Elephant

From: "Wendell Huffman"

... there was "seeing the Elephant", which referred in general to taking on a monumental project, and specifically to looking for gold in the California Gold Rush. The first locomotive in California was appropriately called "Elephant." I have wondered whether Nast's elephant for the Republican party derived from the somewhat earlier term (which – according to a version dating from the Gold Rush itself, came from the spectacle of a theater elephant animated by a couple stage hands who happened to be sharing a bottle inside the elephant suit until they finally staggered off the stage into the orchestra pit to the delight of the audience).

—Wendell

[from the R&LHS Newsgroup]