Sparks Circus Dolphin Wagon

From the Circus Historical Society:

Another famous parade wagon long associated with the Sparks Circus. This wagon is commonly called the "Dolphin" wagon because of its carvings of dolphins, sea serpents, or whatever you would call them. The wagon was built by Moeller Bros. of Baraboo for the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Circus in 1910 and was on that show for the 1910 and 1911 seasons. It may be remembered that this show did not go out in 1908 and 1909 but was stored at Ringling quarters in Baraboo, and then in 1910 the Ringling management put it back on the road for two seasons and then closed it for good following the 1911 season. Evidently the wagon was built to replace older equipment. The show's equipment was stored in Baraboo following the close and would have been available to Sparks from 1912 on, but the exact date it did go to Sparks is not known. It fails to show in Sparks photos I have seen dated 1915, 1916, and 1919, and doesn't appear until the early 20's, however, it could have gotten to the show earlier than that. My theory is that when Sparks was obtaining baggage and tableau wagons from Moeller Bros. about 1921 that this wagon was also purchased from the Ringling interests about the same time. Anyway, it appears on the Sparks Circus in the 20's being used as the No. 2 bandwagon. From then on it follows out the same route as does the Dancing Girls wagon and was destroyed at the same time.