Joe Magarac is a an Amerian folk hero similar to Paul Bunyan of the north woods. Joe Magarac belongs to the Pittsburgh steel heritage. Legend has it that Joe was born in an ore mountain and died when he melted himself down in a Bessemer Converter. Joe had super-human strength and could twist iron ingots with his bare hands and make rails by squeezing steel through his fingers. Joe would suddenly appear out of nowhere and save the day and disappear just as quickly as he arrived. Some say Joe was the creation of writer Owen Francis in the 1930's others suggest an his origin grew out of local tradtions in the early 20th century. And that origin is from the Croatian (and perhaps other Slavic) steelworkers who settled the region in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

And his name MAGARAC is appropriate, for in Croatian a magarac is a mule ! And we know that Joe MAGARAC worked like a mule!

Robert Jerin
Croatian Heritage Museum
Cleveland Ohio