Whites mule packer12/31/2023 In Cataline's outfit, around the turn of the century, his corregidor was Ah Gun and his secundo was Dave Wiggins.Įven though he used over sixty mules, he knew to the item what each of them carried, where they were being delivered to and what he had to charge. Cataline's mules were so well trained that when the corregidor rang a signal bell, they would go to their own packs and wait to be loaded. The pack mules could carry 250–300 pounds and could navigate very difficult trails. Each outfit also employed six or more men, a foreman, also known as a corregidor, a second man, known as a secundo, a cook and several muleteers. He could sign his name with a flourish, so one must wonder if he actually was illiterate, or perhaps just keeping his business to himself.Ĭataline's pack train usually consisted of sixty mules. Though it has been said he was illiterate, he had an excellent memory and kept his business records in his head without ever making a single note. On every trip he brought along a chair made of birch and rawhide where he would sit as he negotiated his business, while everyone else sat on the ground. He would drink his cognac or whisky, leaving a small amount to pour into his hand, and rub it into his hair saying "A liddle insida, a liddle outsida. One of the most famous stories is that he used to rub liquor into his hair. When he had business to conduct, he added a collar, tie and a French hat to his apparel. However, as most packers in the early years in BC were Mexican, it is most likely that Spanish became the language of the profession for that reason.Īlthough the exact date of his arrival in British Columbia is unknown, it is recorded that he was packing at the beginning of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858 and continued until 1912, a span of 54 years.Ĭataline was known to wear the same type of clothing year round: a boiled white shirt, heavy woolen pants, riding boots and no socks. It is not hard to determine where these words originated when one remembers that these men grew up at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains, which is the border of Spain & France. Perhaps people thought Caux & Castillou were Spanish because they used Spanish words for packing, such as secundo and aparejo. Caux and Castillou did some packing trips for James Teit, which is where young Henry acquired his taste for the local culture. He is commemorated in the Nicola Valley Museum in Merritt, with his son Henry Castillou, the "Cowboy Judge of the Cariboo", and alongside the display of the famed anthropologist James Teit a researcher of aboriginal culture who worked for the Chicago Museum of Natural History. Joe eventually went his own way from Cataline's pack train, and settled in Merritt, BC, Canada. In the 1880s, his packing partner was Joe Castillou, another Frenchman who was mistaken as a Spaniard because of his name they called him 'Castillion'. Genealogical research is being done to ascertain if Jean Caux is actually their ancestor. It is also possible that another child, Clara Dominic Clare who had many descendants, was also Jean Caux's child. Jean had at least two children with her the first was William Benjamin, the second was Rhoda Dominic Urquhart. He lived with a NLaka'pamux woman from Spuzzum called Amelia York, native name C'eyxkn. He eventually worked his way up to having larger pack trains with up to 60 animals, according to some, and it is said he had at least four pack trains.Ĭataline packed from Yale to Barkerville during the Cariboo Gold Rush, working mostly with experienced Mexican packers. When he first came to what was later known as British Columbia he packed on a small scale with only one animal. In 1858 the town joined up with Ste-Marie, so the town then became Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Jean Jacques Caux, known as Cataline, was born in rural southern France around 1830, most likely in a town called Oloron in the Bearn region. Jean-Jacques Caux, known as Cataline, was the most famous mule packer of the Canadian West. ( November 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. This article possibly contains original research.
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