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Stuffed bull stood at old Princeton gas stationBy Joel Stottrup It wasn't until about an hour into the story that Glenn Jensen of Princeton was telling about how his grandfather invented the once widely-distributed Diamond Adjustable Halter for bulls that Glenn explained what prompted the invention. It turned out that one day in 1920, or shortly before, Peter Jensen was leading his 2,400-pound Holstein bull up to a Holstein cow to mate inside Peter's farm corral in rural Princeton, when the bull had some other ideas. It turned on Peter and almost pinned him, said Glenn, recounting the story that Peter told him. Now a likeness of that same bull sits inside Glenn's garage, its hide stretched over a carved wooden piece in the shape of a bull that sits on a platform with wheels. As Glenn talked about that stuffed bull, as some might refer to it, he explained its origins and how it is part of Princeton's early history. He is going to offer it to the Mille Lacs County Historical Society for its museum in Princeton. As Glenn told the story behind the stuffed bull, he told how his grandfather had measured up the bull while it was still alive as he prepared to make the wooden framework in the shape of the bull. After slaughtering the bull, he sent the hide to a tanning works in California. That was a maddening chapter in the story, said Glenn, explaining that it took at least two years for the tanners to send the hide back to Peter. Then when it did arrive, it had shrunk. His grandfather was mad when he saw that and had a difficult time stretching the hide over the wooden frame he had made, Glenn said. Peter, an immigrant from Denmark, had his first farm in Bogus Brook Township north of Princeton and named it the Deer Hill Stock Farm. Glenn, 75, said he got to know his grandfather well before he died in 1946. Peter eventually relocated to the farm that is now owned by Doug Marshall along First Street just west of Princeton city limits. Glenn said that Peter made many trips from Bogus Brook to the new farm site as Peter built the house and barn that stands there now. Peter used bricks from a brick works at Brickton just north of Princeton. Glenn said the house construction began in 1911 and that Peter moved there three years later with his family. But, back to the bull halter. Peter not only found that the halter he had invented was just the thing for his farm needs, but that other farmers in the area and beyond started asking for copies. Soon Peter started up a company that was to become P.W. Jensen & Son Mfgs. Its address was Dept. B 8, Princeton, Minn. The son in the business name was Guy Jensen, Glenn's father. Peter patented his halter in 1920 and, with son Guy, traveled into 39 states during summer months from the early 1920s until 1929 selling the halter to farmers and farm-goods dealers. Peter's wife, Hansina, and Guy's wife, Hattie, stayed home to milk the cows. Peter built two travel trailers for the traveling sales. Peter drove one car pulling one trailer and Guy drove another car pulling the other. The start of the Depression years in 1929 did in the traveling sales for the Jensens. Glenn explained that Peter and Guy found it didn't make sense trying to sell in a market where money was so scarce. Guy went to work at the Webb Oil Co. gas station located between where the Holiday station and Developmental Achievement Center buildings are located in Princeton. Guy became the owner of the Webb station in 1932. Guy continued making the halters and selling them by mail order after Peter died. When Guy died in 1971, Glenn did the same, selling the halters the same way. That is, until 1990, when a new government regulation requiring him to carry $1 million in liability coverage if he wanted to continue manufacturing. At first a notice about the insurance requirement arrived from dealers who feared the liability cost they might incur if a chain or halter part broke and someone got hurt by a farm animal, said Glenn. Soon, the business from dealers dropped off 50 percent, Glenn recalled. Glenn looked into the idea of buying the insurance but found the premium too high and so he quit manufacturing and selling the halters. Glenn recently showed a visitor to his garage the workbench, vise and tools where he had fashioned the halters to send out to customers. He says he occasionally sends out a halter part to a former customer. Glenn also has many parts from the bull halter manufacturing that illustrate how the Jensens improved the halter's design over the years. As part of the business, Peter and Guy also made metal safety snaps for quick links between the halter and a chain staked into the ground so the bull could graze. The snap rotated so the chain would not get tangled. The Jensens also marketed a self-piercing nose ring for bulls. Glenn has many cardboard advertising cards with illustrations of the safety bull snap, the self-piercing bull nose ring, a Jensen brand lead and tie chain, and what is billed as the new improved Jensen adjustable chain halter No. 101. The halter improvements include a rubber hose that encases the chain part that goes over the top of the bull's head so that it does not rub into the hide, and set screws on the nose piece that the business flyers said could be used on an "unruly bull." The set screws are adjustable so they can be turned all the way out so they are not sticking down on the inside of the metal part that rides atop the nose, or can be adjusted inward in varying lengths. When adjusted down and the bull doesn't move as the person leading the bull wants, the leader only had to pull down on the chain attached to the halter and it would make the bull want to move as commanded, Glenn explained. A halter with a nose piece without the set screws was also available. An advertising bill the Jensens once gave out says their halter will fit any animal from one year and up. Another Jensen promotion ad states that the halter can be used not only for unruly bulls, but also for "vicious stallions, stubborn cows, mean horses and for breaking horses." Glenn showed how the first bull snap was made out of heavy brass and noted the various nose plates as they were developed. Stuffed bull The story of the stuffed bull is a colorful part of the story. It was used to demonstrate how the bull halter could be useful and also brought attention to the halter for sale. For many years the stuffed bull stood outside the door of the Webb gas station and, according to Glenn, was an attraction for people from all over who visited Princeton. The big stuffed bull with its glass eyes and halter came to be like the statue of the mythical character Babe the Blue Ox of Paul Bunyan legend, said Glenn. "It was a tourist attraction," said Glenn's wife, Betty. Marvin Lind, who graduated from Princeton High School with Glenn, recently told about an experience of first seeing the stuffed bull at the Webb station. Marvin's parents, Rodger and Emma Lind, had just moved from Minneapolis to Princeton in March of 1934. "My mother was riding with my grandparents [Pete and Ida Sodergren] in a Model A car and I was with my dad in a Model A truck," Lind remembers about entering Princeton during the move and seeing the stuffed bull. "We stopped at the Webb station. I can recall they sold the world-famous Jensen bull halters." Glenn told how a lot of people would come into the station and ask his grandfather why he invented the adjustable bull halter and that Peter would answer it was because his bull had almost gotten him. Glenn worked at the gas station as a boy, cleaning the rest rooms, sweeping the office floor, sweeping off the gas pump island and hauling in wood for the station's wood stove. As Glenn recalled the years of his grandfather, he remembers grandfather Peter and grandmother Hansina being a "happy-go-lucky" couple, and that Peter was an outstanding Holstein dairyman and crop farmer. Glenn said Peter was one of the area's leaders in growing alfalfa, and noted that farmers would come to his farm to see Peter's alfalfa crop. Glenn also showed a large trophy that has an inscription showing Peter had won the Minnesota State Dairymen's Association award for the best cattle exhibit one year at the Minnesota State Fair. The hide on the stuffed bull is now worn and torn in spots. But if you know the story behind it, you can think about its place in the town's history and how the county once had many more dairy farms than it does now. It also brings to mind how people like Peter Jensen used catchy things to promote a business. In this case it was a stuffed Holstein bull. Princeton Union-Eagle |