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Canosia
Township
Building a
stagecoach is not your average family project but, in 1899, the Merritt
family decided to build a coach for general camping and trips to their
Pike Lake cabin. Although regional train service had replaced most of the
large long distance coaches, smaller wagons were still common. The
Merritts kept a log book filled with construction details of their family
coach, soon to be named the “Merry Jane.” When craftsman in West Duluth
began work on the coach in January, the family ledger lists the use of
“basswood and second growth hickory.” By April the
frames and ribs were shaped and second growth ash, mentioned in the
journal as a “good stick,” arrived from St. Paul. In May the coach was
painted, an odometer and window curtains were added and “..we ran her out
on the scales...” which registered almost 1200 pounds. After a few short
trips up and down Duluth hills, a new brake bar was installed. In June the
coach was complete for a cost of $532…considerably less, according to
Howard Kendall, who provided stagecoach service to his Pike Lake Hotel
than a genuine Concord wagon priced F.O.B. $675.00 At the
time, there was considerable interest in coaches, the “coach and four,”
especially in New York where large “Tally Ho” vehicles were fashionable.
But Minnesota was also entering another age: in 1902 there were about a
dozen automobiles in the state; by 1909 there were 7,000 licensed
automobiles. Around 1903
the Merritt stagecoach was shipped to Nebraska for ranch work, eventually
returning by rail along with the family’s first automobile. The coach was
stored at Pike Lake and, during the 1918 Forest Fire, the barn and
carriage house, along with the Merry Jane, were destroyed. (Sources for this article include files in the Northeast Minnesota History Center at UMD, Duluth.) Contributed by Kathryn Adams and the Canosia Historical Society |