“It is worth noting on the Platte one may sometimes see the shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well waxed and rubbed, or massive bureaus of carved oak. These, some of them no doubt the relics of ancestral prosperity in the colonial time, must have encountered strange vicissitudes. Brought, perhaps from England; then, with the declining fortunes of their owners, borne across the Alleghanies to the wilderness of Ohio or Kentucky; then to Illinois or Missouri; and now at last fondly stowed away in the family wagon for the interminable journey to Oregon. But the stern privations of the way are little anticipated. The cherished relic is soon flung out to scorch and crack upon the hot prairie.”
— Francis Parkman, “The Oregon Trail, Works, Vol. 12,” (Little, Brown, 1910) page 103
This is why the folks out on the west coast suffer from a supreme lack of good antique tools, and furniture to draw inspiration from. You easterners don’t know how good you have it. 🙂
It had to be heart breaking to haul those treasures all that way, only to reluctantly abandon them in the middle of no where because of the hardships of misfortune.
Fear not Eric, for an antique dealer from New York came by, found the fine piece – of London origin, brought across the pond to the East Coast, hauled to Ohio, then to Michigen over a couple of generations – along the side of the trail in Wyoming, brought it back to New York, spruced it up, attributed it to “The Townsend School” and sold it for a pretty penny!
Back then, a fellow wouldn’t let anything get in the way of his intended destination and deserved prosperity!
Frank
Perhaps those “stern privations” have caused many of us to part with treasures thus leaving an ache within us to bring back those things of old that can never loose their worth….to us…..punctuated as it is by their loss.