Video
Mule Power (Video)
Transcript
[harmonica music playing] [Narrator]: Life on the canal conjures images of lazy summer afternoons and shear relaxation but there is more to this story then meets the eye. From 1828 to 1850, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was painstakingly carved out of the Maryland shore of the Potomac. This route westward held the promise of untapped resources and economic prosperity. It also permitted families to earn their livelihoods by transporting cargo on their boats up and down the canal. During the C&O Canal’s heyday, over 500 boats navigated the 184 mile water highway night and day for commercial trade. While the pace was slow and steady at four miles per hour, 18 hour days were not uncommon. Even young children pitched in and were taught to steer the 90 to 95 foot long canal boats. Canal children also tended one of the boat crews hardest working members, the mules.
Teams of two or more mules pulled the cargo boats over all types of terrain, including the mountainous region of western Maryland. [“Lock Ready!”] 74 locks lifted the boats over 600 feet up into this hilly terrain. The mule teams also crossed splendid stone cut aqueducts that carried the boats over the Potomac’s tributaries. Moving cargo along the canal depended on the good care given to the mules. The trains, on the other hand, didn’t have to depend on animal power to move their loads. The mighty steam engines on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad powered a long and an intense rivalry between the canawlers and the railroadmen. Train engineers blew their whistles at the boatmen as they sped past, scaring the plotting mules on the towpath and angering the canawlers. Once the drivers calmed the mules down, they would resume their six hour shift or trick before the next team relieved them.
One of the primary reasons mules were used was due to the fact that the nonworking mules could actually be housed onboard the boat when off duty, larger animals like oxen were too massive to fit onboard. Today’s mule teams, trained and groomed by National Park Service personnel, work the same as those in the 1800’s, although they don’t pull the boats nearly as far.
[Park Ranger]: “We clean a tack the same reason we clean the mules, so no dirt and grit rubs against them, causes sores.” [Narrator]: Properly harnessing the mules before beginning a trick is imperative. Equipment that is too tight, too loose or improperly worn can cause sores or injury and make it harder for the mules to work. Mules are harnessed in teams of two and in tandem, not side by side. This enables the mules to pull the boats efficiently and with more force.
During training, one experienced mule is placed in front and another behind a new mule, or a greenie as she is called. This allows the rookie to by lead and trained by more seasoned animals and any greenies that sit down on the job are prodded to get up and walk by the team.
Mules are hardy strong animals that are produced by crossing a female horse, or mare, with a male donkey, also called a jack. Mules inherit their mother’s large well shaped bodies and strong muscles, giving them a horse’s ease in getting used to harnesses. Their endurance and short footedness comes from the jack, they are also less likely to suffer from being overworked then a horse might be. Since canal mules are working animals they get new shoes on all four hooves once a month. Their shoes are more oval in shape then a horse’s giving them a firmer grasp of the terrain. At the height of canal commerce, the quick learning, steady, and dependable mule was a valuable commodity. Without their trusty mule teams, canawlers would have found it impossible to earn their livelihoods on the C&O Canal’s waterways. In fact, for canawlers in the 1800’s a boat without a good mule team, would have been as useless as a steam train without its engine. [harmonica music playing]
Description
Mules are amazing hybrids! Watch this captioned video to learn about what made mules the ideal choice for canal boat operations, and see how National Park Service rangers train and care for the mules today.
Duration
4 minutes, 44 seconds
Credit
National Park Service
Date Created
12/06/2013
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