Joe Magarac was an imaginary folk hero, like Paul Bunyan, whose story came from eastern European immigrants working in Pittsburgh area steel mills. His physical power and his brave, generous, and hard-working character made Joe Magarac (whose name "Magarac" means "donkey" in Croatian) the greatest steelworker who ever lived.

Joe Magarac, the story goes, was a man made of steel. He was born in an iron ore mine and raised in a furnace. Some versions of the story said Magarac was seven feet tall. Others claimed he was as tall as a smokestack! His shoulders were as big as the steel-mill door and his hands like the huge buckets (ladles) used to pour molten steel. He ate that hot steel like soup and cold steel ingots like meat. He could drink a gallon of liquid in one swallow.

The mighty Magarac could do the work of 29 men, because he never slept, working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. He stirred vats of hot steel with his bare hands and twisted horseshoes and pretzels out of iron ingots. He made railroad rails by squeezing molten steel between his fingers. As the steel cooled, he made it into cannon balls as easily as kids make snowballs.

Besides being physically strong, Joe Magarac was generous,
self-sacrificing, and brave. Once, for example, he won a weight-lifting contest and the prize was marrying the mill boss' daughter Mary. But Mary was in love with Pete Pussick. Instead of claiming his prize, Joe stepped aside so she could marry her true love (after all, if Joe had a wife, she would be very lonely while he worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week!).

Joe could appear just about anywhere in the mill in seconds by walking from one hot furnace rim to another. He used this ability to appear out of nowhere to save steelworkers from danger. When a crane holding a ladle with 50 tons of molten steel broke right above his crew, he caught it with his bare hands. Not a drop of hot "soup" splashed on anybody.

A whole train of loaded ingot-buggies broke loose and headed full steam downhill toward a group of employees. Just in the nick of time, Joe caught the last buggy and pulled the train back up hill, saving everyone!

No one is sure what happened to Joe. In one version of his story, he jumped into a Bessemer converter to save a load of steel and lives on in the girders of a new building or bridge. Another version claims that he is still alive, waiting in a abandoned mill for the day that the furnace burns again.

A very nice stamp issued by the Croatian Post in 2007, depicting Dalmatian donkey, ie Dalmatinski magarac. Dalmatia is a southern part of Croatia along the Adriatic sea.

Some sources claim that the legend about Joe Magarac is of Hungarian origin. This is impossible, since "donkey" in Hungarian is "szamar", and "magarac" does not exist in Hungarian language.

Joe Magarac bending steel

Joe Magarac - Born out of Braddock, Pennsylvania - Truth here is elusive, some beleive that there was actually a person by the name of Joe Magarac working at the Braddock steel works.  He typicated the personality of a donkey, obstinate and very hard working.  At the same time, the donkey was the beast of burden in the mountain regions of Croatia.  The legend probably has merit.  Altho the characterizations of this symbol varies slightly, it is easily recongnized as the symbol of steel and was to steel workers what Paul Bunyan was to woodsman.  I have several childrens books featuring this character in the early 1900's.  He does amazing feats and the stories impart hardwork and honesty as a lesson to small children.