Dorena Historical Society

Galloping Goose

Some of the following information was taken from a chapter in Golden Was The Past the stories continue… contributed by Dorothy Bond.

The Galloping Goose was a funny little streetcar-like contraption that ran up and down the Row River Valley on the railroad tracks. The Goose was either a remodeled boxcar or looked like one.  It was built around 1915 and was powered by a gasoline engine and had 6 flanged wheels to hug the tracks.  The goose featured windows all around, benches and a comfy pot-bellied stove.

The goose had 17,000 riders in 1917.  It was used by farmers, housewives, miners and anyone else looking for a cheap way to and from town,.  The entire trip cost one dollar and station to station was 5 cents.  By the end of the 1920s the advent of the automobile meant retirement for the Goose.  The old streetcar body became part of a farmhouse and the days of public transportation in the Row River Valley came to an end.

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