✅ SOLVED Horseshoe or Muleshoe. ??

[tamrock]

I picked this up the other day at a abandoned coal mine sight I find many old relics at. Is this a shoe made with any special purpose in mind such as a mule used possibly at the coal mine that stopped production around 1938?. What may this rectangle piece of metal attached at the toe end be for? The shape is curved inward on the sides. Others I've found are curved outward. It measures 5-5/8'' L x 4-1/8'' W

 

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[villagenut]

What you have there is a mule shoe, seen as more elongated than a horseshoe. Made this same way since the late 1800's. The squared end is where the horses"toe" would go and is called the "toe caulk". Some would argue about the purpose, but its design was to give better traction during heavy working. A coal mine would fit that work description well.

 

[tamrock]

Well that sure fits. From what I've researched this coal camp began in the later 1880s. Over the years I've found many interesting items from the past. I say it's solved...Thanks for your reference.

 

[BosnMate]

It's a mule shoe, possibly for front, probably for a rear foot. I've shod a lot of mules with the heels sticking out on a front foot. If that was done on a horse, he would step on the
extended shoe with his hind foot and either pull the front shoe, or get in a worse wreck, but that didn't happen with any of the mules I shod. The shoe you found has both toe and
heel caulks, pronounced "corks." The front caulk is also called a "toe grab." They are on the shoe to provide traction usually in mud or soft ground, while more pointed caulks are
used on ice. Toe clips are drawn by the blacksmith on the hoof side of the shoe, and are then burned into the hoof wall. Besides toe clips, there are also side clips. Clips are used
to take the strain off the nails.

This picture shows a toe clip that has been burned into the hoof wall.
This shows toe and heel caulks. This is the ground side of the shoe.

 

[BosnMate]

Tamrock, have you ever been to the Homestake Mine in Dakota? A friend retired from working there, and has since passed away. He told me that at the 400 level the stables for
the mules were still there. In those days the mules were sent down underground, and for the rest of their lives they never saw the light of day again. If I remember correctly
he said when he retired they were working darn near a mile underground. Your shoe is for a fairly good sized mule. I've seen pictures of small mules pulling ore carts in tunnels
with really low roofs, or what ever you guys call the top of a tunnel.

 

[tamrock]

Indeed BosnMate, if I would flip this to the hoof side of the shoe it has that burned shape in this shoe I have. I thought it was caused by the toe striking the ground.

 

[BosnMate]

I'm not surprised, the extra traction caused by the corks puts a lot of strain on the nails, so many times the blacksmith would draw a toe clip to help hold the shoe on the foot.

 

[tamrock]

Tamrock, have you ever been to the Homestake Mine in Dakota? A friend retired from working there, and has since passed away. He told me that at the 400 level the stables for
the mules were still there. In those days the mules were sent down underground, and for the rest of their lives they never saw the light of day again. If I remember correctly
he said when he retired they were working darn near a mile underground. Your shoe is for a fairly good sized mule. I've seen pictures of small mules pulling ore carts in tunnels
with really low roofs, or what ever you guys call the top of a tunnel.

I was involve with Homestake up to the end in the early 1990s. I think to this day its was the longest continues operating gold mine in the US. Over a hundred years of non stop operation. I sold parts to an old machine called an Eimco 12B rail mount mucking machine. I had a boss who was a young Colorado School of Mines grad in the late 70s who went to work up there. We called that fella "Spike" because of his young and ambitious work ethics. He was the last person I ever spoke to at the Homestake. It was the grandest gold mine I think we'll ever see in the American west. I'm not surprised to here the stalls would be there because of the length of time that mine was operating. I have an old mining and tunneling book around here on all the practical methods of tunneling. One section of the books is on proper work load, hours of operation, amount of good diet of oats a day needed and building a proper stable for the mule used in a mining operation. It was like the machine card spec's you'd see on heavy equipment they use today. The old timers at a mine I worked at who at the time in the 70s already had 30 years seniority said the same thing. A mule only saw the light of day two times in his life. Before he first went in the mine and when he was to worn out to work. He was taken to the portal and a stick of dynamite was wrapped to his head and a black wick was lite and they sent him out for his last stroll under the mountain sky in a beautiful mountain valley till, KA-BOOM. These guys were the WWII era vets and you'd learn to take their stories with a grain of salt. I also heard of training spiders as a POW in a German prison camp to steal items and fixing a cracked cylinder head on a B17 in flight. Many good story's they were.

 

[villagenut]

It's a mule shoe, possibly for front, probably for a rear foot. I've shod a lot of mules with the heels sticking out on a front foot. If that was done on a horse, he would step on the
extended shoe with his hind foot and either pull the front shoe, or get in a worse wreck, but that didn't happen with any of the mules I shod. The shoe you found has both toe and
heel caulks, pronounced "corks." The front caulk is also called a "toe grab." They are on the shoe to provide traction usually in mud or soft ground, while more pointed caulks are
used on ice. Toe clips are drawn by the blacksmith on the hoof side of the shoe, and are then burned into the hoof wall. Besides toe clips, there are also side clips. Clips are used
to take the strain off the nails.
View attachment 1087789
This picture shows a toe clip that has been burned into the hoof wall.
View attachment 1087790This shows toe and heel caulks. This is the ground side of the shoe.

Thanks for clarifying that difference between the toe clip and the caulkins, I must have had a brainfart during my post.

 

[tamrock]

Tamrock, have you ever been to the Homestake Mine in Dakota? A friend retired from working there, and has since passed away. He told me that at the 400 level the stables for
the mules were still there. In those days the mules were sent down underground, and for the rest of their lives they never saw the light of day again. If I remember correctly
he said when he retired they were working darn near a mile underground. Your shoe is for a fairly good sized mule. I've seen pictures of small mules pulling ore carts in tunnels
with really low roofs, or what ever you guys call the top of a tunnel.

I found this in an old mine book of mine from the 1940's on Animal Haulage there BonsMate. I guess? if you'd like to operate a mine on a budget, this is what to expect from a good old and best to have a "placid disposition" mule. Could be fun running a small op with a mule? You wouldn't need a whole bunch of tools to keep is running.

 

[Helix]

I was involve with Homestake up to the end in the early 1990s. I think to this day its was the longest continues operating gold mine in the US. Over a hundred years of non stop operation. I sold parts to an old machine called an Eimco 12B rail mount mucking machine. I had a boss who was a young Colorado School of Mines grad in the late 70s who went to work up there. We called that fella "Spike" because of his young and ambitious work ethics. He was the last person I ever spoke to at the Homestake. It was the grandest gold mine I think we'll ever see in the American west. I'm not surprised to here the stalls would be there because of the length of time that mine was operating. I have an old mining and tunneling book around here on all the practical methods of tunneling. One section of the books is on proper work load, hours of operation, amount of good diet of oats a day needed and building a proper stable for the mule used in a mining operation. It was like the machine card spec's you'd see on heavy equipment they use today. The old timers at a mine I worked at who at the time in the 70s already had 30 years seniority said the same thing. A mule only saw the light of day two times in his life. Before he first went in the mine and when he was to worn out to work. He was taken to the portal and a stick of dynamite was wrapped to his head and a black wick was lite and they sent him out for his last stroll under the mountain sky in a beautiful mountain valley till, KA-BOOM. These guys were the WWII era vets and you'd learn to take their stories with a grain of salt. I also heard of training spiders as a POW in a German prison camp to steal items and fixing a cracked cylinder head on a B17 in flight. Many good story's they were.

Just wanted to chime in.. tamrock that's history in the making! I remember all my great aunts and uncles who were kids when airplanes where invented around 1900 and to see men walk on the moon My grandfather was 80 during the moon landing in the late 1960's The man past in 73 and too the day of his death always persisted the moon was made of Cheese... Heck the man was born in 1891.