Excerpted from Boulder: Its Friends and Neighbors, written by Boulder’s only female mayor, Olive Hagadone, and originally published serially in The Monitor in 1985-86.
One of the first industries, or businesses, established as a by-product of the settlement of the West was the freighting industry. Most of the early-day freighting was done by ox teams. The driver would walk beside the left-wheeler, which was called the “nigh” side, because it was nearest him. The other side of the team was called the “off’ side.
Later, a freight load was usually three freight wagons and a camp wagon, pulled by four or more teams of horses, or ”jerkline” teams. Jerkline drivers controlled their teams with a single line, jerks upon which told the lead team to turn to the right or left or to stop.
