Visitors to the Sacramento mine noted this about the 8 mules working in the mine on the 1300, 1400, 1500 and 1600 levels, “They are fat, they are robust and just like the average mule a trifle sassy”. The also commented, that the mule barns were immaculately clean and had stacks of alfalfa in them. At times when the mules were to be retired or a mine was going to be shut down temporarily. The mules were hoisted to the surface. In the summer of 1905, the mules were removed from the Calumet and Arizona mines and given a “vacation” until September the same year. Development work was being completed at this time and the mules were not needed. In 1909 the mules in the Holbrook mine were hoisted and transferred to the 1300 level of the Lowell mine by miners Tom Hargis and Al Whitney. At this time miners Joe Windsor and Hill Ruff challenged fellow miners Tom Hargis and Jack Boles to see who could “tie and jacket a mule to be lowered down a shaft the fastest.. A $100 was wagered and Hargis with his teammate Boles, felt it would be “like taking candy from a schoolgirl”. Unfortunately, the results of the contest have been lost to time.The following year the Cole shaft was shutdown and its mules were brought to the surface. One of these mules had been underground for six years and seemed rather pleased to be out of the mine. In 1921 Tom Hargis was again called on to remove the mules this time from the Gardner mine. The newspaper reported that the Copper Queen officials said that without Tom Hargis’ expertise “the only way the mules will ever be taken out will be to drive an inclined tunnel from the level they are working on to the surface. So they can walk out.” After they were on the surface the mules stood around happily blinking. Actually inclines were used in some mines to take mules out of the mines each day. At the Empire Zinc Mine at Hanover, New Mexico a spiral inclined raise was driven to take the mules out.  Mules typically worked underground about four years but some worked longer. Contrary to popular belief the mules were not blind when taken out after living underground, but they did need a little time to adjust to daylight.

            The men in charge of driving mule trains were called mule drivers. In other mining camps they were called “mule skinners” but this term did not catch on in Bisbee. The mule drivers were expected to treat the mules humanly if not with a certain amount of caring. A mule driver could become friends with his mule by caring for it and remembering that you could never trust its hind hooves. It took a special mule to work underground. It was actually recommend that mining companies purchase mules with a three day underground trial period. Bisbee mining companies could not afford to have a mule be turned into a mean spirited animal from abuse or worse yet have a mule injured or crippled. The mining companies had veterinarians on staff and sick or injured mules would not be worked.

     Mines are inherently dangerous places and mules faced many of the dangers miners did.  Rocks falling from chutes could strike a mule. Distressed mules were known to kick out supporting timbers. One common way a mule could be injured was to have its hind legs struck by the mine cars it was pulling. Tunnels underground are driven on a slight grade to allow for water drainage. This grade inclines gently toward a hoisting shaft or mine adit entrance. This results in the mules pulling loaded cars normally down grade. This makes the mine cars following the cars difficult to stop. Empty, a train of 6 mine cars weighed about 4,800lbs. To help stop the cars the mule driver would be seated on the first car behind the mule. He would reach out and place his hands on the rump of the mule and firmly pushed .This action put force in the opposite direction slowed the mine cars. At times mules would work near areas that trolley locomotives were being used.     

     Mules learned to duck their heads when they observed a trolley wire. If they didn’t their ears would receive a powerful shock when they contacted the wire.

Mules were also dangerous to miners, unlike electric locomotive mules had minds of their own and could be temperamental and sometimes scared. At the Hoatson mine on June 10, 1910 Albert Fassel was driving his mule train when his mule panicked and began running with a train of empty cars. His candle was blown out and the mule continued his wild dash through mine in darkness. Eventually, the mule tired from running with the train of cars. Fassel only suffered a badly bruised right arm. But the miners were not always this lucky. On December 27, 1913 at the Briggs mine an upset mule overturned a mine car on top of Edward Johnson and killed him. A more common way for a miner to be injured by a mule was to be between a mine car and the mine wall. If the mule moved the train a miner could be crushed between the mine car and the supporting timber/rock wall. Although a number of men were injured this way, miner, Nick Davidovich was killed this way in the Briggs mine on September 9, 1913.

     Why mules is a question often asked. They were twice as expensive as a horse by weight. Mining experts commented that good horses often could be purchased cheaply but never a good mule.  A mine haulage expert commented that “A horse is a loveable animal, a mule is not.” But then he continued to say “A mule has more wit in a minute than a horse does in a month.” It was the intelligence and they sturdiness of the mule that made it the choice animal for the job. The mules quickly learned the paths of the dark tunnels and where to stop at chutes and ore passes. They also learned to duck down unlike like horses. W.F. Boericke commented “In a low drift a horse would butt it’s brains out, while Mr. Mule ducks his head and even crouches when necessary.” Mules in a sense learned to count. When a mule started to pull a train it would feel a jerk each time a mine car began to move. This was caused by the slack in the chains between mine cars. Quickly mules learned that four cars were its expected load. At times a driver might need to add an extra car. Well if the mule started moving and felt a seventh jerk, they stopped dead in their tracks and would not move until the cars were removed. To trick the mules into pulling an additional car, the driver would remove the slack between the fourth and fifth car. This way the mule never felt the jerk of the fifth car. Sometimes more than five cars were added. The animals had the uncanny ability to tell when the shift was over. It was never completely decided whether the animals were keeping tabs on the number of trips they had made or whether its “tummy” was telling it was time to eat. Scotty Corrin a slushier block repairman and a former miner in the Holbrook mine told stories of a well known mule that mischievously delighted in walking until a miner was between his flank and the mine wall. The mule would then began gently leaning on the man slowly until the miner was trapped against the wall  . This mule would slowly increase the pressure until the man felt he was being crushed. Another mule developed a similar trick. Carefully, the mule would place his hoof on top of a man’s boot and would also slowly added pressure until the mule had inflicted serious pain on the miner.

     In 1908 the Copper Queen Consolidated began to introduce trolley locomotives underground for haulage. It was decided that even number levels like the 200, 400, 600 would be converted to electric haulage and odd numbered levels would either a combination of hand tramming and mule haulage. The 3rd level or Queen Tunnel of the Southwest mine was an exception to this it is an odd number level that was converted to electric haulage in 1915. With the introduction of Mancha battery locomotives in the 1920s the need for mules diminished, but they remained in service until 1931.