high and low, rich and poor, alike. But in this new era members
of Congress and the elite of Philadelphia and neighboring towns
were not to be jostled at the table by burly hostlers, drivers,
wagoners, and hucksters. Two types of inns thus came quickly into
existence: the tavern entertained the stagecoach traffic, while
the democratic roadhouse served the established lines of
Conestogas, freighters, and all other vehicles which poured from
every town, village, and hamlet upon the great thoroughfare
leading to the metropolis on the Delaware.

Among American inventions the Conestoga wagon must forever be
remembered with respect. Originating in the Lancaster region of
Pennsylvania and taking its name either from the horses of the
Conestoga Valley or from the valley itself, this vehicle was
unlike the old English wain or the Dutch wagon because of the
curve of its bed. This peculiarly shaped bottom, higher by twelve
inches or more at each end than in the middle, made the vehicle a
safer conveyance across the mountains and over all rough country
than the old straight-bed wagon. The Conestoga was covered with
canvas, as were other freight vehicles, but the lines of the bed
were also carried out in the framework above and gave the whole
the effect of a great ship swaying up and down the billowy hills.
The wheels of the Conestoga were heavily built and wore tires
four and six inches in width. The harness of the six horses
attached to the wagon was proportionately heavy, the back bands
being fifteen inches wide, the hip straps ten, and the traces
consisting of ponderous iron chains. The color of the original
Conestoga wagons never varied: the underbody was always blue and
the upper parts were red. The wagoners and drivers who manned
this fleet on wheels were men of a type that finds no parallel