Last weekend, Stephen Fitzpatrick and his older daughter Fenya joined Sean and I in Leduc as part of our effort to wrap up the estate. Mom and Dad were generous to a fault, so I feel good that Steve and Fenya were able to make use of some of their stuff, including this wheel; Stephen's wife, Audrey, was happy to add it to one of their gardens. It looks great, and I know Mom and Dad would be happy that the wheel rolls on; like Sean and me, they were very fond of the Fitzpatricks.
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My Dad retired out of Ford and ended up volunteering at Fort Calgary for several years, helping with restorations. As long as the money held out, the Fort wanted to rebuild things using the technology of the time.
For several months, Dad was part of the team building Bow River Carts, which were a type of heavy horse-drawn cart typical to the region that used as few metal fittings as possible. He became good at building wagon wheels.
I can tell you with 100% certainty that your wheel isn't from the Bow River variety. That metal-cast axle looks reasonably modern, maybe post WWI...? Past that, I have no strong idea, although it looks authentic to me. At this point, it has much more meaning for your family that it would for any cartwright.
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