The Frog Grease Rumor

As I speak with more and more groups, one thing I've heard more than once is this rumor about how the drivers used to cut down on the noise of the large squeaky Red River cart wheels.

Spoiler alert - the rumor is just a tad gross.

What I've heard from a number of old-timers is that -

"Wait! No! Don't say it! Think about the children!"

- the drivers would take a frog and -

"You're really going to say it?"

- shove it between the wheel hub and the axle of the cart to lubricate the wood to stop the loud squeeeeaaaalllll of the wheel.

"Ribbit?"

Like I said, I've heard this from about three or four people so far. I'm guessing it's one of those stories that got passed down over the generations, and the original tellers were just pulling somebody's leg. But you never know. If they did do this, I don't think it would've worked for very long, and they would've needed a lot of frogs!

"It ain't easy being grease!"

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