Miscellaneous, Troop C's Elk, 1939

Troop C's Elk Now Hitched to Sleigh

March 1939

 

The recent snow storm gave Captain Daniel E. Fox, commander of Troop C, state police, a chance to exercise one of the pets of the boys in gray at Sidney barracks.  Jargo, the yearling elk at Sidney barracks [Delaware Co., NY], has the distinction of being the only harness-broken elk in the United States.  He is now being trained to do circus tricks by Trooper W.C. Mossman, an old hand at this kind of work.

 

 

Troop C, under the command of Captain Daniel E. Fox, has again achieved the unusual.  The strange figure which one may see almost daily coming down the road from the barracks is not a figment of the imagination, but Jargo, the Elk, hitched to a sleigh and driven by Trooper William Mossman.

 

Some time ago, a pair of elks were presented to Captain Fox, coming to him from the Bear mountain Parks.  Jargo has been raised by Troop C and is about eight months old.

 

At Thanksgiving time it was decided to train the elk and Trooper Mossman was assigned to the work.  One of the hardest tasks was that of catching him.  This was finally accomplished by trapping him in one corner of the corral.  Next came the grind of taming him, and teaching him to trust man.

 

It was not until January that the elk was harnessed to the sleigh and given such a workout.  He is also being taught all the tricks of show horses.  He knows the things that are expected of him and recognizes when any of the "props" have been moved from an accustomed place.

 

It would seem that the almost impossible had been accomplished to see Jargo stepping daintily along the road.  He is said to be the only harness-broken elk in the United States.  The elk occasionally bolts a bit for he is, by  nature, very wild, but Trooper Mossman's "steady now, steady," brings him back to a sedate walk.