal Memoirs," unpublished manuscript.
-
Schellie, Don. Vast Domain of Blood. Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1968.
-
Walker, Henry Pickering. The Wagonmasters. Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1966.
Glossary of Terms
Axle: A supported shaft of wood or iron upon which a wheel revolves.
Box Bearing: The portion of the wheel bearing that fits into
the wheel hub and rotates around the axle skein.
Boxing the Hub: The procedure of setting the box bearing inside
the hub.
Cabriolet: A two-wheel, one-horse carriage with two seats and
a folding top.
Concord: A style of stagecoach made famous by the Abbot and
Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire.
Draft: The pull of a load.
Felloes: Curved sections of a rim made of select white oak and
connected by the spokes to the hub. Used for heavy wagon wheels.
Hub: The center portion of a wheel, made of select oak or birch,
attached to the spokes.
Hub Mortise: A rectangular hole in the wheel hub in which the
spoke tenons are fitted.
Landau: A four-wheel dosed carriage with facing front and back
passenger seats and a roof made in two sections for lowering or detachment.
Reach: A pole, usually of white oak, connecting the rear axle
of a wagon to the front axle.
Rim: The circular outer frame of a wheel, bent from select hickory
and connected by the spokes to the hub. Used for buggy or carriage wheels.
Rough Stuff: A wwood filler which has a consistency of heavy
cream and dries hard.
Running Gear: The structural parts of a wagon including the
wheels, axles and turning apparatus that support the wagon box.
Sarven Patent Wheel: A wagon wheel with a specially designed
hub reinforced with iron flanges which give the hub greater strength than
the conventional wooden hub.
Skein: The portion of the wheel bearing that slips onto the
axle spindle. The wheel and box bearing rotate around the skein.
Spindle: The tapered end of the axle which fits into a skein.
Spoke: One of the rods or braces made of hickory that connects
the hub to the wheel rim.
Spoke Tenons: The shaped end of the spoke that is inserted into
the hub mortise.
Surrey: A horse-drawn, four-wheel pleasure vehicle having two
seats.
Tire: The outer wearing surface of a wagon wheel made of a continuous
band of iron.
Contributors
James E. Sherman is a native of Wisconsin where he attended the Wisconsin
School of Mines and received a B.S. degree in Mining Engineering. In 1961,
his fascination for the west led him to move to Tucson where he completed
a M.S. in Mining Engineering at the University of Arizona. In addition
to numerous technical and non-technical publications he has written, Mr.
Sherman collaborated with his wife, Barbara, in writing and photographing
the books, Ghost Towns of Arizona, and Ghost Towns and Mining
Camps of New Mexico, both published by University of Oklahoma Press.
Currently Mr. Sherman is a faculty member at Pima College where he teaches
courses in Engineering and Southwest Ghost Towns.
Edward F. Ronstadt is a native Arizonan where he attended the University
of Arizona and received his A.B. in Political Science and Spanish. He has
been active in various civic organizations, particularly the Boy Scout
Movement, where he served as a Scoutmaster for ten years and was President
of the local Boy Scout Council. His hobbies include history, archaeology,
and photography. He is a part owner of and Secretary-Treasurer and Manager
of the F. Ronstadt Hardware Company, a pioneer Tucson business concern,
founded by his father, the late Fred Ronstadt, in 1888.
1975 OFFICERS OF TUCSON CORRAL
CHARLES W. POLZER, S.J. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheriff
BERNARD FONTANA -------------------------------------------------------------------
Deputy Sheriff
CLAIR STROUP ----------------------------------------------------------
Keeper of Marks and Brands
JOHN MCCUTCHIN and GEORGE HERRICK ---------------------------------------------
Wranglers
JOHN F. MAROHN ----------------------------------------------------------------
Keeper of the Chips
TONY ZIEHLER ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roundup Foreman
ALECK PUCILOWSKI ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Historian
OTIS H. CHIDESTER --------------------------------------------------------------
Editor of Publications
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor: Otis H. Chidester,Associates: Gordon C. Baldwin, Don Bufkin, Charles
W. Polzer, S.J; James Serven, and Henry "Pic" Walker.
All issues are $1.50 per copy, except # 27 which is $2.00. Information
concerning Brand Books and Smoke Signals may be obtained by writing to
the editor at 1937 E. Blacklidge Drive, Tucson, Arizona 85719. Special
prices for dealers and libraries on request.
© 1975 by the Tucson Corral of the Westerners, Inc.
Footnotes | Acknowledgements | Selected References | Glossary of Terms |
Contributors | 1975 Officers of Tucson Corral | Editorial Board |