Question about farm wagons for my novel.

I'm revising my novel, polishing it up before taking a stab at getting it published. I need a little help from someone with experience with horse-drawn farm wagons.

The year is 1885. Sarah, aged 12 and fresh out from England, is meeting the Potter family at whose farm she will be living and working. Introductions over, Mrs. Potter tells her to get into the wagon.

But how? The Potter children are already in the bed of the wagon, but how exactly, would Sarah climb in to join them?

This sounds trivial, and I could write around it, but because it is the first incident of many where Sarah does not know how to do something, it would be useful to include her bewilderment. Heck, I'm bewildered myself, and so far I haven't found anything online to enlighten me.

Can anyone help me out?

Really it's a typical thing you come to take for granted when you work on a farm and are used to big equipment and unloading pickup trucks from a young age. To assess how something is built and where to put your feet with all the possibilities becomes automatic. Wooden wagons and hay racks are not all that different than newer metal versions or even things with engines. I'm not entirely certain what the typical design of such wagons would be but it's quite normal to use the wheels of things when you are a kid to reach what the adults would normally step up on. Many often have a gap or ledge outside the back wall/door similar to the bumper on a truck so you can step from wheel to bumper equivalent and climb over. If the back panel comes flat to the back of the wagon or even on modern metal equipment it might have sort of a step tucked under the back corner behind the wheel for setting your foot while holding the back or side to climb over. Today many would have a textured metal grip but otherwise it's just a 3 sided box bolted underneath with the bottom panel a bit bigger than a man's foot. Don't step on an old wood one with muddy feet and poor balance or you'll be sitting on your butt.

It's possible a young child would not be able to reach a step or even wheel to climb up on their own without practice. It's actually kind of amusing to swing up the side of an oat bin using the tire to then reach around to the ladder that starts too high for a child or onto a tractor with a rear tire well over your own head because you know where the step is tucked in front of it while the "city kids" just stare in confusion. There's always somewhere to put your feet and something to grab but you have to know where and what you can reach to do it quickly when young.

It's also quite likely the back panel would drop or be a simple lift and slide out style depending on weight of the wood, carpentry skills, and ability or not to obtain hardware for various designs. It would especially allow shoving bulky or heavy objects out the back without lifting over the side but if the wagon is just used for things that can be lifted or mostly passengers and/or the design is kept simple to avoid potentially adding failure points and save cost it may not have any doors or side panels that open. Hinged panels would more likely be a sign of need for use of the wagon or particularly good carpentry skills to build yourself given how common climbing up things from a young age would be and how much weaker that wall would then be. While a sliding panel that lifts without metal hardware wouldn't be overly difficult or costly women and children might not be able to lift a back panel clear if it is not hinged in some way. Items of wood back then are heavy stuff. Such wood posts and wagon beds are still standing in one piece today unlike even some of the ~1930s barn stored posts that ended up snapping off at the ground when I put the fence under tension. Basic things my grandpa threw together on top of old hay rack frames was repurposed wood possibly older than him I would have had to put my whole body behind to move even as an older teenager and then stuck together with bolts.

Even just the overall way to attach things gives you ways to climb them as a kid. Things would be bolted with drilled holes since eventually with repeated impact or if the livestock hit it other methods then would rip right out of wood so "carriage bolts" were the standard way to hold everything in the 1800's, likely earlier, and still often today if screws are considered too weak. Such bolts are threaded but have only a domed head so they are either shoved in the hole or hammered for a tight fit that won't squeak and wear by rubbing before locking with a nut. You can step on a huge carriage bolt nut. One of those odd things people with no experience would not see and even easier for a child with small feet. Some wagon walls might use leather rivet straps if they were added secondary to the frame for keeping small, light loads or people from toppling out. They also were used to make hinges or handles for those basic sliding wood panels. My shoulders and back greatly appreciate modern grain bin doors. While you can use a rivet strap to lift something or pull yourself to it if the rivet strap is holding 2 objects together rather than specifically as a replaceable handle you'd get in trouble for needlessly straining it and might get your fingers squashed sticking them in there. Old rivet straps are nothing but a good strap of leather stuck to a surface with lots of metal bits until it inevitably fails but built well and not abused over the years I've used some decades old that were still working as light hinges or handles.

Thanks, Akane.

I figured farm kids would know about available hand and footholds, but Sarah, raised in London, is going to be at a loss. It helps, though, to understand how she will be doing it once she accustoms herself to farm ways.

I had a rural childhood, but not on or even near a farm. I can remember, however, climbing in and out of my uncle's small fleet of trucks with my cousins. They, of course, made it look as easy as climbing stairs.

The old wagons in the farm junk pile...the covered wagons had a step in the back to climb up into the covered area,and a grab bar on both sides of the back box part.. they also had either a step that folded down , or a fixed metal U shaped bar, for a step , on the sides of the "drivers" seat [in the front] and a grab bar on either side of the seat.,,. The old farm produce [sugar beet] wagons had only a tail gate in back, ...and a step slot , or U shaped bar that hung down on the sides of the "drivers" seat. If a woman in a dress,or child was to get into these,- I think ...they would have to climb over the drivers bench, then back to the wagon box, or maybe- have a box to step up on, to then climb up into the back of the bed..We used to climb the wheel spokes, but doing this with horses attached,would be fool hardy...

If you ask a child to do something they don't understand in a situation like that they are most likely to either pick some of those things to try and potentially fail resulting in it's own situation and set of emotions or stare at it refusing to say the problem. Either due to embarrassment that everyone else acts like it's simple or fear of asking for help. Also it's own situation and set of resulting emotions. Unless they succeed you'd then end up with an adult or other child explaining those things or simply lifting them in if possible and preferred. Many adults though value letting children figure things out than solving it for them if they aren't overly distressed so they might try to find a way they can accomplish it even if it appears difficult to them.

That's why I gave you all the possible scenarios and how it comes up in real life. It may end up being a couple sentence event in a book but it could help establish the personality of more than one character depending how they handle it. I also find the depth of such points of view interesting when someone does understand in detail the difference of growing up in such a situation so it seems easy to you but that others without experience can't grasp. Whether it's something I'm familiar with or one of those things I'd be the one who couldn't grasp it if the book didn't mention the significance. Both moments that show how badly I'd fail at something basic or those that I can't see how someone else would fail are helpful for understanding the difficulties and resulting feelings of the characters in their situation. Along with just presenting a new and potentially odd point of view I didn't consider before.

@ Michael - This is super, you having played on old farm wagons when you were a kid! I thought of you when I was typing my original post and hoped! Thank you so much!

I did consider whether Sarah could use the wheel spokes and maybe the hub to scramble over the side, but I was far from sure, and your point about the danger if the horses moved is well taken.

Maybe it would be best to have Mr. Potter let down the tailgate and help her in. Neither of them will be happy about it, but that's okay.

@ Akane - Yes, you've got the right idea about the emotional impact on a child in this situation and I'll be looking at the incident from the different angles to see which fits best. And you're dead on about how a tiny incident can have tremendous significance. Sort of like the iceberg -- only 10% shows.

:thankyou: :thankyou: :thankyou: for taking the time and thought to reply. I do appreciate it!

No help for farm wagons from me, but I'm interested in your novel!
What's the name of it?

It's titled Charity Bread, from the proverb "Charity bread has hard crusts."

Sarah is an orphan, raised in a child rescue home and sent to Canada at the age of twelve as a mother's helper and general servant. Some 80,000 such children were sent to Canada in this way between 1869 and 1930. Many others were sent to Australia.

I'm sure seemed like a good idea at the time -- give street kids and orphans a fresh start in a land of opportunity -- but it went sadly awry in many cases. Many of the children were looked down upon and treated badly in their new homes and were often only wanted as cheap labour.

That sounds really cool Maggie J! sounds like it'll be a good read!
I love how you based it off of true events. and the title is pretty cool too! Good luck!