By: Stan Jordan
Christy DeLong brought this picture into me the other day, Tony and Carly had been kayaking in the river and the water was so clear that they saw this wheel lying under the water.
Now before the first river bridge was built in 1868, the only place to cross the Maumee was at the end of the Road 31, where Mrs. Heckleman lives now. I think Mr. O.S. Applegate homestead that land in 1830 something. You needed a good team to get up that hill at Lynn Beckhard’s lot. In the summer the water was only a foot deep around here.
Well, we were certainly glad to get it but it sure brought up a lot of questions.
It is not a common wagon wheel like a farm wagon hub and spoke wheel. This is a sort of commercial type wheel, it is so well made at the hub. There even looks like maybe there is an air valve, but I don’t think they had air in tubes at that time. Then again, it looks like maybe a hard wooden or solid rubber tire or something.
In my thinking, where it was found, it would have been lost before 1868 because that is when the first bridge was built. The Hicksville Pike was built in 1844 and 1845 and stopped at the river.
Please notice each spoke was pegged for more strength.
If any of you ‘old timers’ have any idea on this type of wheel and rim, let me know.
Maybe none of the above and it was thrown away as junk.
See ya!
