The farm wagons used in these operations were often referred to as Conestoga wagons.[10] This term was apparently in general use at least as early as 1750, when the term "Dutch Wagon" was also used in referring to this particular type of vehicle.[11] The Conestoga, deriving its name from the Conestoga valley near Lancaster, was apparently a Pennsylvania adaptation of the English wagon.[12] Unfortunately there are no existing specimens of early wagons of whose age we can be certain, and the few wagon fragments that have been unearthed are insufficient to justify any conclusions. A number of strakes[13] were found in Edmund's Swamp (figs. 2-5), on the route of the Forbes expedition in 1758. These indicate a wheel diameter of 64 inches and a tire 2 inches wide.[14] The 2-inch tires are undoubtedly relics of a farmer's wagon, since the various military vehicles had tires no less than 3 inches and often on the heavier types 4 inches wide. The use of strakes also indicates that these early wagons had no brakes such as the large Conestogas of a later era had.[15] From all indications it would appear that these early farm wagons differed from the larger freighters of the 1790's and were probably similar to the lighter, farm-type Conestogas of the 19th century. Farm wagons are somewhat smaller than road wagons, generally bear less ornamentation and lack the more graceful lines of the latter. [Illustration: Figure 4.--A STRAKE, SHOWING SPIKES. On early vehicles the tires were put on in sections and spiked in place. Later one endless tire was "sweated" on by being heated to expand it, fitted on the wheel, and cooled in place.] Contemporary letters and newspaper advertisements attest to the fact that farm wagons were the type used by Braddock. For example, Franklin's advertisement in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ on May 22, 1755, noted that "several Neighbors may conveniently join in fitting out a Waggon, as was lately done in the Back Counties." Had these wagon owners been other than farmers of poor means, such a notation would have been unnecessary. In another communication to the inhabitants of Lancaster, York, and Cumberland Counties Franklin said, "three or four of such as cannot separately spare from the business of their Plantations a Wagon and four Horses and a Driver, may do it together, one furnishing the Waggon, another one or two Horses, and another the Driver, and divide the pay proportionably between you."[16] Many letters describe the owners of the wagons with such phrases as "the Poorer sort," and "narrow circumstances of the Country People, who are to supply the waggons...."[17] These remarks indicate that farm wagons were used and suggest that the larger Conestogas, such as were driven by professional teamsters, probably had not yet been developed.