A friend sent these fascinating old photos. They arrived in one of those PowerPoint slide shows that gets e-mailed around, so we of course can’t swear to the veracity of the captions (where there are any). But one thing is sure … these are some interesting views of the horse- and mule-drawn era.

Enjoy!

Mercer County, Kentucky, in the 1890s

Big Springs, Nebraska, in 1912

crossing the upper Colorado River in 1900

no information was given on this one, other than the obvious: East End Bakery

we have no info on this one, either, but these are large loads (cotton bales, I'm told)

a "jerk-line" team of mules, with the driver on the near wheel mule and using a single line to drive the entire twelve-mule team

New York City in 1896

Gen. Custer's Black Hills expedition (Dakota Territory) in 1874