Few people who lived and worked along the Canal could imagine building a life without the mule. Mules, it is said, were the engines of the Canal. Or put another way, the workhorses
moving coal from Mauch Chunk (present-day Jim Thorpe) to Bristol.
Mules—The Heart of the Canal
Favored by the founding fathers of our country, the mules established a stellar reputation when they came to the new world. Spanish missions used mules in their western North American missions in the early 1700s. George Washington, an avid farmer, became interested in utilizing mules and imported two male donkeys from Spain to begin a breeding program.
When the King of Spain and Marquis de Lafayette, both close friends of Washington heard of the new president’s breeding efforts, they also sent male donkeys to increase the stock. These donkeys from Spain and Andalusia were prized for their size and were called mammoth donkeys.
A mule is the asexual bi-product of breeding a female horse or mare with a male donkey or jack. Washington already owned mares to breed with these donkeys and eventually had more mules than horses on his estate.
The interest in mules spread throughout the South as Washington promoted using these animals in agriculture, even campaigning one of his donkeys to breed with mares. Thomas Jefferson also became a convert and soon had a breeding program and his own mules on the grounds of Monticello. [Read more…]