Smiser Freight: The Mule Train.

Hookman

Just passing thru on my way home
PREMIUM
Credits
599
Smiser freight service was a California Carrier with terminals in the major city areas like L.A. & the Oakland/ Bay area. The owner was a quirky miser(pun intended) by the name of Sam Smiser who was well known for his love of mules which he drove a 10 mule team in the world famous Rose Parade every new years day. Ole Sam loved his mules more than he liked his freight employees but he did provide uniforms which they were required to wear. Each employee was given Bib Overalls with the mule team patch but those poor jackasses usually didn't stay past 2 years.

mule-train.md.jpg

smiser.jpg Isuzu city tractor: junk.

smiser-mack.md.jpg

trailer-smiser.md.jpg All trailers swinging doors great for peddle run.
 
There is a restored mule barn at Fort Roots, also known as North Little Rock VA. Its the original dating to about 1870's near the parade commons above the river across from Little Rock.

I did not handle too many mules, primarily broodmares and colts, fillies etc in my time. However I know enough that you can love a mule and curse it at the same time and it will pull your wagon into hell for you.
 
There is a restored mule barn at Fort Roots, also known as North Little Rock VA. Its the original dating to about 1870's near the parade commons above the river across from Little Rock.

I did not handle too many mules, primarily broodmares and colts, fillies etc in my time. However I know enough that you can love a mule and curse it at the same time and it will pull your wagon into hell for you.
There is a saying here in the hills, "Stubborn as a mule". I think of my wife when I hear that phrase.
 
There is a restored mule barn at Fort Roots, also known as North Little Rock VA. Its the original dating to about 1870's near the parade commons above the river across from Little Rock.

I did not handle too many mules, primarily broodmares and colts, fillies etc in my time. However I know enough that you can love a mule and curse it at the same time and it will pull your wagon into hell for you.
Mules played an important part in WWII. A relative was in what was known as The Mountain Division in Europe. Fighting in the mountains was of course difficult. Mules were used to carry weapons, ammunitions & other essentials. A lot of mules came from Missouri hence the term 'Missouri Mule'. The relative, being from the country had experience with mules & horses.
 
Mules played an important part in WWII. A relative was in what was known as The Mountain Division in Europe. Fighting in the mountains was of course difficult. Mules were used to carry weapons, ammunitions & other essentials. A lot of mules came from Missouri hence the term 'Missouri Mule'. The relative, being from the country had experience with mules & horses.
Around these parts, folks keep a donkey in their bovine herd.
You seldom lose a young calf to wild dogs or a coyote, they are very protective of the herd.
 
I occasionally read books of the old west.

The technical trucking aspect of managing say 90000 pounds gross on several wagons plus water tanker downgrade vs 30 mules at walking pace is quite a coffee pot pondering time.

Those teamsters must have had quite some courage. Im not sure if I can tolerate that kind of weight against so little.
 
I occasionally read books of the old west.

The technical trucking aspect of managing say 90000 pounds gross on several wagons plus water tanker downgrade vs 30 mules at walking pace is quite a coffee pot pondering time.

Those teamsters must have had quite some courage. Im not sure if I can tolerate that kind of weight against so little.
Pole jammed through both wheels on the rear axle keeps the down hill pace under control.
 
Around these parts, folks keep a donkey in their bovine herd.
You seldom lose a young calf to wild dogs or a coyote, they are very protective of the herd.

Coyotes are a problem here too. Friends keep donkeys with their herd here also. More farmers/ranchers use Great Pyrenees for guardians. Dogs/dog packs are a problem also. A friend had miniature donkeys. One was attacked by a drug dealer's pit bull. The donkey managed to kick & kill the pit but was severely injured & lost her baby.
Two pits showed up on my game camera on my farm two weeks ago. No doubt fighting dogs, one had his tail chewed off & was scarred from past fights. If they get in range while I am there they have fought & killed their last time.
A few months ago, a child was killed by two pits at a town near here. Two druggies lived in a trailer & had the pits to keep other thugs away. The woman was away & the man let her dogs out & they went to the neighbor's place. The child had gone to the mailbox when the dogs attacked him. The low life cleaned some blood & clothing off the dogs when they came back to the trailer but deputies were able to get enough evidence. Pits are more dangerous than coyotes because they do not fear humans. About three years ago an elderly man was attacked in his front yard by a doper's pit. The man lost his leg. He died about two years later.
 
Sounds like I need to dust off my old carbine and acog, probably take up a small working living as a herd shooter again. Coyote shows up kaboom. Next. Just need a bit of smoke, drinks and a skillets worth of venison in winter now and then.
 
Smiser freight service was a California Carrier with terminals in the major city areas like L.A. & the Oakland/ Bay area. The owner was a quirky miser(pun intended) by the name of Sam Smiser who was well known for his love of mules which he drove a 10 mule team in the world famous Rose Parade every new years day. Ole Sam loved his mules more than he liked his freight employees but he did provide uniforms which they were required to wear. Each employee was given Bib Overalls with the mule team patch but those poor jackasses usually didn't stay past 2 years.

mule-train.md.jpg

smiser.jpg Isuzu city tractor: junk.

smiser-mack.md.jpg

trailer-smiser.md.jpg All trailers swinging doors great for peddle run.
One of my favorite of all time westerns was 'Death Valley Days'. As I remember it was a weekly show that did not have the same characters every show. The only regular was the narrator known as 'The Old Ranger'. I spent over a year near there while in the military. I learned to like the high desert.
 
One of my favorite of all time westerns was 'Death Valley Days'. As I remember it was a weekly show that did not have the same characters every show. The only regular was the narrator known as 'The Old Ranger'. I spent over a year near there while in the military. I learned to like the high desert.
That show is a great influence.

Thought provoking. And whats really crazy was I was able to come up with actual facts based around various situations out there.

When you come up on Adobe Wells as it might have been in 1870 doing a little trade in skins and meat imagine having maybe 30 sharps .45-70's against roughly 770 indians that attacked the place by storm.

Adobe wells is not much of a town. A quiet historical town. But one paid for in blood.
 
One of my favorite of all time westerns was 'Death Valley Days'. As I remember it was a weekly show that did not have the same characters every show. The only regular was the narrator known as 'The Old Ranger'. I spent over a year near there while in the military. I learned to like the high desert.
Dale Robertson narrated that didn’t he?
 
Sometimes people work so hard at making a western that it flops.

Here is a hot town, baking in the sun. Dusty dried up husk of a cowboy staggers into the saloon asking barkeep to pour him a drink.

Drink arrives in a mug with foam on top and condensation thats beginning to freeze around the rim due to it's internal temperature and outside heat and humidity.

Come on.

I have a small collection of westerns on tape known as Lonesome Dove with several versions depicting a earlier time and later time after the original. I cannot think of anything better except maybe one.

That one will be John Wayne as the movie Cowboys. Seems all the grown men ran off to go get gold and all he had to herd cattle for the following years income is a batch of school children.
 
I've been told on more than one occasion that my entire family thinks of me when they hear that expression. I have no idea what they are talking about!
If any stubborns to be here, it would be me.

Thats why all of my family is over there east of the old man river and I am quietly living over here in the west far enough away from them as to not worry about complications of being stubborn.

Although some of the doctors young enough to have been sons or daughters will try to talk me into something I decided not to do. I tell him or her that I lived in a different simpler medical time and grew up as such. I refuse the treatment offered.

But sir...

What part of refuse mean to you? In fact what part of stubborn do you not understand? No is no.

Now if you want a yes out of me for something else please offer it. Otherwise we are finished here.

Things like that tend to cut down on the bullshit billing.
 
Top