The American Frontier, Populating the Free Land and Castors!

There are all sorts of myths and stories about the populating of the American West. The movement of people to the American Frontier and beyond is the stuff of legend, with all sorts of people looking to make their fortune, claim the land that they were entitled to and populate the entire country that they fought so hard for in the 1775 to 1783 American War of Independence. Between the 1780s and the end of the Mexican Revolution in the 1920s, wave after wave of individuals moved West, claiming land under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Homestead Act of 1862 amongst other policies. However, it took years for many to make it to their destination and thousands perished along the way. Although it is a key part of American history and the American experience, many of those that migrated would probably have killed for a few castors!

In full control of the east coast, the United States expanded over a period of around 140 years to incorporate all of the land between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. To hold and control the land, though, they needed people settled on it, claiming it and protecting it to fulfil Manifest Destiny. Foreign and domestic treaties, political negotiations, military action and the great migration from east to west helped to accomplish this but it took the average family moving beyond the Mississippi River anywhere between a few months and a few years to get to their planned destination before the introduction of railroads in the mid-19th Century. It would have taken them far less time had they had castors back then.

Castors are essentially the wheels that are fixed to equipment like roll cages, trolleys and carts. Available in various sizes, they make moving just about anything more efficient and effective than it would otherwise have been, which is exactly why they could have helped the Pioneers. Instead of loading all of their belongings on carts with wooden wheels that took serious effort to move, they could have loaded them onto trolleys with castors instead. Not only would the modern option enabled the animals pulling the trolleys and carts to do so with a little more ease but they would also have been far more reliable and less prone to breaking along the way.

Take the BZKL series for example (available from BIL Castors & Wheels). At just 100 to 200mm in diameter and holding up to 900kg in weight, they would have been perfect for such jou
eys. Highly reliable, they would have been great for getting people to exactly where they wanted to go without putting strain on the animals and stress on the families.

Of course, those heading to the American Frontier did not have castors and so had to put up with all of the disadvantages that wooden carts had to offer. Although they certainly made history, a few little modern wheels would have made their experiences so much easier!