At work, trotting on or striking a pose: the donkey in the canton of Grisons

Being called a ‘donkey’ was never a compliment, yet the donkey is one of the most intelligent, gentle and reliable animals that humans have been able to count on throughout history – and Grisons is no exception. Objects such as the yoke found in the Old Cazis Mill testify to this. On days when the river level was very low, the donkey would stand in for the power generated by the water by walking in circles to drive the millwheel.

For a long time, the donkey also served as a means of transport for goods and people – including, as a photo in the State Archives shows, on the steep trails criss-crossing the Grisons mountains. The Zurich painter Wilhelm Rudolf Scheuchzer (1803–1866) likely made his way over the Fuorn Pass in a similar manner in 1839. He was accompanied by a donkey for which he must have felt a certain kinship, because he immortalised it in a pencil sketch.

Finally, these animals also seem to have been rather popular in the tourist resort town of St. Moritz at the beginning of the 20th century, as various photographs show. Men, women and children, guests at luxury hotels, were photographed on donkeys, with facial expressions ranging from amused to anxious.