Get PRAIRIE CLIPPER

The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance, a whitetop, or a prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America.

Sam Peppard and His Prairie Wind Wagon Sculpture He built a sturdy wagon, attached a sail to catch the breeze and sailed his way across the prairie in search of Colorado gold. Whether he found the gold or not is a mystery, but the wagon and its contents were destroyed by a tornado outside of Denver.

ing to the December 1846 issue of the Independence Expositor newspaper, the first was a man named William Thomas. In 1853 Thomas showed a prototype with oversized wheels to the U.S. Army at Fort Leavenworth and formed an Overland Navigation Company.

It's believed that the first covered wagons were built around 1717 in the area surrounding the Conestoga River in Pennsylvania. German immigrants in that area began building these wagons to haul heavy loads over the rough terrain of the area.

Samuel Peppard was a millwright from Oskaloosa who, in 1860, built a wind-powered wagon to travel with his friends to the gold fields. After successfully traveling more than 500 miles, the wagon was picked up and destroyed by a small tornado.

A novel device of the Kansas territorial period was the wind wagon, sometimes called a sailing wagon. Several were built and in 1860 the press gave them considerable attention.