I’ve always acknowledged that the wheelbarrow is a wonderful invention in the garden. But in the last week I have taken my appreciation to a new level. The best beloved and I have moved across the road while our derelict cottage is gutted, and we’ve used two wheelbarrows. Admittedly, it has taken five whole days and at the end of it the wheelbarrows were in better shape than we were. But our one-wheeled friends have done us proud as they rattled up the road laden with books, goods and chattels.

It led me to wonder how the wheelbarrow came about in the first place. Apparently, Chuko Liang (181-234 A.D.) of China is considered to be the inventor. Liang was a general who used wheelbarrows to transport supplies to injured soldiers. His Chinese wheelbarrows had two wheels and required two men to propel and steer. It is also thought that the Ancient Greeks used one-wheeled barrows on building sites. But they appear to have come into their own during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Prospectors tried to traverse America pushing their tools and belongings in wheelbarrows. Most fell by the wayside.

However one American, L. P. Federmeyer, steered his from San Francisco to New York City. It took him 227 days to walk 4,500 miles and he averaged a little under 20 miles a day – finally arriving on July 23, 1879. He became a national celebrity and was known as The Celebrated Champion Wheelbarrow Pedestrian of the World. The ‘race’, which also involved R. Lyman Potter, was instigated by a newspaper impresario called George Hearst to generate sales.

Leon Federmeyer and Lyman Potter held daily conditioning workouts before the race and these were open to the public as “pre-race” coverage.

The prize was $2,000 and each man had his own referee to check that the contents weighed at least 100lb. Leon quickly emerged as the leader. At one time Lyman was 1,000 miles behind but apparently finished the race.

As Leon Federmeyer passed through each town he gave a lecture, sometimes charging as much as ten cents admission. Even the native Americans knew about him as he passed close to their villages. Interest grew as the walk went on and the trek must have been hazardous as well as exhausting. But the story had a happy ending. Leon took his $2000 prize money and settled in Chicago where he opened a beauty salon. He married a woman 30 years his junior and had 12 children. So next time you’re trundling up the garden spare a thought for Leon’s exploits.

September has been a glorious month. But a true Indian summer starts in October, the traditional month for native Americans to harvest their crops. They used the three sisters method which involved growing beans, squash and corn together. The beans climbed up the squashes, the squashes spread across the ground suppressing weeds and mulching in moisture as they went. The mixture of the three protected crops against disease and there was usually a quiet sunny spell of weather in October. So officially I can still hope for an Indian summer.