Training Wheels

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Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, All of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

If you were lucky enough to spend your entire childhood in one home, it can be hard to say goodbye to it.

You make so many memories there and spend so many years analyzing every nook and cranny that it almost becomes like a member of the family.

But time moves on, children grow up and move away, and parents often need to downsize, most of the time.

Some parents just can't let go though, and they hold on to their homes at all costs.

Now, we've talked on the show before about how the state of Michigan traded the city of Toledo in order to gain its Upper Peninsula in 1836.

This concluded the so-called Toledo War, and it proved to be an even trade, as the mineral wealth of the Upper Peninsula seemed to be virtually endless.

No one took better advantage of this than a man named John M.

Longyear.

John was an incredibly hard worker, and he spent his youth surveying the peninsula for signs of minerals.

In the 1870s, he surveyed multiple mountain ranges on behalf of various mining companies, producing some of the first maps of the region and helping to open several mines.

In the 1880s, he went into business for himself, opening even more mines and shipping millions of tons of ore.

With generational wealth now secured, John built his family a large mansion on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior.

And I mean, it was massive, with 65 rooms that took up an entire city block.

There were whole rooms dedicated to different activities, whether it was bowling, billiards, piano, you name it.

And of course, there was a giant lake at the foot of the cliff if anyone ever wanted to go swimming or boating.

It was a magical place for John's children to grow up in.

They lived there in luxury for most of their childhoods.

But then, in 1900, at the turn of the century, everything changed.

Tragedy struck that year when John's 19-year-old son, Howard, drowned drowned in Lake Superior.

There are always dangers on the Great Lakes, even for someone who grew up on them.

Strong winds and current can end the life of any swimmer.

John and his wife were understandably devastated.

Their serene existence had been completely destroyed by the worst thing that can befall a parent.

John's wife thought to ease the pain by reaching out to the city of Marquette.

hoping that she could build a park on the shore of the lake and dedicate it to her son.

But the city had other plans.

A new railroad was being built through town and it was going to pass right beneath the Longyear home, where they wanted to build the memorial to their son.

So not only would they not get their memorial, but their tranquil, scenic view would now be marred by a noisy train.

There was a good argument to be had on both sides, the city would benefit from the train, and it was probably not reasonable for the Longyears to expect the whole town to bend to their whims.

But their mansion was the jewel of the city, even if it wasn't being respected.

And so, after mulling it over and discussing with his family, John decided that it was time for them to move on from the peninsula where he had made his fortune.

The only problem was he couldn't sell the house.

Few could afford it, and with the train going in, fewer still would be willing to buy it from him.

And so, John embarked on an incredible endeavor.

Working with an architect, he had his home disassembled brick by brick.

with each piece carefully wrapped in cloth and straw and loaded onto a train.

190 cars of that train were filled with pieces of the Longyear Mansion and transported many miles to Brookline, Massachusetts.

The more populous area would be a good place for the Longyears to start over.

They'd have each other and their home to remember Howard by, but no longer have to face the lake that took his life.

In truth, the new home ended up being much larger than the first.

By the time he was finished, John had doubled the mansion size.

Not that they needed the extra space, mind you, but the family was able to spread out more on the new land and add some some incredible landscaping that remains to this day.

Now, only the mansion has been expanded into condominiums so that more than one family can make use of the space.

Looking back, I think it's clear that the reconstruction of the Longyear Mansion might have been Michigan's loss, but it was certainly Massachusetts' gain.

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That's apu.apus.edu slash military.

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees.

Just ask the Capital One Bank guy.

It's pretty much all he talks about.

In a good way.

He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.

Oh, really?

Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy.

What's in your wallet?

Terms apply.

See capital1.com/slash bank.

Capital One NA member FDIC.

The summer of 1886 was a pivotal time for Canada.

The country was still relatively young, having been founded in 1867, and it was still undergoing several growing pains.

One of those was the exhaustive construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first track that would connect one end of Canada to the other.

Prime Minister Sir John A.

MacDonald had long wanted to travel across the country by rail, and for the first time, such a thing was possible.

The plan was for the Prime Minister, his wife, and several dignitaries to take a train all the way from Ottawa to Granville, going west.

It was functionally a PR tour.

The Prime Minister would stop along the route and take credit for the new marvel of the railway.

So what could possibly go wrong?

Well, Lady Agnes MacDonald, the Prime Minister's wife, soon found out what the problem would be as they left Ottawa.

Staring out at the scenery from the comfort of a luxurious boxcar would get very dull very fast.

Prairies all looked the same from there, and her husband seemed perfectly content to read the entire time.

This would not do for Lady Agnes.

She left their car and started to wander the length of the train.

eventually finding herself at the locomotive engine with the engineer and the fireman.

The two were bemused to see her there, but when asked to explain how they kept the engine running, they complied, showing Lady Agnes the ins and outs of running a steam engine.

She asked them if she could blow the whistle at the next crossing, and they gave her permission and she eagerly did so several times, annoying her husband all the way back in the coach.

He knew that she was getting restless, but would much prefer it if she would just content herself to enjoy the view.

quietly as they went.

She conceded to coming back to their coach, watching the Rockies roll by in perfect comfort, but soon after, she had a better idea.

When the train stopped at Lake Louise, Lady Agnes got out and took a look at the front of the locomotive itself.

She eyed the large pointed structure at the front of the train, known as the cow catcher, and asked the superintendent if she could ride up there instead of back in the stuffy old coach.

Her husband was not keen on the idea, but he could not dissuade her.

The superintendent, perhaps to assuage the prime minister's fears, decided that he would ride beside her.

The two of them fixed seats to the cow catcher, and the train set off again.

And Lady Agnes was delighted by her new vantage point.

Riding through the gorgeous Canadian wilderness with the wind in her hair, it was so much more involving than staring through it all through a pane of glass.

At one of the subsequent stops, her husband walked up there to check on her, and she dared him to ride alongside him.

To the shock of everyone around, he said he would.

He rode up front with her until the next stop, at which point he retired to their private car once again.

Lady Agnes, however, was not done.

She rode the rest of the trip on the front of the train, all the way from Calgary to Granville.

By the end of the trip, everyone would be in awe of her, and they took a photograph of the front of the train with Lady Agnes still sat upon the cow catcher and her chair.

She would later reflect on her own fearlessness in her diary, writing, and I quote, I did not think of the danger.

My mind was not on the precarious post I had because I could gaze at the glaciers, the shadows playing on the distant peaks, the hundreds of rainbows made by the foaming, dashing river.

I laughed out loud on that cow catcher.

It was so delightful.

Most people love to travel.

Although, to be fair, riding on the cow catcher at the front of a train might not be most people's first choice.

But Lady Agnes viewed things differently.

It seems that some people will do anything for a front row seat.

I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.

Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the show by visiting CuriositiesPodcast.com.

This show was created by me, Aaron Mankey, in partnership with How Stuff Works.

I make another award-winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show.

And you can learn all about it over at theworldoflore.com.

And until next time, stay curious.

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees.

Just ask the Capital One Bank guy.

It's pretty much all he talks about.

In a good way.

He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.

Oh, really?

Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy.

What's in your wallet?

Terms apply.

See capital One.com/slash bank.

Capital One NA member FDIC.

This is an iHeart podcast.