Tag Archives: industry

The Pioneer Wagon Works of the West

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A story about a medallion. It seemed better than a rant about politics.

It seemed interesting and had plenty of information on it – a factory, a slogan, some dates, a picture of a wagon and the name of an agent in Salt Lake City. Surely, I thought, there will be something about this medallion I can research.

And, as it turned out, a simple search was rewarded with a flood of information. It seems that Mr Schuttler and his company were famous, and the wagons are still sought after by collectors of such things. There is plenty of information, including a three part article on his life, his family and his wagons, accounts of his haunted house and auction reports showing a continuing interest in his products.

Peter Schuttler (1812 – 1865) moved from Germany to the USA in 1834, and worked building wagons. After several changes of job and town, he ended up in Chicago and, in 1843, opened his own workshop. Helped by the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the Mormon Migration of 1855, the business expanded and by the mid-1850s, his works employed 100 people and built around 1,800 wagons a year. The brand soon developed a reputation for being well built and well designed, with every part, even the nuts and bolts, being made in the factory.

He was one of the richest men in Chicago at the time of his death in 1865, and was in the final stages of building his famous mansion, which cost $500,000 ($9.6 million in today’s values) and included architectural features imported from Germany. It had the reputation of being both cursed and haunted. Schuttler’s death was attributed to blood poisoning caught when he cut himself on a protruding nail, after which he cursed it from his death bed. It declined, and, after an unhappy history, was eventually demolished in 1911.

The company rebuilt the factory after the Chicago Fire of 1871 and by 1904 was producing 20,000 wagons a year. However, technology was changing and the company did not change with the times. They produced a fine quality wagon in an age that was turning to cars. It was like claiming to produce the best abacus in a world of personal computers. They sold their carriage works and equipment in 1921 and the rest of their business in the 1940s. The last wagons bearing the Schuttler name were produced by the new owners in the 1950s.

The medallion is 33mm in diameter and made from white metal. The last dated award mentioned is 1876. They won an award at the Columbian Exhibition in 1893, which was commemorated by a medallion, so this suggests a date of between 1876 and 1893 for this medallion. There are similar Schuttler medallions in a variety of metals and sizes, some similar to this example, but with different agent’s names,

The obverse, with a depiction of the post-1871 factory has the wording “THE PIONEER WAGON WORKS/OF THE WEST./ESTABLISHED 1843/PETER SCHUTTLER CHICAGO.”

The maker’s name – J. S. Weber is just visible on the edge of the factory base. The reverse, which is in coin orientation, shows a wagon with the following text “MFR.OF FARM FREIGHT & SPRING WAGONS/FIRST/PREMIUM” around the top and “PARIS 1867/PHILADELPHIA/1876/GEO. A. LOWE. AGT. SALT LAKE CITY.” on the lower part.

George A. Lowe (1836-1903), according to information on Facebook, was born in Massachusetts, married in 1866, when his profession was given as “Dealer in farm machinery” and by 1880 was living in Salt Lake City and listed as a “Wagon Agent”. He died unexpectedly of heart failure in 1903, having been well known in Business, Political and Social Affairs in the area.

Blue Skies and High Hopes

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Six, two and one are, I have no doubt, all excellent numbers in their own way. If I had six BAFTAS, two Oscars and one Queen’s Medal for Poetry, I would be a very happy man. However, if you list them in that order and display them on the screen of a clock, they are less good. They are particularly bad when it is your day off and you set the clock for 8.30. What’s the point of having a day off and not having a lie-in?

I spent a disturbed night, with recurring dreams of bleak horror that would, I suspect, make a really good screen play. Written down, my dream could be the work that wins my first Oscar. However, experience suggests that I need to check what was on TV last night between 11.30pm and 2am. I was asleep in the chair at that time and I have been known to absorb the plot of a late night film as I snooze.

Today I am going to research some articles, write some bits for the Numismatic Society Facebook page and knock some submissions into shape. It feels like an industrious sort of day. However, many of them do and many of them don’t make it past breakfast. That’s why I am currently starving – I daren’t stop in case I lose that enthusiasm.

The sky is a lovely blue this morning, with just a few shreds of white cloud. Add the cloud to the movement of the trees and I suspect it is a bit breezy. It also feels a bit nippy. I’m tempted to put the fire on, but that would be a bit nesh.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term the Etymological Dictionary defines it thus:

“tender, delicate, weak, physically soft in texture,” now a Northern England dialect word but it was common in Middle English, from Old English hnesce “soft in texture”

I used the word because it is the one that fitted my purposes precisely, and I included the definition because I suspect it isn’t widely used.

Unfortunately, I just spent ten minutes lost in the dictionary, and am likely to return to it later. That is, as I have said before, the lure of the internet and the peril of procrastination . . .