The Colfax chronicle., 1889-01-05
CATCHING WILD HORSES
'eene Bell, the wild Horse king. /"
on the Mad Chase.
An Exciting Occupation Now Gone But
Not Forgottsn-A Long Race In which
brains Count-Peculiar Custom
Of Wild Horses.

The day of the wild horse and tn
Wild horse catcher is over. For nearl
twenty years a number of men skille
In the capture OF the untamed, arch
necked, mane-fowing denizen of tn
great plains have gained livelihoo
and even competence. But this one
profitable calling has constantly grow
more laborious and less remunerative
and this year the horse-catchers hav,
gone reluctantly at other occupation
or have drifted to the Pan-H Handle O
Texas or strip OF country in North
western Wyoming and Northwestern
Nebraska, where few of the .sfeet
equines of the desert" still roam ir
decimated bands. There are a small
number of these wild horses still to be
found, 1t is true, on the Republican
river In Eastern Colorado, and on the
Arickaree river, tributary. But these
are the sole remnants of what a score
OF years ago we're a noticeable and at
tractive feature of the plains and
ranked for numbers almost with the
buffalo. Though valueless when killed
and difficult Of capture except by the
most experienced, still the horse has
outlasted its shaggy-coated contempo-
rary but few years, and soon, with
the wild Indian as we'll as the buffalo.
will have become q tradition.
At the head of the men who, by the
extinction of the wild horse, find It
necessary to now seek some more pro-
sale occupation is Gene Bell of Brush
Station, Colo. Mr.. Bell has made his
livelihood for ten years capturing
these interesting animals. He was
born In the rear end of q prairie
schooner in 1857 and claims to be the
first person who can call Colorado his
native State. As he was born on the
great plains he has since lived continu-
ously upon them, and although but q bow
when he began the difficult calling of
horse-catcher he soon reached a pre-
eminence by skill and endurance that
gave him the title of the wild Horse
King
30 much has been written of the
horse OF the plains, which, foaled upon
the dew kissed grass of the prairie. has
never known halter or the touch of a |
mans hand. that descriptive reference
70 their fleetness, wariness, and often
times their graceful beauty, particu-
larly among the stations, would at
this day lack Interest. But one curious
fact is known to but few aside from
those who have followed them for hum
dreds OF miles and studied their habits
closely. II there are enough In band.
these animals group by thirteens. The
regulations of the wild horse allow to
each male twelve consorts, and. the
remarkable feature is. no more. They
draw the line at an even dozen. Even
when the bands that roamed these
great plains. then tenantless except by
other wild creatures, numbered in the
and more than a thousand ,
this peculiar division into families was ,
plainly noticeable. They kept little
apart and never voluntarily mingled.
Usually the occupation of capturing .
The untamed steeds was followed by /,
three men working together. They .
ased four or five hardy, feet, we'll :
trained horses. When the section of !,
me country the wild animals frequented )
vas reached, the first thing was to select =
suitable location, at the entrance of a :.
'avine generally, for corral. This =
ne catchers knew how to construct, :
'sing great quantities of rope, very :,
peedily. Then near this corral. on = !,
ne most slightly eminence, one man =
tationed himself. A distance beyoud =
/ ON the apparently most natural rum y
ray, another man with one of the feet u
tof saddle horses takes his station. = =
ne work OF the most skilled man of :,
ne three then begins. Mounted upon =, -
ne picked horse of the lot, with pair a.
neld-glasses. water-bag, and sup - -
~ OF food. he swings away in the ear :. ~
est dawn on an easy lope. It may be =. :.
% or twenty miles before his keen ewes. A. A.
'oed by the glasses with which he !.
Feeps the broad expanse of rolling r
lain. detect q grazing band OF horses. :. -
9 approaches them by the easiest :,
'urse which viii permit concealmept - !,
long as possible, and then, within = -
y hundred yards, he dashes into sight ~.
ID the sport is begun. ~,
The affrighted animals stand for an no
stant the morning breeze tanning M,
cir luxuriant names and tails. They rel
ort n alarm turn and trot on. At da