Mule Men, The: A History of Stock Paking in the Sierra Nevada

Great book - has a ton of information and old photographs I'd never seen before. An excellent history of the early packers in the Sierra, but more than that, it's a tribute to those that thrive in the wilderness.

Good product, quick delivery

Very interesting book about the Eastern Sierras.

Marvelous history.

Great history (but not lengthy) on mule packing etc. Good read for mule/horsemen to get more insight. I recommended this book.

Book came super dirty and gross with sticky stuff all over it

There can be no perfect and complete treatment of mules, horses and packing in the Sierra Nevada. This is a major effort and does very well starting with Spanish exploration in the mid-1700s to the early 1950s. Mules are generally significantly smarter than horses. Mules take care of themselves and their feet better than horses. As a cross between a male donkey and a female horse, mules get the best of both parents ("hybrid vigor") and are able to carry heavy loads over long distances in difficult conditions. Theodore Solomons explored much of what is now the John Muir - Pacific Crest Trail in the Sierra Nevada with his mule "Whitney."There are strong contributions from Norman "Ike" Livermore, Secretary of Resources for California under Governor Ronald Reagan. Livermore's 1936 business master's thesis at Stanford University was on the High Sierra Packing Business. Now in his 90s we are fortunate to have some of his and many others' collective wisdom and knowledge as a part of this book. Jim Synder, Yosemite Natl Park Historian has worked diligently to collect grazing and packing history.Backpackers today have limited understanding the role pack stock has played in the Sierra Nevada since the 1850s. Trails and bridges are largely built to stock standards. Large wood-burning stoves, structural steel, large diameter cable, bridge decking, trail signs, tools and support for trail crews and recreational visitors have all been carried into and out of the backcountry by mules and horses.Use of pack stock peaked from 1950 to about 1970. Backpacking took off in the early 1970s. In many cases urban back packers with no knowledge or experience of stock viewed stock as foreign, intrusive and not compatible or sustainable with Sierra Nevada ecosystems. The Sierra Club Foundation, National Park Service, universities and National Forest Service began investigating outings impacts in the 1970s. Much abuse was inflicted by concessionaire, government and packer stock on meadows in the past. Where formerly parties were large with huge impacts on the ecosystems, parties became smaller and could carry propane and not burn wood. For many years backcountry rangers with a horse and mule(s) patrolled large areas, did extensive trail maintenance and hauled refuse that had accumulated since the 1930s out of the backcountry. A backpacker walks the trails today, sees little or no refuse and thinks things are pristine and have "always been this way." In fact, stock carried huge amounts of supplies and tools in and large amounts of refuse out.Costs and logistics caught up with many pack outfits in the 1970s. The effort to care for and maintain stock year-round for packing between June and October became cost prohibitive. Urban dwellers often balk at paying $150 to $250 per day for a packer and a mule.The collective and historic wisdom of working with stock in the Sierra Nevada has been lost to a large extent in the National Forests and to a lesser extent in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Budget cuts have eliminated many with intimate knowledge of stock who worked 30, 40, 50 or more seasons in the Sierra Nevada. It has always been difficult to be a "mountain mule man" and is more difficult now. Sierra Nevada management has largely moved to sustainability and away from resource extraction as evidenced by establishment of Giant Sequoia National Monument, contiguous formal wilderness from the northern to southern Sierra Nevada, requirement for wilderness permits. The Sierra Nevada Alliance is making comprehensive efforts toward "whole watershed" sustainble management. Recent court actions have made stock use follow the same restrictions as backpackers - limiting the size and number of groups, with or without stock.A packer must be good with people, horses, mules and government personnel. A packer must fix water bars, saw through downed trees, chase down reluctant mules, efficiently pack loads that stay on over difficult terrain in strings of mules, take care of horse and mule feet, take care of themselves - all independently without help.The "University of the Wilderness" is a magnificient education where the receptive "learn the questions to answers we have not yet learned how to ask." Mules are an integral part of a Sierra Nevada university education - now increasingly hard to come by. Mules are excellent teachers if you are patient and willing to listen, watch and learn. Louise Jackson has done a major service touching on a portion of the history of mules, people and stock operations in the Sierra Nevada. This is a good read!

Having been part of the commissary crew on Sierra Club High Trips in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this book brought back many happy memories of those glorious days. What fun to find bits about people I knew, especially Charles Morgan and Tommy Jefferson. Author Louise Jackson captures this completely in her sentence, "A perfect blend of wilderness experience and social interaction, a pack trip could inspire individual triumph and group cooperation, swearing and laughter, isolated fear and shared beauty" (p. 177). Only one more thing I would have liked: although there are four good maps now, I could have used one more showing the current roads and passes over the whole Sierra Nevada. I highly recommend the book.