Stanley (Stanley Steamer) Mountain Wagon History

The Stanley Mountain Wagon was among the largest steam cars ever built: a wooden-framed, 9-to-12-passenger people-mover powered by Stanley's biggest engine, rated around 30 horsepower. Because a steam engine delivers full torque from a standstill, the Mountain Wagon could haul a full load up long mountain grades that defeated the early gasoline cars of the era.

That made it the vehicle of choice for resort and hotel transport. Mountain Wagons ferried guests up to mountain hotels — most famously around F. O. Stanley's own Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado (opened 1909), and on the steep roads of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Olympic Peninsula. Surviving examples carry model numbers such as the 810 and 820 and are documented across roughly 1909 to 1916.