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Training Wheels · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
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  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
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  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
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  Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: If you were lucky enough to spend your entire childhood
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  Speaker 1: in one home, it can be hard to say goodbye
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  Speaker 1: to it. You make so many memories there and spend
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  Speaker 1: so many years analyzing every nook and cranny that it
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  Speaker 1: almost becomes like a member of the family. But time
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  Speaker 1: moves on, children grow up and move away, and parents
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  Speaker 1: often need to downsize. Most of the time. Some parents
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  Speaker 1: just can't let go, though, and they hold onto their
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  Speaker 1: homes at all costs. Now, we've talked on the show
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  Speaker 1: before about how the state of Michigan traded the city
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  Speaker 1: of Toledo in order to gain its Upper Peninsula in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six. This concluded the so called Toledo War,
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  Speaker 1: and it proved to be an even trade. As the
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  Speaker 1: mineral wealth of the Upper Peninsula seemed to be virtually endless.
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  Speaker 1: No one took better advantage of this than a man
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  Speaker 1: named John M. Longear. John was an incredibly hard worker,
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  Speaker 1: and he spent his youth surveying the peninsula for signs
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  Speaker 1: of minerals. In the eighteen seventies, he surveyed multiple mountain
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  Speaker 1: ranges on behalf of various mining companies, producing some of
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  Speaker 1: the first maps of the region and helping to open
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  Speaker 1: several mines. In the eighteen eighties, he went into business
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  Speaker 1: for himself, opening even more mines and shipping millions of
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  Speaker 1: tons of ore. With generational wealth now secured, John built
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  Speaker 1: his family a large mansion on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean it was massive, with sixty five rooms
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  Speaker 1: that took up an entire city block. There were whole
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  Speaker 1: rooms dedicated to different activities, whether it was bowling, billiards, piano,
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  Speaker 1: you name it. And of course there was a giant
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  Speaker 1: lake at the foot of the cliff if anyone ever
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  Speaker 1: wanted to go swimming or boating. It was a magical
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  Speaker 1: place for John's children to grow up in. They lived
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  Speaker 1: there in luxury for most of their childhoods, but then
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen hundred, at the turn of the century, everything changed.
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  Speaker 1: Tragedy struck that year when John's nineteen year old son, Howard,
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  Speaker 1: drowned in Lake Superior. There are always dangers on the
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  Speaker 1: Great Lakes, even for someone who grew up on them.
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  Speaker 1: Strong winds and current can end the life of any swimmer.
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  Speaker 1: John and his wife were understandably devastated. Their serene existence
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  Speaker 1: had been completely destroyed by the worst thing that can
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  Speaker 1: befall apparent. John's wife thought to ease the pain by
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  Speaker 1: reaching out to the city of Marquette, hoping that she
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  Speaker 1: could build a park on the shore of the lake
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  Speaker 1: and dedicate it to her son. But the city had
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  Speaker 1: other plans. A new railroad was being built through town,
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  Speaker 1: and it was going to pass right beneath the long
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  Speaker 1: Year home where they wanted to build the memorial to
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  Speaker 1: their son. So not only would they not get their memorial,
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  Speaker 1: but their tranquil, scenic view would now be marred by
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  Speaker 1: a noisy train. There was a good argument to be
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  Speaker 1: had on both sides. The city would benefit from the train,
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  Speaker 1: and it was probably not reasonable for the long Years
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  Speaker 1: to expect the whole town to bend to their whims.
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  Speaker 1: But their mansion was the jewel of the city. Even
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  Speaker 1: if it wasn't being respected, and so after mulling it
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  Speaker 1: over and discussing with his family, John decided that it
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  Speaker 1: was time for them to move on from the peninsula
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  Speaker 1: where he had made his fortune. The only problem was
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  Speaker 1: he couldn't sell the house. Few could afford it, and
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  Speaker 1: with the train going in, fewer still would be willing
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  Speaker 1: to buy it from him, And so John embarked on
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  Speaker 1: an incredible endeavor. Working with an architect, he had his
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  Speaker 1: home disassembled brick by brick, with each piece carefully wrapped
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  Speaker 1: in cloth and straw and loaded onto a train. One
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  Speaker 1: hundred and ninety cars of that train were filled with
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  Speaker 1: pieces of the Long Year mansion and transported many miles
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  Speaker 1: to Brookline, Massachusetts. The more populous area would be a
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  Speaker 1: good place for the long Years to start over. They'd
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  Speaker 1: have each other and their home to remember Howard by,
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  Speaker 1: but no longer have to face the lake that took
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  Speaker 1: his life. In truth, the new home ended up being
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  Speaker 1: much larger than the first. By the time he was finished,
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  Speaker 1: John had doubled the mansion size. Not that they needed
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  Speaker 1: the extra space, mind you, but the family was able
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  Speaker 1: to spread out more on the new land and add
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  Speaker 1: some incredible landscaping that remains to this day. Now only
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  Speaker 1: the mansion has been expanded into condominiums so that more
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  Speaker 1: than one family can make use of the space. Looking back,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's clear that the reconstruction of the Long
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  Speaker 1: Year Mansion might have been Michigan's loss, but it was
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  Speaker 1: certainly Massachusetts gain. The summer of eighteen eighty six was
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  Speaker 1: a pivotal time for Canada. The country was still relatively young,
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  Speaker 1: having been founded in eighteen sixty seven, and it was
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  Speaker 1: still undergoing several growing pains. One of those was the
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  Speaker 1: exhaustive construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first track
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  Speaker 1: that would connect one end of Canada to the other.
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Sir John A. McDonald had long wanted to
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  Speaker 1: travel across the country by rail, and for the first
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  Speaker 1: time such a thing was possible. The plan was for
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister, his wife, and several dignitaries to take
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  Speaker 1: a train all the way from Ottawa to Granville, going west.
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  Speaker 1: It was functionally a pr tour. The Prime Minister would
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  Speaker 1: stop along the route and take credit for the new
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  Speaker 1: marvel of the railway. So what could possibly go wrong? Well,
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  Speaker 1: Lady Agnes MacDonald, the Prime Minister's wife, soon found out
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  Speaker 1: what the problem would be as they left Ottawa. Staring
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  Speaker 1: out at the scenery from the comfort of a luxurious
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  Speaker 1: box car would get very dull, very fast. Prairies all
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  Speaker 1: looked the same from there, and her husband seemed perfectly
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  Speaker 1: content to read the entire time. This would not do
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  Speaker 1: for Lady Agnes. She left their car and started to
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  Speaker 1: wander the length of the train, eventually finding herself at
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  Speaker 1: the locomotive engine with the engineer and the fireman. The
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  Speaker 1: two were bemused to see her there, but when asked
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  Speaker 1: to explain how they kept the engine running, they complied,
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  Speaker 1: showing Lady Agnes the ins and outs of running a
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  Speaker 1: steam engine. She asked them if she could blow the
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  Speaker 1: whistle at the next crossing, and they gave her permission,
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  Speaker 1: and she eagerly did so several times, annoying her husband
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  Speaker 1: all the way back in the coach. He knew that
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  Speaker 1: she was getting restless, but would much preferred if she
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  Speaker 1: would just content herself to enjoy the view quietly as
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  Speaker 1: they went. She conceded to coming back to their coach,
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  Speaker 1: watching the Rockies roll by in perfect comfort, but soon
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  Speaker 1: after she had a better idea. When the train stopped
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  Speaker 1: at Lake Louise. Lady Agnes got out and took a
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  Speaker 1: look at the front of the locomotive itself. She eyed
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  Speaker 1: the large pointed structure at the front of the train,
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  Speaker 1: known as the cow catcher, and asked the superintendent if
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  Speaker 1: she could ride up there instead of back in the
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  Speaker 1: stuffy old coach. Her husband was not keen on the idea,
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  Speaker 1: but he could not dissuade her. The Superintendent, perhaps to
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  Speaker 1: assuage the Prime Minister's fears, decided that he would ride
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  Speaker 1: beside her. The two of them fixed seats to the
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  Speaker 1: cow catcher, and the train set off again, and Lady
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  Speaker 1: Agnes was delighted by her new vantage points riding through
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  Speaker 1: the gorgeous Canadian wilderness with the wind in her hair.
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  Speaker 1: It was so much more involving than staring through it
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  Speaker 1: all through a pane of glass. At one of the
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  Speaker 1: subsequent stops, her husband walked up there to check on her,
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  Speaker 1: and she dared him to ride alongside him. To the
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  Speaker 1: shock of everyone around, he said he would. He rode
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  Speaker 1: up front with her until the next stop, at which
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  Speaker 1: points he retired to their private car once again. Lady Agnes, however,
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  Speaker 1: was not done. She rode the rest of the trip
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  Speaker 1: on the front of the train all the way from
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  Speaker 1: Calgary to Granville. By the end of the trip, everyone
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  Speaker 1: would be in awe of her, and they took a
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  Speaker 1: photograph of the front of the train with Lady Agnes
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  Speaker 1: still sat upon the cowketcher and her chair. She would
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  Speaker 1: later reflect on her own fearlessness in her diary, writing
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  Speaker 1: and I quote, I did not think of the danger.
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  Speaker 1: My mind was not on the precarious post I had
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  Speaker 1: because I could gaze at the glaciers, the shadows playing
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  Speaker 1: on the distant peaks, the hundreds of rainbows made by
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  Speaker 1: the foaming, dashing river. I laughed out loud on that cowcatcher.
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  Speaker 1: It was so delightful. Most people love to travel, although
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  Speaker 1: to be fair, riding on the cowcatcher at the front
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  Speaker 1: of a train might not be most people's first choice,
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  Speaker 1: but Lady Agnes viewed things differently. It seems that some
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  Speaker 1: people will do anything for a front row seat. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
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  Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
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  Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
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  Speaker 1: Stuff Works, I make another award winning show called Lore,
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  Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and
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  Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore dot com.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.