Windwagon Smith

Last updated

Windwagon Smith is an American tall tale about a sea captain who traveled in a Conestoga wagon, fitted with a sail, across the Kansas prairie. The tale was the subject of a 1961 animated Walt Disney Pictures film, The Saga of Windwagon Smith . [1]

Contents

The legend

The tale is based on a story, with some plausible elements, of an incident in Westport, Missouri, in 1853, during America's westward migration. In some versions Windwagon Smith comes sweeping into town with his wind-powered Conestoga wagon complete and working. [2] Other tellings have him inventing the wagon in town, building the craft, and gathering eager passengers, only to have his craft crash or his passengers abandon ship from sea sickness.

By 1850 Westport and nearby Kansas City had displaced Independence, Missouri, as the main outfitting and starting point for traders, trappers, and emigrants heading west on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.

Historical accounts

Contemporary news accounts have at least three real-life inventors of Land sailing wind-powered wagons in that era. [3] According 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. According to Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper , another account involves Oskaloosa sawmill owner Samuel Peppard, who is said to have invented a sailing wagon in 1860 with at least partial success, according to the magazine's description of its arrival in Fort Kearny, Nebraska—250 miles from his starting point. [4]

Retellings

Wilbur Lang Schramm's short story "Windwagon Smith" won the 1942 O. Henry Award for fiction. It was later included in Windwagon Smith and Other Yarns, which was published in 1947. [5]

Directed by Charles Nichols and with narration by Rex Allen, the Walt Disney cartoon The Saga of Windwagon Smith was released on March 16, 1961.

Since 1972 the annual River Festival in Wichita, Kansas, has chosen an "Admiral Windwagon Smith" from its volunteers to serve as a "costumed, sword-carrying mascot" of the event. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Trail</span> Historic route connecting the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon

The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kansas and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the current states of Idaho and Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson County, Missouri</span> County in Missouri, United States

Jackson County is located in the western portion of the U.S. state of Missouri, on the border with Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 717,204. making it the second-most populous county in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Franklin is a city in Howard County, Missouri, United States. It is located along the Missouri River in the central part of the state. Located in a rural area, the city had a population of 70 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wagon train</span> Group of wagons travelling together

A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. Before the extensive use of military vehicles, baggage trains followed an army with supplies and ammunition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westport, Kansas City, Missouri</span> Neighborhood in Missouri, United States

Westport is a historic neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Originally an independent town, it was annexed by Kansas City in 1897. It is one of Kansas City's main entertainment districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Fe Trail</span> 19th-century route through central North America between Franklin, MO, and Santa Fe, NM

The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the trail served as a vital commercial highway until 1880, when the railroad arrived in Santa Fe. Santa Fe was near the end of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro which carried trade from Mexico City. The trail was later incorporated into parts of the National Old Trails Road and U.S. Route 66.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Larned National Historic Site</span> National Historic Site of the United States

Fort Larned National Historic Site preserves Fort Larned which operated from 1859 to 1878. It is approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km) west of Larned, Kansas, United States.

Frontierland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Disneyland-style parks run by Disney around the world. Themed to the American frontier of the 19th century, Frontierlands are home to cowboys and pioneers, saloons, red rock buttes and gold rushes along with some influence from American history and North America in general. It is named Westernland at Tokyo Disneyland and Grizzly Gulch at Hong Kong Disneyland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Bent</span> American rancher and frontier trader (1809–1869)

William Wells Bent was a frontier trader and rancher in the American West, with forts in Colorado. He also acted as a mediator among the Cheyenne Nation, other Native American tribes and the expanding United States. With his brothers, Bent established a trade business along the Santa Fe Trail. In the early 1830s Bent built an adobe fort, called Bent's Fort, along the Arkansas River in present-day Colorado. Furs, horses and other goods were traded for food and other household goods by travelers along the Santa Fe trail, fur-trappers, and local Mexican and Native American people. Bent negotiated a peace among the many Plains tribes north and south of the Arkansas River, as well as between the Native American and the United States government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price's Missouri Expedition</span> Military campaign during the American Civil War

Price's Missouri Expedition, also known as Price's Raid or Price's Missouri Raid, was an unsuccessful Confederate cavalry raid through Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. Led by Confederate Major General Sterling Price, the campaign aimed to recapture Missouri and renew the Confederate initiative in the larger conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Majors</span> American businessman

Alexander Majors was an American businessman, who along with William Hepburn Russell and William B. Waddell founded the Pony Express, based in St. Joseph, Missouri. This was one of the westernmost points east of the Missouri River from its upper portion beyond that state. It was a major supply point for migrants and pioneers headed west to Oregon Country.

William Becknell was an American soldier, politician, and freight operator who is credited by Americans with opening the Santa Fe Trail in 1821. He found a trail for part of the route that was wide enough for wagon trains and draft teams, making it easier for trader and emigrants along this route. The Santa Fe Trail became an early major transportation route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico, serving both trading and emigrant parties. It served as a vital commercial highway from the 1820s until 1880, when the railroad was introduced to Santa Fe. Becknell made use of long-established trails made by Native Americans, and Spanish and French colonial explorers and traders for centuries before his trip.

<i>Lone Star</i> (Amtrak train)

The Lone Star was an Amtrak passenger train that ran between Chicago and Houston, or Dallas via Kansas City, Wichita, Oklahoma City, and Fort Worth. The train was renamed from the Texas Chief, which the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had introduced in 1948. Amtrak discontinued the Lone Star in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesus Gil Abreu</span> New Mexico rancher and pioneer

Jesus Gil Abreu was an American rancher and pioneer who owned a New Mexico ranch that now comprises Philmont Scout Ranch.

In the history of the American frontier, pioneers built overland trails throughout the 19th century, especially between 1829 and 1870, as an alternative to sea and railroad transport. These immigrants began to settle much of North America west of the Great Plains as part of the mass overland migrations of the mid-19th century. Settlers emigrating from the eastern United States did so with various motives, among them religious persecution and economic incentives, to move from their homes to destinations further west via routes such as the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. After the end of the Mexican–American War in 1849, vast new American conquests again encouraged mass immigration. Legislation like the Donation Land Claim Act and significant events like the California Gold Rush further encouraged settlers to travel overland to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Osage Trail</span> Native American trail

The Great Osage Trail, also known as the Osage Trace or the Kaw Trace, was one of the more well-known Native American trails through the countryside of what are today called the Midwest and Plains States of the U.S., pathways originally created by herds of buffalo or other migrating wildlife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James R. Mead (pioneer)</span> American politician

James R. Mead was a plainsman, Kansas pioneer, one of the founders of Wichita, Kansas and state legislator. He was active in seeking to protect the rights of the Kansas Indian tribes. He aided in directing the cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail to the city. In 1871, he was instrumental in bringing the Wichita & Southwestern Railroad to Wichita. He possessed a lifelong interest in biology and ethnology. Later in life, he wrote articles for the Kansas State Historical Society and for the Kansas Academy of Science. His memoirs were published in the book, Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains 1859-1875 [Rowfant Press 2008, ISBN 978-1-929731-07-7].

François Xavier Aubry was a French Canadian merchant and explorer of the American Southwest. His achievements include speed records riding the Santa Fe Trail and early exploration of the 35th parallel north west of the North American continental divide.

Margaret Poisal was "the only woman who was an official witness, interpreter, and consultant at many meetings and treaty councils held along or in close proximity to the Santa Fe Trail." The daughter of French Canadian trapper John Poisal and Arapaho Snake Woman, Poisal was educated at a convent school. She married Thomas Fitzpatrick, an Indian agent, and they worked together negotiating peace between Native American tribes and the United States government. After Fitzpatrick died, Poisal continued to work as an interpreter and peacemaker.

References

  1. Watts, Linda S. (2007). Encyclopedia of American Folklore . New York, N.Y.: Facts on File. pp.  357–8. ISBN   0-8160-5699-4. windwagon smith.
  2. Rees, Ennis (1966). Windwagon Smith. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. OCLC   5189790.
  3. Barile, Mary C. (2010). The Santa Fe Trail in Missouri . Columbia: University of Missouri Press. p.  96. ISBN   0-8262-1880-6.
  4. "Wind Wagons". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society. April 2013.
  5. Singhal, Arvind (1987). "Wilbur Schramm: Portrait of a Development Communications Pioneer" (PDF). Communicator. 22 (1–4): 18–22.
  6. Neil, Denise (March 6, 2010). "River Festival reveals 2010 Windwagon Smith". The Wichita Eagle.