Draft Mules - Moving the World

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Clipart Courtesy of OCAL on Clkr.com

All mules are hybrids—the result of mating a donkey and a horse. The basic equation for creating a mule is this:

• Female Horse + Male Donkey = Mule
• Female Donkey + Male Horse = Hinny

Of course, the hinny is also a mule. However, the mating of a female donkey with a male horse happens much less frequently. Therefore, hinnies are much rarer. In most instances, they will more closely resemble the donkey mother. Mules, on the other hand, have more of the characteristics of the horse mother. This fact enables breeders to select horses that will produce mules with a wide variance of conformations. In other words, they can "engineer" each mule to fit certain specifications.

(As an aside, and to further complicate things, both hinnies and mules may be of either sex. It is only the parental combination that distinguishes a hinny from a mule.)

The resulting mules are generally referred to by market classes. This is an auction-oriented term that in itself defines certain characteristics of those particular mules (conformations). Those classes are:

• Mining Mules
• Cotton Mules
• Sugar Mules
• Farm Mules
• Draft Mules

Notice that pack mules are not listed as a separate market class. Pack mules are actually draft mules, but the breeding stock is very carefully chosen to produce offspring that are somewhat smaller and shorter than "regular" draft mules, with stronger backs and tougher hides (to carry very heavy loads).

Draft mules are bred to be very large, heavy-boned, and heavy-set mules. They will possess "quality" and ruggedness. These draft mules are the "kings" of the mule world. They are normally from 16 to 17-2 hands and weigh from 1,200 to 1,600 pounds and upwards. The mule shown here stood 18-2 hands high and weighed 1,900 pounds. He was described in history as being "unequaled".



Note that some mules are referred to as railroad mules, but this is not a separate class of animal. Draft mules were absolutely essential to the development of railroad systems and were used by the thousands. Therefore, they were often referred to by this name.

Photo from Economy of Mule Production, Copyright Expired

Hands - Hand High

This is a measurement based on the width of a man's palm. In equines, it is accepted as standard that the palm is 4 inches. Thus, a mule that is 18 hands high is 72 inches (18x4) or 6 feet.

The numbers added by hyphen after the number represent each additional inch. So, a mule who is 18-2 hands high is 74 inches (18x4+2) or 6 feet 2 inches.

1, 2, and 3 are the only increments allowed after the HH number because adding a fourth inch would raise the height to the next hand.

Clipart Courtesy of OCAL on Clkr.com

Draft mules were bred to have the characteristics necessary for pulling large, heavy loads rather than carrying goods and materials on their backs as did the pack mules. Although draft horses were often used in the same type of endeavors as were mules, the draft mules were preferred over draft horses because they:

(1) could tolerate all weather conditions better than horses,
(2) were far more resistant to diseases and less affected by insects,
(3) had much greater endurance and, therefore, could work harder and longer,
(4) were much easier to care for, requiring much less maintenance, and
(5) required less food, often living on forage (weeds in the wayside) instead of stored feed.

A choice draft mule had combined weight and strength. His chief qualities were:

• size and strength
• ruggedness
• heavy-boned
• strongly muscled
• large feet
• back short and strong
• middle deep and closely coupled (see below)
• croup not too drooping
• thighs and quarters heavily muscled

Draft mules were used, sometimes alone but usually in teams, in situations where draft horses were unsuitable for the work and pack mules were not required. The limitation of draft mules was not in the mules themselves, but in the terrains in which they could be worked. Wagons had to have at least a semblance of a road on which to travel. Using them to the full extent for which pack mules were employed would have endangered the animals as well as the mule drivers (called muleskinners or muleteers) and the freight being transported. Harnessed to each other and tethered to the wagons, if the mules lost their footing on a steep, narrow, winding path, the entire train was likely to pitch headlong into a ravine.

The most famous draft mule team in the world is the Borax 20-Mule Team that was used in transporting borax across Death Valley back to the railroad spurs where it could continue its journey. However, draft mules played a much more important role in moving the goods and materials of the world than just this famous team.

Photo Courtesy of U.S. Department of the Interior

Prized mules, as well as donkeys and horses, are normally described as being "closely coupled". (See above description of a prized draft mule)

This term is used to describe an animal in which the distance between the last rib and the hip bone is very narrow.

Illustration is a composite of several images from public domain books.

Other than Pack Mules, no other animal had a more important role in wartime than draft mules. The sheer quantity of "stuff" that had to be moved from place to place to support vast numbers of troops was astounding. For the most part, everything the men, animals, and the war needed had to be carried in wagon trains:

• food for men and animals
• clothing, bedding, tents
• cooking utensils, silverware, and dinnerware
• communications equipment
• guns, cannons, bayonets, swords, knives, and ammunition
• hospital tents, medical supplies, and transport for the sick, wounded and dead

Whenever possible, these were moved in wagons, pulled by draft mule teams. Depending on the load being transported, the teams could vary from two draft mules to 20 or more.



Today we are all familiar with the term the machinery of war. It covers a vast array of goods and materials necessary for engaging enemy forces. Today it is moved primarily by warships, aircraft, and massive convoys of modern trucks. (Although mules are stilled used in some areas of engagement.) What it takes today to stage a war is essentially no different than what it has been throughout history. And, until the end of World War II, draft mules performed much of the work that today is done by ships, airplanes and the military convoys.

The photo above was taken by a soldier to show the massive military camps. This scene shows the encampment of only one brigade. The total number of troops in this location was in excess of 100,000 men. And our trusty draft mule teams hauled everything they needed to survive for weeks or even months.

Image from Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Copyright Expired

In America, as our country began to expand into the Northwest, prospectors discovered gold, coal, salt, silver, and many other minerals and ores that were coveted by everyone. There arose a great demand for draft mules that were capable of working in the mines. Although not vastly different from the army mules and pack mules, mining mules were expected to haul carts loaded with hundreds of pounds of these precious ores and minerals–sometimes up steep inclines to the mouth of the mine and sometimes to underground shafts made for lifting to the surface.

Mining mules had to be somewhat smaller than other draft mules because they were required to go deep into the mines where ceilings were often very low. The larger draft mules could not have entered most of them.

The most important features of mine mules were their strength and endurance. They also needed shorter legs and large feet. (Pack mules normally had very small, sharp feet.) The strength of the neck was also very important as this is where the most brute force was applied to the mules in pulling the carts.

Before the intervention of the Humane Society, many stories came to light about the mistreatment of the draft mules used in the coal mines. Although most historians report that the mine mules were considered extremely valuable and, therefore, no mistreatment was tolerated, others reported that history differently.

The mines were incredibly dark, filled with coal dust and noxious gases, and little or no air circulation. While the miners themselves wore a type of light on their heads, the mules were left in constant, complete darkness. In some mines where the freight was drawn to a shaft that would bring it to the surface of the mine, there were reported cases of the draft mules being underground for months (or even years) at a time, without ever seeing the sun or breathing fresh air. Even their stalls were usually underground, in total darkness after the miners left for the day. In some recollections of the early mining days, the mules were said to become blind from the impact of the sun in their eyes when brought to the surface after many long months of being underground.

One such story of mistreatment was written by Nora J. Finch in 1904. In her book, Colliery Jim, The Autobiography of a Mine Mule, Finch writes as the voice of the draft mule known as Colliery Jim. It is a vivid and somewhat distressing view of the life of the mules required to work in the coal mines. (A coal mine is called a colliery.)

I suspect that Ms. Finch herself may have been one of the original members of the Humane Society so perhaps the story is influenced by her own feelings for the draft mules used in the mines. The tale she tells about Colliery Jim begins with the young mule living a nice life on a farm. When he comes of age (most mine mules were 4 to 8 years old), he is sold through auction to go to the coal mines. There follows a sad portrayal of an animal whose only goal in life is to die and leave his harsh world behind him. Although poignant at times, this is a daunting tale and will leave animal lovers in tears.

However, I suspect the true nature of treatment of the mine mules was totally dependent on the owners of the mines and those who worked the animals. Here is a particularly touching tribute to one mine mule:

"One of the noted pioneer miners of the Ohio river is Jacob Heatherington of Bellaire. Mr. Heatherington is a practical miner of English birth who came to Bellaire more than half a century ago. He purchased a mule which was named Jack, and leased three acres of coal-land fronting the Ohio river. Jack did service as mining mule for thirty years, during which time Mr. Heatherington prospered in business. When the faithful mule was no longer able to work, his master turned him out to pasture and with great solicitude watched over his declining years. When poor Jack fell and was too old and infirm to rise, he was gently raised to his feet by loving hands; and when death came at last, the faithful animal was buried with great ceremonies. Mr. Heatherington lives in a fine mansion on the Ohio river, and upon the keystone of the arch over the hall door has been carved the head of the faithful mule."

Photo of Miners Courtesy of Library of Congress; Image of Mule from Colliery Jim, Copyright Expired
Mule treatment story from Historical Collections of Ohio, Henry Howe, LL. D., The Laning Printing Co., 1888

Draft mules have been an extremely valuable resource to farmers for so many centuries that it would require an extremely long book to document their history of servitude to mankind.

However, the mule did not come into his glory in history until George Washington, first president of the United States, began breeding them at Mt. Vernon, his plantation in Virginia. Although mules were already being used extensively for farm work, Washington had studied the mules and found them to be inferior to many other farm animals. He decided that by building a "master race" of mules superior to those in current use, he could vastly improve the condition of the American farmers. By carefully choosing the very best horses from his own plantation and cross-breeding them with premium jack stock (donkeys) from Spain and Malta, he did just that. His success was astounding and the larger, stronger, mules we know today came into existence.
Image Courtesy of Library of Congress

Since that time, draft mules have been used in innumerable ways on farms, plantations and orchards.


Photo Courtesy of US Department of Agriculture

Before the machine age, draft mules were used to pull plows, hay rakes, and other farm implements used to sow, tend, and harvest crops. When more modern machines began to be used, before the age of tractors, mules were harnessed to combines and threshers to provide the power to move the equipment through the crops.

Teams of draft mules were also used to transport the harvest (fruits, vegetables, hay, sugar cane, cotton, etc.) from farms, plantations, and orchards to market. The market classes of farm mules, cotton mules and sugar mules had strict requirements for the physical attributes that would make each of these classes excel for the jobs which awaited them.


Photo from Technical World, Copyright Expired

The picture above shows a pair of draft mules being used to pull a spraying rig through an orchard. If you are familiar with today's farming operations, you know what a terrific amount of high-powered equipment is necessary for taking a crop or an orchard from a seed to harvest. In days gone by, the "high-power" for this equipment was courtesy of the stalwart, specially bred, draft mules.

The roles played by draft mule teams in the development of many countries are almost too numerous to tell the whole story. They were sometimes called railroad mules because they were used in grading the beds for railroads as well as hauling the machinery and supplies needed in constructing the railroads.

They were called Army Mules because hundreds of thousands of them were drafted into service by the military and served so valiantly.


Photo Courtesy of General Electric, Copyright Expired

Draft mules were also used to pull construction equipment for the building of canals, and they made possible the movement of equipment and the massive rolls of cable needed to bring electricity into common usage. In the Big Creek development alone, Pacific Light and Power Corporation required just slightly less than 5 million pounds of aluminum cable. The picture above shows a 16-mule-team pulling one train of 7 reels of cable. For just this one project, fifteen hundred reels of cable were required! That means that for this one project alone, 214 trips were made by the 16-mule teams!

Whatever task needed to be done; wherever that task needed to be done; whatever the conditions–draft mules met the challenges of moving the world!

After the industrial revolution, draft mules lost much of their place in history in developed countries. Although they are still used in some less developed countries, especially in steep, mountainous regions, and in military engagements in some parts of the world, and are still popular for trail rides, their role today is primarily in exhibitions and parades.

Such events are designed to remind us of the tremendous contributions made by mules in bringing us and our goods into the modern age and to, hopefully, keep alive the allure of the magnificent draft mules..

As a self-proclaimed Missouri Mule by Birth, I am honored to have shared the history of this incredible beast of burden to help preserve the role that draft mules have played throughout our history.

Remix of Photo Courtesy of U. S. Army

The mule image used in the Table of Contents and Guest Book banners as well as the Return to TOC button in each section is derived from an image whose copyright has expired.

guardianstar77 is a writer, graphics design artist, nature enthusiast and lover of everything that resembles a horse. She lives in Central Arkansas and shares her life with a husband of over 40 years, 2 sons, and 5 fabulous grandchildren. guardianstar77 is not domesticated, finding that spending time doing almost anything else beats doing housework. Her passions include recycling, frugal living, feeding the hungry, old-fashioned vintage everything, nature, reading, writing, flea markets and yard sales, Christmas, mystical creatures, carousels, and artwork filled with glorious earthy colors.

guardianstar77 is a devout Christian, a staunch conservative, a passionate American, and a defender of capitalism. Although she is, by her own definition, somewhat of a "professional hermit crab", guardianstar77 is deeply loyal to her family and those she chooses to have as friends. When not pursuing writing and artistic goals, she spends her time deepening those relationships.

Being born in the state of Missouri and having recently discovered a passion for the Missouri state animal— the mule—guardianstar77 developed yet another persona—that of a mule, specifically a Missouri Mule .

guardianstar77 is a long-standing member of Squidoo, and she shares her royalties with many Squidoo charities. View all my lenses!