Red River Ox Carts

A brigade of Red River Ox Carts heaped with furs and hides. This was most likely taken in St.Paul, Minnesota, near the end of their 500 mile journey from Pembina, North Dakota or Selkirk, Manitoba. Notice the ox collar on the middle ox.

Gems of Minnesota Scenery, Published by Whitney's Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota

Red River Ox Cart: Harness,Collar or Yoke?

The common thought that the Red River Ox Carts were pulled by fitting a horse collar upside down onto the ox seems at least partially in error. True, they resembled horse collars more than they did ox yokes, but from the old photos below I have concluded they were tailored for use on oxen.

On the left is the clobber which rode over the ox's back to support the weight of the cart. On the right is the collar which is constructed of two pieces of wood. These two pieces are covered with leather on one side only; this single piece of leather also bridges the top of the neck, effectively attatching the two halves of the collar together. The bottoms of the two halves are notched in such a way that it appears the ends must have been lashed together at the throat with a narrow leather strip or rope. This would have allowed placement and removal of the collar.

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One leather strap goes from the clobber to the cart shafts (providing lift); another goes from the collar (providing tug).

An old photo (not included here) appears to show a belly strap on the clobber, while other photos do not. They all show breeching straps around the ox's backside to hold everything in place on the downhill slope.

This photo shows the leather covered side of the wooden collar draped over a cart wheel.

Mosquitoes Get Hungry: Ox and Pony Seek Shelter in Barn

It's hard to swat mosqitoes with your horns. We've had frequent rains and warm humid weather this year --- and biting insects! I've not even been putting Scout in the yoke because it restricts him from swishing flies. We've been settling for some walks when we can find some breeze --- and that's been rare.

Scout the x and Peaches the pony get some relief from the biting insects by going in the barn. The window fan with the light blows into my shop and runs 24/7. The spent bugs and bug parts that get sucked in are beggining to form drifts on my work bench. We're hoping for an early frost.

Dog Says, There's a Critter Under There

Harry the dog's been occupied for several weeks with some critter under the floorboards of the old granary. He's done a lot of scratching at the boards --- and barking. We can hear his scratching way up at the house. But lately he's just been hanging out there --- less scratching and barking, more worrying.

I investigate to see what he's up to. Something under the boards is making a desperate mewing sound --- and moving around. Sounds almost like a kitten. That's unlikely though. Sophia's the only cat around here. I get a crowbar and keyhole saw but can't find any easy access without destroying the granary floor. Better to let nature take care of her own.

Maybe the mother will come back. And maybe not. Life can be cruel. It sure does sound like a kitten. I mention this to Sherry --- maybe she should stick a bowl of milk in the hole under the north end of the building, just in case.

I'm back to mowing the grass.

Sherry enlarged the hole by removing a foundation rock and digging away the dirt. (There's the bowel of milk.)

Then she went in the granary and ripped up the floor. She thinks she saw a kitten the color of Sophia.

Harry's thinking "She shut me in the pasture --- and now she's in there with Sophia. What's she doing --- this was my project?"

Look what we have here.

It is a kitten.

Thanks Uncle Harry.

She's so cute.

"I'm so happy I could dance!"

"Me too!"

Mother's can move mountains (and rip up floorboards).

Time Magazine, Paul Bunyan, and Babe the Blue Ox, Web Cam

Time Magazine has listed Bemidji, Minnesota's Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues in its Top 50 American Roadside Attractions. Link here:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2006404_2006095_2006099,00.html
***
I revisited the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce Web Cam today and watched a steady stream of people visit the statues and pose for pictures. Great to see families are out on good old-fashioned road trips visiting simple roadside attractions. To see live web-cam, click on the link below:

http://www.bemidji.org/paulandbabe.php

Read the history of the Paul and Babe logging legend on my May 21st blog post.

"Can't Catch Me...

...I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Training Tip: A good run helps take the edge off.

"A New Bone!"

Harry the dog spies new camera --- fresh out of the box.

Sophia Helps with Reading the Camera Instructions

What would we do without cats and dogs?

The Red River Cart

The Red River cart was invented around 1800 by Métis employees of Alexander Henry at the Pembina fur trading post. The carts were made entirely of wood and rawhide using only the most basic hand tools.

The Métis people who invented the cart and who were most frequently the drivers, live primarily in Canada; they emerged from the initial offspring of the relations between Indian women and European men.

Métis is pronounced mey-tees, or mey-tee.

LTD

Red River Ox Cart, 1889

photographed in front of the home of a Métis family.

William McFarlane Notman, photographer

© McCord Museum of Canadian History

link here

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/VIEW-2031

Red River Ox Cart Diagram

One of several detailed illustrations by Harry B. Brehaut,

author of The Red River Cart and Trails: The Fur Trade

© Manitoba Historical Society.

link here

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/redrivercart.shtml

click on link below

Cartmaking Video

A group of Métis people working at the St. Norbert Arts and Cultural Centre (Winnipeg) and

led by Orille Haugan are reviving the art of Red River cart making. Learn about the relationship

between Métis people and this historic means of transportation.

link here

http://www.livingprairie.ca/livingmemories/carts.html

Dog Creates Lots of Little Pieces

My dog Harry’s propensity to eat inappropriate things about the size of a bar of soap has its precedents. (You may have noticed a lack of original photos lately?)

While I was here at the keyboard, Harry was under my chair chewing on his dog-bone. When Harry’s chewing on a bone that’s a very good thing.

After further inspection, however, I discovered Harry’s bone was my Nikon 560 camera. My second Nikon 560 camera — he ate the first one too. He didn’t actually eat them — just left lots of little pieces on the floor.

Maybe I need to try a different brand of camera.

LTD

Red River Ox Cart and Driver

Older horses were sometimes used to pull
the Red River ox carts.
Photo by Canadian, pioneer photographer C. W. Mathers

circa 1891 - 1907

from

The Pageant of America Collection

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. New York, NY
Metis?

The Perfect Prairie Vehicle - Winnipeg Free Press

There is a nice photo here of a contemporary solid-oak Red River ox cart driven by members of the Red River Métis Heritage Group. The story shares interesting history about the Metis people. Click on the link below --- LTD

The perfect prairie vehicle - Winnipeg Free Press

4-H Member Explores New Project: Oxen

Erin Senger did a demonstration with her ox, Opry.

Photo:Troy Krause.

Redwood Falls Gazette

By Troy Krause, Editor

GateHouse News Service

Posted Jul 19, 2010 @ 12:04 PM

Redwood Falls, Minn. —

Erin Senger, a member of the [4-H] Loyal Scotties... raised and showed an ox.

Complete story and copyright information at:

http://www.redwoodfallsgazette.com/news/x393526078/Veteran-4-H-members-explore-new-projects?img=5

Redwood Falls Gazette has no affiliation with Storybrooke: Ox and Dog Blog

Summertime --- Edward Potthast

The Ox Cart
Edward Henry Potthast
(American Artist, 1857-1927)

Summer Pleasures
Edward Henry Potthast
(American Artist, 1857-1927)

Wash-and-Wear

Yesterday I gave Scout(the Ox) a bath. I soaped-up one side of him with a bar of homemade soap, and laid the soap on the grass. I scrubbed him and rinsed the soap off with the garden hose. When I turned around to retrieve the bar — for soaping the other side — it was gone. Harry(the Dog) was licking his chops; under questioning Harry had a sudsy, soapy grin.

So Scout is washed on the Haw side, and rinsed on the Gee side. (I wonder if he’ll walk in circles now?)

Harry’s been drinking lots of water — I expect he’s in his rinse cycle.

Happy Oxcarters

Happy Mitchell and his boys, about 1905

July 5th, 2010 Oxcart Ride

Soundtrack: All Because Of You
Artist: Christian Marsac

Me and My True Love: An Ox Cart Ride

The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

A Scottish folk song.

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomon'.
where me and my true love were ever wont to gae
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.
O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak the low road,
An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.

'Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen,
On the steep, steep side o' Ben Lomon',
Where in purple hue the Hieland hills we view,
An' the moon comin' out in the gloamin'.
O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak the low road,
An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.

The Iron Ox

After the ox came the horse and after the horse came the tractor --- as first choice for farming the land.

I went to the Oklee Centennial Celebration to see Orlin Ostby's ox Pum, but the closest thing I could find was a tractor-pull in the alley off the end of main street --- and an inflatable jumping toy in the likeness of a blue ox. I was too late. Someone said the ox had been there and was the biggest animal she'd ever seen outside of an elephant at the zoo!

Pum and Ostby retraced the 400-mile Pembina trail as part of the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Celebration in 2008. I'm sorry I missed them here at the Oklee Centennial (so close to home!). Hopefully I'll catch up with Orlin and his ox Pum at some later date.

Grandkids Go for an Oxcart Ride

Scout the Ox is a little over 8 months old now. He pulls the cart like a champ, however he doesn't overlook an opportunity to head for the ditch to grab a few mouthfuls of grass. Get-up is mastered, he knows whoa but doesn't always do it. He needs a lot more work on gee and haw. In general he is more responsive to touch --- to push --- or to pull than to verbal cues. He does very well staying with the program --- if I'm walking near his head or shoulders.

Photos taken on July 2, 2010