Goat Cart

Anyone up for goat-cart racing? These two adorable girls were riding in a cart hitched to a goat. The girl on the right was named Mary Elizabeth Evans. The girl on the left is unknown. Mary Elizabeth was the youngest daughter of William Manson Evans and Mary Belle Moreland. She was born in 1911 in California. The girl could not be more than three years old, so the picture was taken about 1913/1914.

The goat taking the girls for a ride is huge and quite shaggy. After an internet search, I found out that the animal is an Angora goat. The Angora goat originated in the district of Angora in Asia Minor (southern Turkey) and dates back to ancient times. It produces the lustrous fiber known as mohair. The first Angora goats were brought to Europe by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V about 1554, but were not very successful. Today, Turkey, Argentina, the United States, and South Africa are the top producers of mohair.

I wonder where the Evans family got their Angora goat.

Thank you for reading.

Jenny Findsen