Hauling Machine

I've taken up the Blip Community challenge on finding a method of transport representative of our country's culture.  It also happens to be a sample of Arizona's history.  I drove south to Amado where I found an old ranch.  It was there I found this rickety wagon and wheel.

Southern Arizona has a vibrant local history. It starts in pre-history about 12,000 years ago with Clovis man and Woolly Mammoths. Then, 500 years ago, Coronado's Spanish Conquistadors came in search of gold, meeting Native Americans whose ancestors had been here over 4,000 years.

Almost 150 years ago the Apache Wars started in what is now Cochise County southeast of Tucson. The Apaches fought against the encroachment of Anglos & Mexicans who wanted their land for its rich pastures and bountiful mineral wealth. They weren't successful and ranches and mining boom towns were erected in a matter of weeks. The towns were abandoned just as quickly when the silver mines played out.

The ranching/cowboy (and cattle rustling) history is rich down here.  This wagon, used to haul supplies around the ranch, is a great reminder of it.