Älgen Stolta

Älgen Stolta (in Swedish, "Älgen" means "the moose" and "Stolta" means "proud") was a moose that became known for participating in a trot racing event in Falun, Sweden, in 1907.

Stolta pulls men in a horse-cart, c.1908. Anders Jansson at reins with Johan Blad
Stolta's commemorative coffee service award 1907

History

In the early 1900s, a moose cow (adult female) died, leaving her year-old calf behind. Different sources claim the cow was killed by a passing train, others that it drowned, but they agree it happened near the Dalälven river close to Älvkarleby in Uppland. Its live female calf was taken to Johan Blad, the foreman at Älvkarleö's railway park. Blad knew a lineman called Anders Gustav Jansson who lived in Älvkarleby and had a reputation for animal husbandry, so he asked for his help with the moose which they named Stolta.[1][2] Stolta was raised like a tame horse;[3] doing forestry work, pulling carts and sleds with material, and also used to pull a sled carrying tourists between the railway station and the tourist hotel near the waterfall in Älvkarleby.[1][2]

In 1907, at a winter sports festival in Falun, Stolta won a trot race against trained trotting horses over an ice-covered lake.[1][2] Jansson was afterwards presented with a coffee service: a coffee pot and accompanying sugar bowl and coffee creamer.[1][2] The coffee pot had an inscription that read Minne av Vinteridrottsfästen i Falun 1907 för körning av elg ("Memento of Winter Sports Festival in Falun in 1907 for driving with a moose").[1][2] The park where Älgen Stolta was kept closed in 1909 as the area was marked as part of the reservoir for a hydroelectric power station.[4] Stolta was moved to the open-air museum of Skansen on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm where it was thought she could be better cared for,[4] and her name was changed to "Lotta."[4] After the 1907 race, a rule prohibiting the use of moose as draft animals was added.[5] She died in Stockholm in 1925.

References
  1. "Älgen Stolta drar spark med förmannen Johan Blad och banvakten Anders Jansson vid tömmarna, Älvkarleö, Uppland 1908" [Stolta pulls sled with the foreman Johan Leaves and lineman Anders Jansson at the reins, Älvkarleö, Upland 1908]. digitaltmuseum.se. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  2. "Älgen Stolta drar gigg med två män i Järnvägsparken, Älvkarleö, Älvkarleby socken, Uppland 1908" [The moose Stolta pulls a gig with two men in the railway park, Älvkarleö, Älvkarleby parish, Uppland 1908]. digitaltmuseum.se. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  3. "Från konungens Dalabesök" [From the King's visit to Dalarna]. Dalpilen. 16 March 1909. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  4. "Älgen hette Stolta" [The moose was called Stolta]. Affarer. 2014. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  5. "Älvkarleö bruk: Bilder från brukets omgivningar" [Älvkarleö mill: Photos from the mill's surroundings]. Älvkarleö. 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
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