Mule Power Used on Island Over Four Centuries
Horse Tales by Candice C. Dunnigan

Several weeks ago, I devoted a Horse Tales column to Epona, the equine goddess. Since she was a favorite deity for equines, one should note her real “power” was over the well-being of asses and mules. These lowly equines have often been the subject of folklore and regional humor. The theme continues this week, a bit closer to home. Mules have been utilized on Mackinac in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

First off, a few definitions need to be made and questions answered this week. What is a mule, what is a donkey, and what is an ass (no pun intended)?

Mules are hardy, strong, pull a good weight, and do well on poor vegetation and in harsh climates.

A donkey is the name of a domesticated ass ( Equus asisuns ). Their ancestors developed in northern and northeastern Africa. There also are wild asses that live on the dry plains of Asia. The wild ass looked like a zebra, minus the striping, except for some stripes on the legs. Asses stand about 12 hands (four feet) high at the withers. The coat is usually a dull gray or buff with a dark (dorsal) line along the back. They have long ears, small feet, and long hair at the end of their tails.

Thousands of years ago, the animals were tamed by humans and used primarily as beasts of burden. They’re hardy, strong, and pull a good weight, and they carry heavy loads on their backs. These animals do well on poor vegetation and harsh climates. Today, they’re most common in Asia, southern Europe, northern Africa, and in the southwest of the Americas.

Female donkeys are called Jennets or Jennies. Male donkeys are called Jacks. Small donkeys are called Burros. Other types of donkeys are the Kulan and Onager.

A mule is an equine hybrid. This is a domesticated animal resulting from the breeding of a mare (female horse) and a Jack (male donkey). A Hinny is the result from the mating of a male horse (stallion) to a female ass (Jenny).

Mules really look unique because all of them do seem to resemble both parents. Mules do, however, seem to have inherited the characteristic braying (hee-haws) from the donkeys, and you can hear them.

The sad fact is, these animals can’t have offspring of their own. Hence, most mules, male or female, are sterile. There have been a few exceptions to the rule, when female mules have had live foals after they were bred to stallions or male donkeys.

Most of you know the saying, “stubborn as a mule,” and anyone who has ever had anything to do with them has to agree, at least a little bit. Often, mules will balk, and then not move. If ill-handed or treated, these characteristics will only worsen.

Mules can be the real biters and kickers in the horse world. Often, mules smell, and the odor that emits from them can be strong; their sweat glands are similar to those of the zebra.

A “mule skinner” or “muleteer” is a driver of a mule cart, or a person who drives mules, not skins them.

But mules are wonderful, too. They’re hardy and resistant to disease, can work long hours, have good feet, and don’t require much in the way of special diets or supplements. It’s interesting to note that it was none other than George Washington, yes, President Washington, who had the first mule sires in the United States in the 1780s. His two jack donkeys were named Royal Gift and Knight of Malta. George Washington was a strong proponent of mules and worked hard at breeding them. It actually was the hoof and mouth disease, which ran rampant in the south from the 1760s to the 1780s, which helped to bring fame to the mule for his hardiness. Land exploration, one-crop cotton planters, the construction of the Erie and subsequent canals, and the opening of the prairies increased the popularity of mules. By 1860, the mule population in the United States was reported to be 1,129,553.

When mules came to Mackinac Island, they were “public livestock,” under the ownership of the Department of the Army. They worked on the Island for the fort.

Did they help to haul it over during the winter of 1780-81? It is possible, but unlikely.

The mule’s real usefulness came in the 1800s when the military developed a primary system here for hauling firewood and building and improving roads. Mule power was also harnessed to the plow for the planting crops on the Island, and hauling water up the “hill.”

In 1827, Major Alexander Ramsey Thompson wrote of the need for horsepower.

“The principal reason given for the removal of the Post under the hill is for the purpose of relieving the men from bringing their wood and water up the hill on their backs,” he wrote. “The labor is, and has been performed since my command by the public horses allowed to this post to procure the fuel, and every stick of wood, and drop of water, is now drawn up by the horses, (as) it should be, and not on the back of the soldiers.”

Mules and horses were both used in this capacity.

The armies used mules widely during the Civil War, as well as in World War I. Again, they did the grunt work, hauling supplies as well as huge artillery. The mules continued to work best with their own kind, other mules, though they actually developed strong bonds with many of the men.

The mules were downplayed on Mackinac Island during the late 1880s, 1890s, and 1900s on Mackinac. They reappeared in the 1930s.

Next week’s Horse Tales will feature more about mules and Mackinac in the not so distant past.

Candice Dunnigan is an active member of the American Equestrian Association, the Waterloo Hunt, and the Mackinac Island Horsemen’s Association. Seasonally she resides at Donnybrook and Easterly Cottage.