Steaming Along

[H]

Well, I can never say I'm without ignorance. When I was young I thought stage coaches had been made somewhere in the old U.S. west because I only saw them in westerns (films); it was some while later that I discovered that their mfg name was the Concord Coach, all made near Concord, New Hampshire.
The days of the steamboat seemed quite past and, for the most part, associated with the Mississippi or the oceans, although the M/S Mount Washington (the current one was not the first) steamed Lake Winnipesaukee for a long while; just to mention, the current M/S Mount Washington plies the waters when winter's chill is gone. I found out about this too late for this year but, although only four showed up for the 1972 inception, more than 50 steamboats showed up this year for the annual Lee's Mill Steamboat Meet.

[Fozzer]

Fascinating as always! @H... ...!

The "Coach" certainly has an ancient history!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagecoach

I wonder if the New Hampshire "Stage Coach" idea/design was brought over from England?

The American Concord Stage Coach:
Quote:
"Beginning in the 18th century crude wagons began to be used to carry passengers between cities and towns, first within New England in 1744, then between New York and Philadelphia in 1756. Travel time was reduced on this later run from three days to two in 1766 with an improved coach called the Flying Machine. The first mail coaches appeared in the later 18th century carrying passengers and the mails, replacing the earlier post riders on the main roads. Coachmen carried letters, packages and money, often transacting business or delivering messages for their customers. By 1829 Boston was the hub of 77 stagecoach lines; by 1832 there were 106.
Preserved Concord stagecoach in Wells Fargo livery.

The first Concord stagecoach was built in 1827. Abbot Downing Company employed leather strap braces under their stagecoaches which gave a swinging motion instead of the jolting up and down of a spring suspension. The company manufactured over forty different types of carriages and wagons at the wagon factory in Concord, New Hampshire. Concord stagecoaches were built so solidly it became known they didn't break down but just wore out.

The Concord stagecoach sold throughout South America, Australia, and Africa. Over 700 Concord stagecoaches were built by the original Abbot Downing Company before it disbanded in 1847.[citation needed] The company was still building coaches, wagons, and carriages according to their business card of 1898.[citation needed][15] In his 1861 book Roughing It, Mark Twain described the Concord stage's ride as like "a cradle on wheels"."
End quote.

Wells Fargo..Wyatt Erp...Hollywood...and all that... ..!

Paul...Staging a comeback... ...!

[H]

The folk singers and NH residents, the Shaw Brothers, made a couple of songs about the originators of the Abbot-Downing [Concord Coach] Company; the name has been carried on with a subsidiary of Wells Fargo.
Another site with additional links: Concord Historical Society.