Mt. Katahdin and A. Granger

Mt. Katahdin and A. Granger
Photo: www.mainememory.net

  A. S. Rand of Stetson, Maine (the next town up the road) wanted to breed a pair of oxen for size.  Breeding a Holstein with a Durham produced the desired result.  Mr. Rand named the pair after the two biggest things in Maine at the time; Mount Katahdin and the Grange, which had a huge membership.
  They were early to win prizes at the area fairs, and by age two tipped the scales at 6600 pounds for the pair.  They grew to be unable to work well and the worried farmer put the water for the oxen at the top of four large granite steps so the oxen had to walk up and down, it worked.
  In 1906 Mr. Rand and his oxen were at Madison Square Garden in New York City and the pair rounded the ring to much applause.  With the hair brushed to perfection and their hooves and horns polished they looked like a black mountain one man remarked.  By that time Granger weighed 4800 pounds, and Mt. Katahdin weighed 5000 pounds and was 13 feet 6 inched from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.
  Mt. Katahdin died of a burst bladder at age eleven and Mr. Rand had him stuffed, at a cost of $175, and the mounted ox was still a favorite at fairs.

Creambrook Farm in Stetson, Mr. Rands farm
Photo Stetson Historical Society via www.mainememory.net

At the Etna Train Station 1904
Photo: Stetson Historical Society via www.mainememory.net

Eliab Shephardson with the mounted ox in 1931
Photo: Stetson Historical Society via www.mainememory.net