This business car has a fascinating history. Probably built in the 1890's, it was the private car of a lumber company's general manager, first in Michigan and later near Duluth, Minnesota. In 1925 it went to MN&S co-owner Win Stephens, who stretched it like a limo for entertaining Detroit automobile executives. In the 1947 photo above, it is seen on a duck hunting trip in North Dakota.
We know from inlay in the end doors that the Gopher was "Built By The Barney & Smith Car Co. Dayton, Ohio". Marks stamped on the outsides of doors and windows further reveal it was built the Gran Maris. This is probably a mis-spelling, since on one it is the Grand Marais. It is difficult to read, but 2352 (the builder's number?) also appears to be stamped in doors and windows. Exactly when and for whom it was built is a mystery - the records of Barney & Smith were lost in a flood in the 1920's.
We believe it was built before 1892 for the Manistique Railway, a Michigan logging railroad owned by the Alger-Smith Lumber Company, since we have seen a small-town newspaper article from that year which mentioned the Grand Marais coming to town. That its name was spelled Grand Marais is fairly certain, since the Manistique was head-quartered in Grand Marais, Michigan.
Its history in this century is better known. By 1912 the lumber in Michigan had all but disappeared, and the Manistique was dismantled to build the Duluth & Northern Minnesota, located north of Duluth along the north shore of Lake Superior. On the D&NM it was the private car of general manager John Millen. We have seen two pictures of it during this era, one in Duluth around 1910, and another on a business trip to Florida's timber reserves in 1912. (Although the D&NM ceased operations around 1923, at least one other piece of equipment has survived. Locomotive 14 is located at the Lake Superior Transportation Museum.)
The Grand Marais was a sixty foot long wooden car. The floor plan is based on differences in the woodwork inside the car, more modern bunks in two rooms, and traces of exterior paint visible from above the head-end vestibule, as well as the photos we have seen. The interior was Oak and Mahogany, with clerestory windows and a light green ceiling. The wood had inlay borders, and the ceiling was trimmed with gold.
In 1924 the Grand Marais was refurbished for an equipment dealer by the Minneapolis & St. Louis' Cedar Lake shops in Minneapolis. Then, in 1925, Mr. Win Stephens of Minneapolis purchased it for his private use. Mr. Stephens owned what was then the only Buick dealership in Minnesota, and had dreams of gaining an exclusive right to sell Buick automobiles in the upper midwest. To that end, he and partner Harry Pence purchased the Minneapolis, Northfield, & Southern as the first part of an all-rail link to Detroit. Harry Pence followed suit by also purchasing a private car (the Pheasant). During the winter of 1926-27, Mr. Stephens had his car completely rebuilt by the Great Northern's Jackson Street shops. They cut it in half, added a second state room, a crew room and about seventeen extra feet in length, put it on a Commonwealth steel underframe kit, enclosed the head-end vestibule, wired it for electric lighting, and finished it in steel siding. The main change in interior decor was painting the ceiling brown. Curiously, they kept the original composite four-wheel trucks. (We have before and after equipment register entries.) Mr Stephens had already renamed it, for the name Gopher appears in pencil on the new woodwork.
In its new role, the Gopher made several trips to Detroit to pick up brand new automobiles. Mr. Stephens had flat cars equipped to handle them, and the entire train would make the trip, the Gopher bringing up the markers. It was also took Detroit dignitaries on several excursions. In his effort to win an exclusive dealership, Mr. Stephens invited Alfred P. Sloan of General Motors on several duck-hunting excursions on Northern Pacific branch lines. Win Stephens Jr. has recalled for us going on one of those trips as a child. They would take pot-shots at the ducks from the rear platform as they rolled down the track.
From its retirement in the 50's until the Soo Line's acquisition of the MN&S in 1983, the Gopher sat at Leech Lake, Minnesota as a lake cabin. Although on trucks, its underside was stripped of mechanical equipment and it was connected to the local utilities. The kitchen was remodelled with then-modern appliances. A hot water/car heat unit in a closet jutting into the kitchen was removed and replaced by heaters in each end. The ceiling and master bedroom were painted white.
In 1984 the Minnesota Transportation Museum acquired the Gopher for $2500. Because MTM was renting space at the time and the car had to be stored outside, vandals were able to kick in a door and almost succeeded in setting the car on fire. After that it's valuable brass fixtures were removed for safe-keeping. (They have since been stolen - MTM will accept their return with no questions asked.)
Today the Gopher is safely stored inside a locked building, and plans a being made for its restoration and eventual display in the Jackson Street Roundhouse working museum. To complete the restoration, MTM seeks:
As a restoration project, the Gopher is very straight-forward. The goal is a 1927 as-rebuilt appearance. Inside it needs some woodwork to repair water damage and Lake cabin era remodeling, as well as replacement of brittle cloth-covered wiring. Outside it needs repainting and minor repair work. The most work is on the underside, which must be recreated. We have a pair of visually-correct cast trucks (not composite) which need matching center plates on the car. All brake rigging is missing and the steam heat lines are gone. (MTM has replacement parts.) On the vestibule end, the diaphragm, coupler, glad-hand, and steam heat connector are gone.
If you would like to help restore the Gopher, you must be a member of the museum. Come down to the Jackson Street Roundhouse on any Saturday between 8:30 and 5:00, or Thursday between 5:30 and 10:00. We provide training, heavy tools, ear protection, and dust masks. Volunteers should bring work clothes, steel-toed boots, gloves, eye protection, and hand tools. The car itself is in an unheated building, but many jobs can be done in the shop where it is warm.