Rural Heritage April/May 2026

Sixteen Mule Hitch

by Joe Mischka W hen Terri Geissinger and other event organizers were making plans for the Trailblazer Days in Thermopolis, Wy., in mid-June, they settled on making it a founder's day celebration. And since Henry “16-Mule Team” Johnson was one of the founders, they decided to include his signature hitch in the parade. That meant getting someone to re-enact the historic hitch and Rick Edney and Luke Messenger thought they could give it a try. Rick brought ten blonde Belgian mules and combined them with Luke’s six black, mostly Percheron, mules to make the 16-mule hitch. Of course, that was just the start. Henry Johnson drove his hitch with a jerk line which meant the only thing the driver used to control them was a rope running from the driver to the left-hand lead mule. A steady pull told the mule to go left and a quick jerk meant it was time to go right. On top of that, the driver does not sit on the wagon but instead rides the left mule on the wheel. While the jerk line method is used by some mule loggers in the woods and ocassionally for demonstration purposes, it is not widely put in service.

When the lead team begins responding to the jerk line and starts to make the turn, the driver calls out to the swing teams (the three teams behind the leaders) and the pointers (the three teams in front of the wheelers) by name, commanding them to turn gee or haw (right or left). A chain runs from the lead wagon, under the pole and between each team to the leaders. Each team is attached to the chain with their eveners and neck yokes. During a sharp turn, the pointers must step over the chain to allow the wagons to make the turn. In other words, there is a lot going on and it takes some practice. When I visited, it was the second weekend the 16 mules were all put together and by the end of the second day, they were driving straight, keeping the chain mostly taut and learning to step over the chains when necessary. That was after a lot of stopping and starting as Luke Messenger made adjustments to the spacing of the mules attachment points to ensure a comfortable drive. We'll have a full episode on the practice session on our YouTube channel in a few weeks where you can see the amazing progress they made in just a few hours. Check the schedule at the end of the magazine to see when it will premier.

A billboard sign promotes the Trailblazer Days event

Rural Heritage

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