Mules to the Rescue in the North Carolina Blue Ridge
Tim Talbott inadvertently hurled me 160 years into the past when he shared a particular Facebook post on Wednesday, October 2. It was the mules, you see …
Tearing apart western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee a few days earlier, Hurricane Helene had destroyed places with which Susan and I are familiar. Roads we have traveled and towns we have visited were damaged or annihilated. Vehicular travel’s impossible in many areas, and people are cut off from the outside world.
Enter Mountain Mule Packer Ranch, located at 1480 Carolina Horse Farm Lane, Raeford, North Carolina (east of Charlotte and near Fort Liberty). According to its website (https://mountainmulepackers.com), the business specializes (among other things) in “handling, haltering, saddling and loading pack animals for supply-line operations.” The “pack animals” include mules.
Tim shared a Mountain Mule Packer Ranch post timelined on Facebook at 10:45 p.m., October 1. The business had trucked mules and personnel close to (maybe into) the North Carolina Blue Ridge. The purpose was to use the mules to pack food and other badly needed items to people living where no trucks can go.
Mountain Mule Packer Ranch’s FB post included photos of the mules hauling supplies along an asphalt road badly damaged by Helene. While studying the photos, I suddenly remembered many accounts written by Maine soldiers about working with supplies-laden mules – or at least running into mule-drawn supply “trains” (as the army referred to wagon convoys).
Here’s the excerpted Mountain Mule Packer Ranch FB post from 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday:
“The mule team had a successful day today, and they were able to bring mule loads of food and supplies to many residents in Black Mountain. All went smoothly, and the mules and packers are resting for the night!
“Their plan for tomorrow [Wednesday], is to bring supplies, food, and check on residents’ needs in an area toward Swannanoa, where it is believed 30% of the town’s residents are trapped and can’t get out. This will be a busy day for the team, and we pray for their safety and stamina!
“Here at home, we stocked up on a huge amount of supplies, thanks to donations of so many!! And, Tractor Supply generously loaded a 24′ stock trailer to the brim with plenty of livestock and pet food and also lots of gear like tarps, batteries, lights, work gloves, brooms, and shovels.
“Then we met at the Food Lion in Cleveland, NC to collect food and supplies brought by those that wanted to donate … The devastation in the mountains has broken all of our hearts, but we are thankful that even in this sadness, we see God working through so many wonderful people. We will continue to praise HIM!! Thank you, thank you!!!!”
The mules headed out Wednesday, and will venture elsewhere in the Blue Ridge on Thursday. In high-tech America, where people order food, clothing, and merchandise online to be delivered to their homes pronto, who could have imagined late last week that mules (and helicopters, I want to give the flyboys their due credit) would be just about the only way to supply people deep in the Blue Ridge?
My eldest daughter went to college at App State in Boone, in that area. Very special people.
A good article! But I have to give some extra information. We live close to the area in NC affected by the hurricane. We have a number of friends with horses that looked at packing supplies in. They decided against it. By the time they would organize, care for the horses, etc. it wasn’t worth it. I thought it was a cool idea but as they told us ‘One helicopter lift would be a lot more than we could bring in’ Just reporting what I heard from them.