Emigrant tag ? ? ?

[dfxdude]

Found this tag on an old farm site that is just a grove of trees now. Buildings have been gone for 40 years. Found 1890 and 1897 Indianhead cents at this site last year.
Top line abbreviated for: Minneapolis & St. Paul Railway

What would this tag be used for. Attached to luggage of an emigrant?

 

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[Sentrom]

I think it is a luggage tag for the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. which later became as the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.

 

[dfxdude]

That makes some sense, Sentrom. Years ago the railroad that came within 2 miles of this find was called the Milwaukee Road Railroad and ran from Minneapolis/St Paul west into South Dakota.

 

[Bramblefind]

Very neat find It might be a rare one - there is a page on Emigrant baggage checks at the Tagtown site:

Baggage Check Makers n Daters

He also lists them as types of tags he is seeking to obtain -

Baggage Check Makers n Daters

I hadn't heard of the Emigrant Trains before so this was interesting too:

Traveling on an Emigrant Train, 1879

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Wonder if that "01894" means year 1894?

 

[CRUSADER]

Wonder if that "01894" means year 1894?

Nope, the zero at the start gave it the space to be numbered up to 99,999. (if needed)

 

[Bryanhashemi]

it could have belonged to a emigrant railroad worker working there.

 

[Bramblefind]

it could have belonged to a emigrant railroad worker working there.

It was travel class/ rate paid for the ticket - "First Class" "Second Class" "Emigrant" ...etc..

This tag is for baggage.

http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/studentreadinglifeontherails_revised.pdf


Emigrant cars differed on each line and ranged from boxcars that had been
transformed into passenger cars with the most basic accoutrements to outdated
passenger cars that no longer seemed suitable for first-class travel. A notable
emigrant car conversion was Lincoln’s funeral car, which was stripped and later
converted into an emigrant car on the Union Pacific rail line. Some lines used
combination cars that transported people west and returned with freight to the east.
One thing was common on most lines; many of the emigrant cars were not
conducive to long-distance or overnight travel. By the 1880s the emigrant passenger
cars of the western lines underwent a slight transformation to help alleviate some of
the discomforts of immigrant travel. The tourist car, an emigrant sleeper car, had a
common cooking stove as well as a toilet and bench seating. Passengers were
expected to provide their own bedding.