Buckboard Wagon, Cutter Added To Museum
Wolf Point Museum
An interesting part of the area’s history was added to the Wolf Point Area Museum last week when R.J. Doornek and family loaned a Portland cutter and an antique buckboard wagon to the facility.
Jim Marmon of the museum board said the items will be valued additions to the museum’s expansion town area. The cutter and wagon will be placed in a cubicle between a blacksmith shop and a Model T from the 1920s.
“We’re showing advancements in technology,” Marmon said of the expansion, which will also feature a 1960s garage.
The other side of the street will include a movie theater, newspaper office, doctor’s office and post office.
“Advances in technology are our theme,” Marmon added.
Museum officials noted that the Western Bank Endowment Fund has donated a sizable amount for the project.
Buckboard Wagon
The restored buckboard wagon is a classic piece of American history. It was originally designed in the 19th century for rural transportation. Its small box in the rear, which a buggy does not have, provided space for a homesteader to bring home a small load of groceries and supplies. The space could also be used for nimble young children to ride in on their way to church on Sundays with their parents. These wagons were commonly used by farmers and settlers, valued for their sturdy construction, versatility and ability to navigate rough terrain. The buckboard could be pulled by a team of horses in tandem using a pole with a double tree or by a single horse using a buggy shafts attachment to the wagon. Both are included with this wagon.
This buckboard was originally purchased by John E. Balder shortly after he homesteaded in northern McCone County in 1913. Balder and his wife, Ida, lived an austere life in a cottonwood log cabin with a dirt floor where they raised four children, Robert (Bob), John (Bud), Helen and Pearl. The buckboard eventually fell into ruin and disrepair, being replaced by motorized transportation of the day.
In 1969, a close friend of Bob and Marie Balder, Anker Hanson from Malta, recovered the remnants of the buckboard that had been overgrown with dirt and prairie grass near the original homestead. Recovered were the wheel hubs, the axles, the four iron tires, iron for the seat, the windshield and the iron stepup. All else had rotted away.
Hanson took on the task of restoring the wagon for Bob and Marie. Restoration included making the felloes and spokes for the wheels and completely rebuilding all the wheels. Hanson also constructed a new chassis and floor decking.
Doornek is a grandson of Bob and Marie Balder.
Portland Cutter
A Portland cutter is considered a light sleigh with only one seat and usually pulled by one horse. A sleigh, on the other hand, would typically have two or more seats and would likely be pulled by a team of horses.
Doornek, a former Wolf Point resident, purchased the cutter from Bud Miller of Glasgow in 1992. Miller had purchased the cutter from an owner in Minnesota.
Miller subsequently built a steel pole for hooking up two horses to draw the cutter, a recipe for speed and danger. He also had the seat re-upholstered with crushed green velvet. He did some paint touch-up, but the springs, chassis, runners and trim are all original from when it was built, probably between 1880 and 1910.
