Original Document

The Conestoga wagons were pulled by a special breed of draft horses called Conestogas. These large horses measured sixteen to seventeen hands at the withers. (One hand equals four inches.) Each horse weighs 1,800 pounds or more (the weight of about 29 fourth graders). Since the wagons often traveled over muddy roads, this special breed had no long hair beneath the fetlocks, the lowest joints on a horse's legs, and no long tails that could become matted. They were treated well by their owners since up to $1200 was spent to purchase a team.



It took six horses to pull a Conestoga wagon. The left-hand horse nearest the wagon was called the "wheel horse" or "saddle horse." The teamster drove the team by working a single rein called the "jerk line". To turn the team to the right the teamster would yell "GEE!" and give several short jerks on the line. To go left, he would yell ‘HAW!" and pull steady on the line.



Each horse wore a set of bells hanging from an arch that was attached to its collar. At first horses in the front had five bells, the middle horses wore four, and those next to the wagon wore three bells. These bells announced that the team was coming and that people and cattle should get out of the way. What the horn is to the car today, the bells were to the wagon. It was an unwritten law of the road that if a wagon came along the road and helped a disabled team so that it could resume the journey, the wagoner of the disabled team had to give up his bells to the team helping him. If a team arrived at its destination with its bells on, it was assumed that everything had gone well with the team on the trip. Today we have an expression that evolved from this custom–"I'll be there with bells on." No one really knows how the bells came to be used. It is known that pack horses wore them around their neck so they wouldn't get lost. The frontier farmer had cow bells, sheep bells, and even turkey bells.