Once again, I was doing research for one project and found other interesting things along the way.
At the end of the eighteenth century, an Englishman named Richard Parkinson lived near Baltimore, Maryland, for three years. He took detailed notes on his travels, American farming practices, the costs of things, and more. His findings were published (in 1805) in a book titled A Tour in America in 1798, 1799 and 1800: exhibiting Sketches of Society and Manners, and a Particular Account of the American System of Agriculture, with its Recent Improvements.
In Section XXVII, he gave an “Account of Waggons, Carts, Ploughs, Harrows: the Price, &c.”
Here’s the part that’s pertinent to our interest in the history of animal-drawn vehicles:
“The price of a waggon in America is one hundred dollars. It is nearly as light made as a coach, and particularly the wheels; for which reason the iron work is not heavy or expensive. The body is generally high on the sides, upright, tilted with bows all over it, and covered with white linen cloth, as they are chiefly intended for marketing [i.e., taking items to market]. The cover keeps the sun off in summer, the frost out in winter, and furnishes the farmer with a place of abode during the time he is on his journey to market; or, when in town, to breakfast, dine, sup, and sleep in. There are generally pumps for water, near to the place where the stands of waggons are; and as the farmer and his horses both drink and sleep in the streets, it is a very necessary duty for the mayor of a town to place pumps for their accommodation. The horses draw double, by a pole, in the same manner as the stage-coaches are drawn in England. There is a trough fixed behind the waggon when travelling; when in the cities it is put on the pole, which is held up like the pole of a curricle, and two horses are placed on each side, to feed. The waggon, being covered with a cloth extended by hoops, is set so as to form a shelter for the horses, as they remain in the streets day and night, during the most severe weather. The driver rides on the near-side hind horse, and has lines to the two leaders. I much approve both of the waggons, and the management of the horses, as the driver has good opportunity to keep every horse to his work. It is as common to see the driver ride on an ox as on a horse. A one-horse cart costs from thirty-four to forty dollars: it is made light, and tilted in the same manner as the waggon. The driver sits in the cart to drive. A two-horse cart costs from fifty-four to sixty dollars.”
The Slower Road 