More was learned about the Miner carriage works by perusing business documents carefully conserved by the family. The collection of thirty–nine documents includes several envelopes, but the bulk of the collection consists of small postcards, called postal stationery, used for rapid correspondence between the carriage maker and clients or parts suppliers. These postcards date back to the period between 1872, five years after the company was founded, and 1886, when it was still called Miner & Clow. The postcards are important because until now, we had found that sources about this manufacturing sector are somewhat rare, disparate, and scattered all over Canada, requiring detective skills to research the subject!

These documents provide some information about three individuals who likely were clients, one of whom was David Nutt. In 1875, he lived in Nutt’s Corner, a small village with a population of about one hundred inhabitants some seventy–five kilometres southwest of Granby, near Lake Champlain and the Canada–U.S. border. Nutt was a farmer as well as the local postmaster. In a note to William Miner, he asked whether Miner had sold the vehicle he had described in a previous postcard. There is also a record of an account for an Edward Marion, or Marriot, in 1884, who lived in St–Hugues, some sixty kilometres west of Granby in the region that is today known as the Montérégie. However, the purpose of the account is unknown. Finally, in 1886, Mr L. W. Wallen (?), of Warden, wrote Miner to say that he would wait until the following spring before proceeding with the repair of a defect on his new sleigh. In the meantime, a back robe was used to hide the defect. Warden was a village of approximately 150 inhabitants located, like Granby, in Shefford county. While these three archival documents do not constitute a significant sample, they nonetheless suggest, contrary to what we thought, that Miner’s client base was not strictly a local one and that the company sold vehicles within a radius of at least seventy–five kilometres, despite competition from local carriage makers.

The business documents also reveal that the company subscribed to the magazine The Hub. Launched in 1869, this U.S. magazine, published in New York, targeted the owners of horse–drawn vehicle businesses and their employees. Subscribing to a magazine was another means of information exchange between Canadian and U.S. carriage makers and apprentices. The rest of the documents deal with the company’s network with other businesses, mostly parts suppliers.

D. Conboy envelope addressed to W. Miner (Courtesy Maria Lubecki)

Much was also learned about the company’s network of suppliers. When the Miner company began its operations in 1867, it took out advertisements in a local paper to inform potential clients that the wood and all the wheels used to build its vehicles were directly imported from New Jersey. What about the following years? From 1872 to 1880, according to these documents, the company dealt with three Quebec suppliers, all located in Montreal, one Ontario supplier, and four others, located in the United States. The Montreal suppliers provided Miner with hardware and harness supplies (Gustave R. Fabre), rubber products (Goodyear Rubber Company of Canada Limited) and springs (Benny, Macpherson & Company). These three suppliers were importers rather than manufacturers, whereas it appears that the Ontario supplier, D. Conboy, located in Uxbridge, manufactured all kinds of vehicles, but also patented accessories; however, what Conboy sold to Miner is not known.

Phineas Jones & Company postal stationery addressed to H. & W. Miner, 27 May 1876 (Courtesy Maria Lubecki)

In the case of the U.S. firms, and consistent with Miner’s 1867 advertisements, the supplier of wheels and spokes was New Jersey firm Phineas Jones & Company–Newark Wheel & Spoke Works, one of the major suppliers in the United States. The other suppliers included Farrar Brothers of St Albans, Vermont, for springs; the New Haven Wheel Company, another wheel supplier located in New Haven, Connecticut, one of the most important manufacturing centres in this industry sector; and, James G. Moffet of New York City, a company specializing in the production of brass and silver plating.

From 1880 to 1886, Miner dealt with six Montreal firms, three of which specialized in varnishes and paints, in particular with R. C. Jamieson & Company. The others included St Gabriel Colour Works and McArthur, Corneille & Company. Gustave R. Fabre remained a loyal supplier of harnesses. The postcards also indicate business dealings with G. Armstrong. The activities of certain Montreal firms seem to have included some manufacturing, of varnishes and Japan varnish for example, but the others seemed to be simply suppliers and importers.

Postcard addressed to the Canada Carriage Parts Company in St Thomas, Ontario, 27 March 1886 (Courtesy Maria Lubecki)

In the neighbouring province of Ontario, the number of firms with which Miner had dealings increased to three. These included Glennie & McLean of South Lancaster, a supplier of spoke sets; Gananoque Carriage Gear Works, a supplier of gear sets (wheels, axles, springs and the associated parts); and, Canada Carriage Parts Company of St Thomas, a supplier of springs for light buggies. Four U.S. firms also did business with Miner. New Haven Wheel Company remained one of the company’s suppliers. Others included Hannibal Green’s Son & Company of Troy, New York, a supplier of steel springs; Goodwin Brothers Wheels & Carriage Woodwork of Manchester, New Hampshire; and, Concord Axle Company of Fisherville, also in New Hampshire. While the names of the latter firms provide clues as to the products they sold, the documents provide no clear indication on orders placed with them.

Thus, according to these documents, it is apparent that from the early 1880s Miner dealt as much with Ontario firms as with U.S. firms for the purchase of mechanical parts for suspension and axle systems. Was this due to Canada’s National Policy, adopted in 1879, that set high tariffs on imports of manufactured goods from the United States? For example, tariffs on the importation of vehicles, steel springs, tops, wheels, bodywork, and chassis were set at thirty percent whereas wheels and axles were subject to a tariff of twenty–five percent. Were such parts also manufactured by Quebec–based companies or was this the beginning of an industry structure that would later foster the development of the Ontario automotive industry?

The practice of supplying parts for manufacturing horse–drawn vehicles began in the United States in the late 1850s, first in New Haven, Connecticut, and later on, during the 1870s, in cities in the American Midwest, such as Cincinnati, Ohio. This specialization resulted from the division of labour in vehicle manufacturing aimed at increasing production and offering a standardized product to the middle class. Before manufacturers began using prefabricated parts, small carriage makers had to hire a blacksmith, a painter, a carpenter–joiner, and an upholsterer. When Robert McLaughlin founded his company in 1867, he hired travelling tradesmen. During the 1870s, even Montreal companies continued to produce handcrafted vehicles. The use of prefabricated parts manufactured by specialty firms, the production of which had followed the introduction of new machinery, helped small businesses to be competitive. However, on the assumption that Miner continued to purchase components and parts after 1886, we note that despite everything, the firm was still hiring, or at least was recruiting, such tradesmen as highly–skilled blacksmiths, mechanics, cabinetmakers, and painters. It would seem that despite its purchases of parts and components, the company’s operations continued to include much more than the simple assembly of parts.

If this is what we learned from the firm’s business documents, what did we learn from the sleigh itself? What did it reveal during the conservation process carried out by the conservator from the Museum’s Collection and Conservation Services Division, Sue Warren?