H68.66.1

c. 1900
89 in HIGH x 77 in WIDE x 158 in DEEP
(226.06 cm HIGH x 195.58 cm WIDE x 401.32 cm DEEP)
Gift of Allan Starr
H68.66.1


Passenger/Freight wagon. Description: 4 seat, Concord-type under carriage. History: Used for transportation between Starr Ranch and Mission San Jose and for occasional trips to Oakland. Purchased new by Starr family. See "ADD INFO" for more information on the wagon and its use on the A.A. Moore Ranch. From the History Information Station: Object: Passenger freight wagon, also known as a "California Mud Wagon", built in the 1880's. It belonged to A.A. Moore, a farmer near Mission San Jose. History: This two-horse-drawn mud wagon is a mixture of the "Concord" design of the famous Wells Fargo stagecoach and the Conestoga wagons that brought settlers overland from the east. The leather thorough-bracing under the wagon is the same as that on a Concord coach, as is the paint on the body and the under-carriage. From the Conestoga wagons of Pennsylvania the mud wagon received its bowed box, designed so that cargo would not shift, and its wheels, which are saucer-shaped and tilted slightly inward. The wheels are also unequal in size, with the front wheels slightly smaller for better maneuverability. Like multipurpose vans and station wagons today, the seats in the mud wagon could be removed to carry cargo instead of people.

Notes from a conversation between Adam Nilsen (History Researcher at the Oakland Museum of California) and Eddy Moore Ancinas, great-granddaughter of A.A. Moore (the owner of the ranch on which the mud wagon was used). Eddy's phone #: (530) 583-3057. March 28, 2008.-A.A. Moore family lived in East Oakland; the ranch is located behind Mission Peak near Mt. Hamilton. Jokingly called the ranch "El Rancho" - it wasn't really a working ranch. They didn't drive the wagon to Oakland and back - A.A. Moore would take the train to Irvington and walk to Mill Creek Road which is in Mission San Jose - mud wagon would meet him and they'd go up that ranch road, which was very muddy. Used it up and down the road. -Ranch books go back into the 1800s and tell of the ranch activities - diaries that told of comings and goings on the ranch. Bancroft library wanted to look at ranch books with Eddy and get copies. -A.A. Moore fell in love with the area when he drove cattle there as a boy - he always wanted to have a ranch. Finally bought a place and had cattle, horses, and chickens, and planted trees. They owned the land as their own - didn't lease it from anyone.-The 1906 earthquake frightened A.A. Moore's wife so much that she wanted them to sell the ranch - and they did. A.A. Moore regretted it so much that he went back and bought the property next door to his previous property.-The original piece of land and house is now part of the San Francisco Water Company. The second piece of land still belongs to the family - Eddy's cousin, Marianna, lives in the same house that A.A. Moore lived in.-Eddy's grandfather also had a house on the property and her brother, Walter Starr III still lives there.-Before Eddy's father died, he sold a lot of the land that he ran cattle on to the state parks for "practically nothing" - this is now part of a park (Ohlone Park).-Another part of the property is in the trust of Eddy's step-mother - they lease it out to someone. -A.A. Moore was an attorney - was district attorney in Irvington or Centerville.-The ranch was more of a hobby farm. They went there every weekend and spent every summer there - they "loved it." Many in the family, including Eddy, grew up on it - the ranch has been a big part of their lives.-The family initially didn't raise cattle to sell - they raised them for their own consumption. Allan Starr (Eddy's dad) was the one who made it into a working cattle ranch later on. He used to go and take care of the cattle. Eddy's father in the 1940s grew alfalfa and hay and had a cow-cap operation and they all had operations. He sold the cattle for beef.-A book about their family history contains stories about the wagon - stories about it tipping over and getting stuck and about horses being scared of it. They could take off all the fancy lights and accoutrements when they needed to use the wagon for work and could dress it up and put the fancy lanterns on when they wanted.-Eddy has a book that tells stories from the ranch - can probably get a copy for us.-OMCA donor file mentions a photograph of the wagon when it was still on the ranch, with family members on board - the museum did not keep a copy of this photograph. I asked Eddy if someone in the family still has the photograph, and Eddy said her cousin, Marianna Moore Butler, has it. She referred me to Marianna, who still lives part of the year at the ranch (510-656-1868), and part in Oakland (510-547-2472).Talked subsequently with Marianna Butler:-Marianna remembers playing in the wagon in the barn as a child. It was sitting there covered with hay and they would climb around on it.-Eddy's dad took the lights off the coach and put them on his house. When they decided to give the wagon to the museum, he put the lights back on the coach. Marianna can remember seeing the wagon going down the road in a flatbed truck on the way to the museum - it was a "strange sight" for her.-Her aunt Margaret McClure remembered the colors of the wagon - that's how the museum was able to restore it.-They kept the wagon mostly at the ranch because they used it there.-People would come on the train to Irvington and A.A. Moore would walk to the bottom of the ranch road and the driver would pick him up there. The ranchman or a member of the family would drive it.-A long time before, they had taken it back and forth to Oakland.-The ranch was originally 5,000 acres, and was divided into various pieces. Most of it is now part of Ohlone Park. Mission Peak was part of the property.-Marianna said her nephew, Hugo Schwitzer, who is a professor and lives in Pasadena, has done a lot of research about the ranch. She said she would give him my number and have him call me.-Marianna will make a copy of the photograph of the wagon for me, and will talk to her family about the museum possibly getting a copy of their family history and looking at the old ranch books.

Used: Starr Ranch | Mission San Jose | Oakland | Concord ~ style

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