We see them in virtually every western movie. From majestic stagecoaches and prairie schooners to big freighters, chuck wagons and buckboards, these wooden wheeled chariots were the early giants of American transportation. They were the trailblazers. moving freight along the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon Trails, leading cattle drives through the panhandles and plains, hauling ore and timber from remote mountain camps, ferrying pioneer families across Indian Territory, and supporting military campaigns all across the frontier.It's hard to fathom, but over the course of the 19th century, there were literally tens of thousands of wagon and carriage shops. In so many ways, the wheels of the old west were not so much a hodgepodge of homemade vehicles as they were a diverse collection of builders making up one of the most sophisticated and competitive industries to ever hit the free world. The Wheels That Won The West^® archives are committed to profiling the forgotten wheels that built a nation, and in the process, forged a dramatic lifeline east to west and north to south. With unparalleled archives and research, we're showcasing some of the most exciting history of the old west … the literal accounts of the beginnings, struggles, and cutthroat domination in what was a transportation empire, hell bent for extinction.