St. Paul MN

St. Paul, MN 1866 2nd Size Silsby No 108

The above photos were supplied by Ron Pearson show two of the seven Silsby engines known to have been used by

St. Paul, MN. The first photo is clearly No 108. It is my belief that the second photo shows No. 248, also a second size

engine built in 1870. The reason for this belief is the crown design which looks more like the model of 1869 - 1874

rather than the model 1866 - 1868. It also appears to be too small too be a first size engine which eliminates several of the others,

and the sixth engine, No. 880 would have had a crane neck frame design. No telling exactly what the final engine looked like. Which ever engines

these are, they are beautiful examples of early Silsby engines. Below is a listing of the Silsby engines once used by St. Paul.

Year	Make	S/N	Type	Miscellaneous	Notes	Other
1866	Silsby	108	2nd Class rotary800-gpm	City of St.Paul	2-horse hitch	1st steam fire engine Minnesota
1868	Silsby	214	1st Class rotary 900 GPM		3-horse hitch
1870	Silsby	248	2nd Class rotary 800 GPM		3-horse hitch
1872	Silsby	368	1st Class rotary 900 GPM		3-horse hitch
1872	Silsby	369	1st Class rotary 900 GPM		3-horse hitch
1887	Silsby	880	3rd Class rotary 600-gpm		3-horse hitch
1899	Silsby	?	3rd Class rotary 600-gpm		3-horse hitch	May have been a used engine, possibly a rebuilt 1872

Don't know where the last listed engine, a second-hand rebuild came from. It was only on the roster from 1899 to 1903.

St. Paul had the habit of using the YEAR the rig was put in service and not the year it was built.

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