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The term prairie schooner is often - and mistakenly - used interchangeably with Conestoga wagon.
It might be helpful to think of the emigrant's box-like covered wagon as an early version of the moving van, and the Conestoga wagon as a prototype for the modern tractor-trailer.
The emigrants themselves never called their wagons Conestogas or prairie schooners.
Nineteenth-century diaries and reminiscences reveal that westering emigrants during the time of their journeys -
the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s - generally referred to their vehicles simply as "wagons" or "waggons."
Travelers crossing the prairie gazed at the lines of white-topped wagons rumbling across the undulating
grass and described the wagons as "ships upon the ocean," or ships on "rolling waves of green from
horizon to horizon," or as resembling "dim sails crossing a rolling sea."
But they never called their wagons "prairie schooners."
It was not until the pioneers began penning (and romanticizing) their reminiscences during the 1870s and later --
long after their migration to the West -- that they began calling their own simple wagons "prairie schooners."
... http://en.wikipedia.org
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- All About the Oregon Trail ... Idaho State University
- The Wagon Train of 1843: The Great Migration
- Emigrants to Oregon in 1843 ... compiled by S. Flora
- Oregon Trail Guidebook ... compiled by Mr. Leahy's Class
- Oregon Trail Highlights ... National Park Service
- GLOSSARY ... http://library.thinkquest.org
- Prairie Schooners ... http://endoftheoregontrail.org
- Oregon Trail Panoramas ... http://www.isu.edu
...
Chimney Rock
| Fort Laramie
| Independence Rock
| Fort Hall
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Oregon Trail Time Frame:
A Year by Year Description of Explorers, Travelers, and Events Along the Trail to Oregon compiled by P. Kohnen
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