Mule sisters relive pioneer days at museum

MARENGO — Kelly and Kate stood patiently in their harnesses waiting for soft pats and kind words from strangers.

“These [mules] are really people oriented,” said Bob Gerard, of Marengo, Sunday as he waited for visitors to hop onto his wagon for a ride.

Kate and Kelly, with their handlers, Gerard and Kenny Tuttle, provided a look at pioneer transportation, pulling a wagon during Iowa County Historical Society Pioneer Heritage Museum in Marengo during its annual fall festival Sunday.

The mules are familiar with the routine, having been to numerous living history events in the last two decades, including Midwest Old Threshers in Mt. Pleasant.

“Every kid for the last 20 years know Kate and Kelly,” said Gerard. He takes the girls every year, and they spend a week there.

“I’ve had these mules almost 20 years,” said Gerard. They are sisters, 20 and 21 years old, from southern Iowa.

Mules can live to be in their 30s, said Gerard.

Some live to be 40, said Tuttle, though that is rare.

Kate is the “watchdog,” said Gerard. “She starts braying, you know something’s wrong.

“We do a lot of local things,” said Gerard. “We do a lot of things for the school.”

Gerard has taken his mules to the Clark County Mule Festival in Kahoka, Missouri. “That’s a riot”

He also enjoys the Old Iron Show in Eldon. “Their horse program is great,” Gerard said.

The mules sometimes tackle obstacle courses and sometimes demonstrate how pioneers used mules for work, said Gerard. “We drag some logs around with them,” he said.

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The last weekend of July Gerard sometimes takes the sisters to Central City in Linn County for Brown Farm Pioneer Days.

“Brown Farm is kind of a miniature Mt. Pleasant,” said Tuttle. The mules demonstrate how to pull a plow.

But pulling the wagon for riders is their favorite thing to do, said Gerard. It’s his favorite too.

The mules are trained for riding, but at his age, Gerard prefers guiding the mules from the wooden seat at the front of the wagon.

Sunday’s rides around the Iowa County Fairgrounds in Marengo included a little trotting, a little weaving through poles and a demonstration of backing a wagon for loading while the mules swing out of the way.

In Mt. Pleasant, the blacksmith uses the mules to demonstrate shoeing, said Gerard. That’s why they wore shoes Sunday in Marengo. Otherwise he doesn’t leave shoes on them, he said.

Mules pulled the wagons of pioneers moving west in wagon trains because they had more endurance than a horse, said Gerard. The mules could make 20 miles a day.

While Kate and Kelly pull Gerard’s wagon as mules did when wagon trains headed west, they aren’t entirely authentic.

Gerard puts nylon harnesses on the girls today. Leather harnesses of the past weighed 60-70 pounds, he said. The nylon weighs about 20.

“It’s a lot easier to keep clean,” said Tuttle.

Gerard takes the harnesses off and on about 10 times a day at Midwest Old Threshers, he said. They get pretty dirty.

A mule is the offspring of a horse and a donkey, said Gerard. If the male parent is a horse (a stallion) and the mother is a donkey (a jenny), the mule is a hinny.

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A hinny has more horse-like traits, said Gerard, and look more like horses. Mules are more common.

Gerard likes taking his mules to Iowa County museum’s fall festival each year. “It’s one of the greatest museums,” said Gerard, but “you can’t get young people down here.”

Most of the visitors during Sunday’s festival, were older, though a few families brought children. On the museum grounds, visitors could learn how to make rope and apple cider.

The two cabins on the grounds were open Sunday as were the filling station, barn and depot. A meal and homemade ice cream were served inside.

Pioneer Heritage Museum is located at 675 E. South St. in Marengo and is open Thursday and Friday, noon to 4 p.m. from June through September and by appointment other days.

Call 319-642-7018 for more information.