By LISA BRITTON

Of the Baker City Herald

Take a ride through town with Ron and Lois Colton and you might attract a few curious glances.

It could be the white, horse-drawn carriage with red velour seats.

Then again, maybe it’s the horse, a 2,400-pound Percheron, plodding down the streets of Baker City.

The fancy wagon is called a andquot;vis-a-vis carriage,andquot; (French for andquot;facingandquot;) with two bench seats one facing forward and another faced backward that can seat six.

andquot;We got it for weddings, anniversaries, proms, parades. Any special event or just for the fun of it,andquot; Ron Colton says.

Afraid of rain? Ron tugs on one side and Lois at the other as the hinges slowly unfold and the roof snaps into place. This buggy comes equipped with a hard, convertible top.

The wooden-spoked wheels are covered with rubber treads, a practice that began in the 1870s, he said.

But it does have one modern feature.

andquot;For safety reasons, we have hydraulic brakes,andquot; he said. andquot;If a horse is winded and breathing hard, (the carriage) will move back and forth six inches.andquot;

Colton’s fascination with carriages dates back to his childhood.

andquot;All my life I’ve just kind of been fooling with them. When I was a kid, my dad had about seven really nice carriages,andquot; he said.

Those didn’t last long.

He and his cousin, Gordon Colton, would somehow capture wild horses that andquot;had never seen a man beforeandquot; and hook them up to a carriage.

andquot;The buggy would only last about one good run,andquot; he laughs. andquot;I wish I had all those buggies back.andquot;

Offering a view of Baker City from a slower perspective isn’t new to him.

andquot;Back in the ’80s we would do it a lot,andquot; he said.

That was with an older carriage, called a andquot;surrey with a fringe on top.andquot;

He shared that one with Joe Logsdon.

andquot;He owned the buggy and I owned the wheels,andquot; Colton says. andquot;It had old steel wheels and I didn’t want to use those on the streets. They would just rattle, rattle, rattle down the street.andquot;

So when Colton borrowed the carriage, he’d swap the steel wheels with rubber ones from his 1884 Studebaker one-seater buggy before running around town.

andquot;Most of that was just for fun,andquot; he says.

The new shiny carriage he’s had it since May is a bit different, with no additional parts required.

andquot;It takes your eye,andquot; he said.

So far he’s been hired for three weddings and a surprise engagement.

Business just keeps running to him, too.

andquot;Little kids run along with a dollar in their hand what are you gonna do? You gotta give them a ride,andquot; Colton said.

Others walk alongside the carriage to get Colton’s name and number for future plans.

He charges $25 per couple for a half-hour ride.

The route is negotiable.

andquot;It’s just wherever they want to go,andquot; he said.

His most common calls are from the local motels where tourists are seeking a different tour of the town.

andquot;Most all of them want to see the historic part of Baker. There was one guy from Phoenix who knew more about Baker than I did,andquot; he laughs.

But he does share his knowledge of the past.

andquot;What I know about,andquot; he said.

Sometimes he even runs around town without passengers.

andquot;Most of the time, if nobody’s called, I go out every night.

andquot;Yep, I run around town with a horse, a buggy and a cell phone,andquot; he laughs.

The newest addition to Colton’s carriages is a bit more somber.

It’s a brand-new black hearse.

andquot;Been thinking about it for several years and we had a few calls to do funerals,andquot; he said. andquot;Years and years ago that’s all they had.andquot;

The hearse was built by the Amish in Indiana and then painted in John Day.

The cab is enclosed, with black curtains lining the windows and wooden rollers along the floor to ease the casket inside.

andquot;A lot of those old-timers, I’ve heard them say ‘Don’t haul me away in one of those rubber-tired things,’andquot; Colton says.

One caveat: this hearses’ tires are covered in a bit of rubber for the ease of rolling down paved streets, but it’s all old-fashioned horsepower.

He predicts that most of his hearse business will be from out of town, as mortuaries spread the word of his service.

He doesn’t mind traveling.

At the very least, it will help support his carriage habit.

andquot;It’s a pretty expensive toy,andquot; he laughs.

For more information, call Colton at 523-5701.