Here again is that McGowan sledge we saw earlier, in a Valentine’s Manual etching:
Full description reads: Andrew McGowan, of Harlem, New York, has an old sledge, dating as far back as 1783. On the back panel are the letters “S.B.” in monogram. This is probably the oldest thing of the kind in America. It is so contrived that by simply removing the box, it can be used either for business or pleasure. When the sides are unshipped from the runners it is fitted for a sledge, and when not needed may be put away compactly for the summer season.
Ezra M. Stratton, The World on Wheels 1878
The disassembly instructions are baffling. “By simply removing the box, it can be used either for business or pleasure.” (What manner of pleasure?) “When the sides are unshipped from the runners it is fitted for a sledge…” What? Perhaps Mr. Stratton is trying to tell us that you can take the sides off and haul logs and freight atop the runners. Good to know.
The “SB” seems to be the monogram of Samson Benson 2nd (1736-1821), grandfather of the Andrew McGowan (1785-1870) referred to here. Like the year “1783,” was probably carved into the sledge well after Benson’s death—maybe during the 1850s when the story of McGowan’s Pass became a topic of popular interest and old Andrew showed the sledge around on Independence Day festivities and suchlike.
And what became of the old sleigh? Is it in an old storage warehouse of the New-York Historical Society, or did it get consigned to the flames like “Rosebud”?