The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-10-13
How Pack-Trains are Loaded,

will find cause for wonder at seeinp in
places most difficult of access. towns of
substantial buildings, of which the ma
terial could not have come from any,
where in the neighborhood. And vet
they may be hundreds of miles from a
railroad. These towns do not differ in
appearance or in their interior equip
ments from those in the East. except
by the natural distinction RESULTING
from different sort of inhabitants. =
And yet the whole of that town has
been carried there, and most of it on
the backs of horses and mules. In
what are called pack-trains they have
carried the bricks that made the houses
and all that the houses contain. incIud-
ing billiard tables and poker checks,
over Journeys that may have taken
weeks to make and through places
where the chances were that, before the
train got past, some of the animals
would 90 over a precipice and perhaps
spoil whole billiard table by dashing
to pieces part of its bed. Pack-trains
are of course gradually retreating be-
fore the introduction of railroads, but
1t will be many years before they 90
entirely out of use, and in some parts
of the country they are likely to re-
main the onl y means of transporting
freight. For many years there have
been large companies which have
owned and managed freight routes bv
means of pack trains, in the same man.
ner that other companies have con-
trolled the various stage lines.
A regular freight train will some
times have fifty animals, generally all
mules, although horses are used
Mules are to be preferred, not because
of greater sureness of foot, but for the
reason that their backs are more level
their hips less prominent, and their
withers lower than is generally the case
with horses, so that they are not so liza
BILE to be chafed by their loads. A
mule can carry from 200 to
600 pounds, but those that can
bear the greater weight are exception
al animals. No mode can be devised
for fastening such a load that will pre-
vent it from moving slightly when car
ried up and down steep hills; and
when back is once chafed there is lit
tie chance for healing it before the end
of the journey. The sight of chafed
mule will often make a man shudder
The back may have great raw and
! bleeding patches on it. The withers
become festered and swollen, the points
of the hips which come in contact with
the load may be worn nearly to the
bone, the tail be rubbed by the crupper
until it is bloody, and perhaps, in addi-
ton, the belly may be cut and pinched
by the girth until it looks as fearful as
| the back. Yet on such an animal the
load must be put every morning until
he reaches the end of the journey or
breaks down entirely.
There are two styles of apparatus
for mule back to which his burden
is fastened. One is called pack sad
die, and resembles very closely a saw
buck or the continuance used on the
backs of unbroken colts. The other is
much more often seen, and it is called
by its Spanish name dpparejo. This
consists of two great saddlebags, each
about two feet wide and three feet long,
stuffed with hay until they become
three or four inches thick, and also with
half dozen willow rods running
lengthwise inside to make them keep
their shape and hold their load better.
These two bags are joined at the top
| by leather of their own width, so that
when flung across the back they hang
down the sides and reach the belly
Then their two lower ends are brought
together by a broad girth, or as it is
called in the West, a cinch. This girth
must be broad, indeed sometimes as
broad as six inches, for the severity
with which it is frightened under the
animals belly would make even a
hunters groom stand aghast, The
packer winds the buckskin thong that
fastens the girth around his hand and
he and his assistant place their knees
against the apparejo, and by the united
strength of two men, who are well used
to making their weight and strength
felt, the girth is drawn so tight that it
sinks deep into the animals belly and
makes him groan and gasp as though
he were in the greatest discomfort, if
not in positive pain. And yet this ap-
pareio, with its fearful cinch, must stay
on perhaps for ten or twelve hours.
When this is done, the animal is
ready for his load. To put this on re-
quires two men, one standing on either
side. If the load consists of several small
packages, they are made up into two
bundles, each one of which is securely
dashed so that it will not come apart.
Then double rope, called the swing
rope, is thrown over the apperejo, and
the bundles are lifted on the beasts
back and the ends of the rope joined
over them, so that they hang sus-
pended, one counter-balancing the
other. After these have been shifted
and adjusted so that the weight is
rightly distributed, they are ready to
be fastened securely to the apparejo;
and to do this a rope is used longer
and heavier than the swing rope, called
lash rope.
When this is finally tied, it has the
appearance of cats cradle. 1t seems
to have twice passed straight around
the animal and twice round him dag
onally, that is in the direction from his
near shoulder to his of hip, and from
his near hip to his off shoulder. In
reality it has only gone once under his
belly, and then has been caught on the
corners of the appareio, and has had a
couple of turns in it by which the two
straight strands going over the pack
that at first were swayed on with all the