The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-22
ATLANTA's MULE MARKET.
It's One Of the sights of the Town-Josh
Bill Brooks Ex perience.


Bill Brooks Experience.
There is one street in Atlanta which
swarms with all sorts and varieties of
crackers" and darkies. There moon
shine" is warranted straight from
blockade stills" pawnshops are found
with old silver and gold inscribed with
the names of some of the best known
families of the state; score after score
or fruit stands with gorgeous-colored
peaches piled mound on mound flourish
along the curbstone. Atlanta's curb
stones, by the way, are all the market
house she has. 1t is there hat the bat
tered old countrymen run their crack
er" age and sell their watermelons,
pine wood and cracker" chickens. This
one street, where so many elements mix,
is known as Decatur street or The
Bowery" at one md, as Marietta street
in the middle, n as tougher than the
toughest" at the other end.
Several Atlanta streets have this Curl
Gus and crooked quality. Md Mari
eta" uns a pretty lively business gait
through the central part of the city. and
after passing Henry w. Grady's statue
nears the railroad track and turns into
the mule market" Now the mule mar
ket Is an immensely interesting place.
Not every city can boas of having a
mule market.
Once you get in 1t you can't possibly
get out" remarked one of the owners in
the row. Next to poker. IL is the most
fascinating thing in the world"
Like all business in Atlanta, il is phe-
nomenally fo~urishing. Everything in
Atlanta is phenomenal in success from
Atlanta's point of view. Her mule mar
ket is the largest in the world" Stats
tics go to show that st. Louis takes
first place and Kansas City runs a close
CAaAnA h.. A4IaHta Iaa1ns. axa. a,at
istics. Strange to say, she doesn't cun-
fine herself to Georgia mules. She gath
ers them in from all the states-long
ones, short ones, heavy one. gaunt ones.
wise ones. foolish ones, black, brown.
white, sorrel-all stubborn and all
mules. A mule has generally been sup-
posed to be a mule the world over, but
since the establishment Of mule markets
men know more.
Il tell We thar's nothin' mo- unstiddy
an unlike his neeber than one of these
here mules" announced Josh Bill Brock,
the oldest cracker of the mule market,
as he slowly opened one of the pens
where Is pairs of long ears solemnly
rose bolt upright. "They's nothin' like
mules TO KNOWN. They'd sense yo'
min befo' you knowed you made it up,
there ha'ar critters would
West Marietta street-or the mule
market region-has three big stables,
two backing up to the freight track.
They are clean, airy, prosperous-looking
buildings, red brick with stone trim
mings, and big arched doorways leading
into planked floors checkered with saw
dust. With capacity from 1,500 to 1000
head. all utilizing two floors and cellar
floor" and in mule season" taking in
from $40, 900 to $4,000 a day. they pre-
sent for a fact one Of the leading in
dustries of the state.
The Atlanta mule market is the dis
tributing point for most of the Southern
states, selling to dealers from North
Carolina. South Carolina, Georgia n
Florida by the wholesale.
I'VE look right hard on a mules
quality afo' we take him." said Josh
Bill, drawing his pipe from his mouth.
Our boss can sense a good Kentucky
mule when he sees him. We looks TO
big foot; TO mos weight an leas'
height, nice head an neck. Then he
senses a durn fine animal"
The price of mules averages from $35
to $500. Eighty dollars is the standard
price for a good mule. The trade does
not open until Dec. 10, when the market
for cotton is over and the planters have
collected their bills. Then it starts with
a boom-a regular Georgia boom.
During the present war the govern
ment has patronized the mule markets
of the country to a large extent.
To haul the big transport wagons
three kinds of mules are necessary
wheel mules" big, strong fellows,
standing higher han the Georgia kind;
swing mules" medium-siZed, heavy
bodied animals: leaders" smaller-sized
mules. The pack mule is also small, but
a heavy, stout, we'll built little animal.
In the market here the pens, built Of
rough timber, are large enough to hold
25 or more.
Mules knows a heap mo n horses,
continued Cracker Josh, AN, to tell We
truth, the Georgy mules is the best in
the country. They got mo- character,
rale downright character in them heels
of their'n than all the rest i'm this here