St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-02-06
COVINGTON. ST. TANMANY PARISH, FEBRUARY 6,

picket rope and the train of their flee-
ing animals. driven or coaxed away by
these wild horses-gone, and forever.
l recall to mind now an acquaintance
OF mine in Nevada, one Joseph Gilbert,
who lived in Reese River Valley, in
Louder County, who took pride in the
quality and quantity of his horses. His
herd numbered about five hundred head,
and was generally conceded to be the
best in that section. Joe was in fine
circumstances, and bore the reputa-
ton of being well off and an excellent
man, but somehow band of wild
horses began to prey upon his herd
finally securing to themselves besuti-
full stallion recently purchased by Joe
at an expense of one thousand dollars.
After his capture Joc's herd was of
short duration. as with the assistance
of this stallion they nearly or quite all
went wild, and though rewards of five
dollars, and aftcrward ten dollars per
head was offered for the horses in any
corral, with an additional offer of five
hundred dollars for the stallion, never
heard of more tlAn fifteen or twenty
horses being returned. Some Mexicans
hearing of it came to capture them with
twenty men and forty or fifty horses,
but after racing for them until their
own horses had given out, they only
succeeded in getting the fifteen or
twenty above mentioned. The result
was MIR. Gilbert was ruined. Many
other eases of the Kind have happened.
Horse raising, however, on the plains
is very profitable. and horses will live
where cattle will die and never have
diseases that assume the character of
an epidemic; barring the continued
danger of their going wild. there is no
such profitable business in stock raising
on the plains or mountains.
Wild stations often become aggres.
sive and even dangerous. Mr.. Blod-
som, friend of mine. was going on a
trip with his family partly hunting ans
partly to look over the range to see the
condition of his stock. One night
while in camp at Antelope Valley his
team of horses (two fine mares) dis
appeared. Awaking the next morning
he found himself without his horses,
and starting his two boys to follow
some tracks in one direction, he and
his wife started in another. Presently
he came in sight of his lost horses in
company with several wild ones, and
to his horror, he saw coming ftoward
him the stallion ''boss of the herd,n
and although he had his double-bar-
relied shotgun, he knew it was loaded
with fine shot, and these two loads were
the only things standing between him
and destruction. Had he been
.'tcnder foot" undoubtedly he would
have been injured. Being. however,
ing his wife to keep continually behind
him. On came the infuriated beast,
head down, ears back and mouth open,
to within few PAGES of Blossom,
who, at this critical moment,
began to swing his arms in the
manner done when throwing lasso.
This recalled to his horseship the un-
merciful and uncomfortable character
of these ropes when once in their fold,
and, fearing his own captivity, he
stopped on his charge, but continually
circling around just out of reach of a
rope. he endeavored to scare his ene-
mics away. Blossom kept swinging
his arm and yelling constantly, work
ing toward his own horses, until finally
he reached them. Fortunately they
were the gentlest possible, and not yet
under the influence of their wild com
panions.
Assisting his wife to mount one, he
mounted the other, and as he started
back to camp the stallion saw his
efforts were hopeless and went back to
his wild herd in the distance, assisted
by the two loads of small shot before
mentioned. Had Blossom, when first
attacked, shot this horse and failed to
kill him, as he did after being mounted.
he would undoubtedly never have lived
to tell'the tale. Should he have killed
him the report of the gun would have
the band, and in all prob
ability his team would have followed;
but once on their backs he had them,
beside forming a combination, viz:
..Horse and rider" of which all horses
and cattle are afraid in the far West.
Dow Huntsman. at that time, abou,
1880, a wealthy mining and stockman,
brought beautiful sorrel stallion from
California, called Patchen. This horse
becoming nearly wild on the range,
gathered his band, and was SO energet-
ic i'm his endeavors that he got to stop
ping the stage on the road between
Battle Mountain and Tuscarora, in Ne
vada, endeavoring to drive the stage
horses into his band. 1t required all
the efforts possible by the drivers to
make him desist. One unfortunate
night for him he ran his head into the
lasso and was deprived of his liberty,
the role of the common sad
dle-horse on the range, on whose back
l can recall many pleasant days follow
ing the chase or in quest of game, for
he finally fell into my possession.
should guess from my observations
and the extent Of the country, viz:
about 1900 miles wide by nearly 1000
long, there must be at least $4,000 to
50, 900 wild horses and ponies within
the limits of the United States west of