Mexico weekly ledger., 1891-11-05
Homer Bassford In the Kansas City Times.

I |'WM'{I<:::s:; WMI: d: :::; r: ':;:: :;::
fW W. pendence, Ia, {
week ago. The ownership Of thu
fastest stallion in Missouri is some
thing to be proud of; and no one il
the state more deserves the distinc'
ton than Mr.. Clark. When Rob
ert RYsdyk trotted the circuit of the
Missouri fairs three years ago
though he was considered wonder
las the country fair speed goes
no one but Mr.. Clark perhaps
thought he would ever get down in
the teens. When Rysdyk went the
kite shaped mile in 2:14 at Indepen-
ence several wee ks since, MFR. CLARK
was not much surprised, if his
friends Were. Heealmly announced
that his handsome brown horse
could beataeven 2:1+ His mile in
2:131, with ashoe off and a bruised
foot, placed hiln.in the front rank
of speedy horses.
The owner of Robert Rysdyk has
probably done as much for the adj
vancement of the horse interest of
Missouri as any other man in the
state. Mr. Clark owns fine breed
ing farm in Audrain county and it
was he who introduced combination
sales in the west. These sales are
now held semi-annaally at Mexico.
Each one brings a great many fast
horses into the state. More than
this, sales Of this sort offer horse
men periodic opportunities of meet
ing each other, thus giving an i'm
petus to the horse interests Of the
state. They are very popular all
over Missouri and Mexico has reaped
a rich benefit from the half dozen
sales that have been held. Other
towns will try them and Mr.. Clark
will see that they are continued
down in Aadrain county. The
owner of Missouri's fastest stallion
is nothing if not enterprising.
Mr.. Clark is worth about $250,O0O
The firm of Clark & Potts represents
vice that sum, and both Of its
members have made much of theii
''..ss ! ..clzJ out of fine horses. Mr.. CLARK
is 40 years of age and a Canadian by
birth. He is six feet in height, ro.
bust aud massive. When he reach.
ed Audrain county he owned good
suit of clothes, a fair education and
a world Of determination. His sue
cess has been rapid and steady. Il
did not take him long to see that
Missouri needed more good horses
And while he had an appreciation
of fancy stock, his first efforts in the
| line of improvement were in the In
PRODUCTION of a better grade Of every
day animals. He tried it single
handed for a number of years, but
despite the assistance Of Missouri's
excellent fairs he was not doing as
much as he had hoped to accomplish
His brother-in-la Joseph A. Potts
himself horseman, allied himself
with Mr.. Clark. Mr.. Potts has a
state reputation that sprang from
his excellent work as president OF
the Missouri state board of agricult.
ure. He is aquiet man with a world
of reserve energy. You never SET
him doing much, but the fact of The
matter is he does a great deal in {
very short time. In course of tim,
Mr.. Clark and Mr.. Potts concluded
that combination sale was thu
thing wanted. The first sale wa.
arranged and well advertized. Th'
attendance was large. Some very
handsome and valuable animals, as
well as some very ordinary brutes
were disposed Of. The new horses
came mostly from Cave City, Ky.
while the old ones were natives
The latter were worked off to out
side buyers who were purchasing
just such horses for given purposes
in the large cities. Thus, we'll bret
animals came into the state to tax,
the place OF poorer horses that wer'
sold out of it. That first Februar,
combination sale was attended b,
all the disadvantages that a lat,
winter day can offer, but the peopl
were there, the horses were sold ant
the prices were good.
| When we'll bred stallion brought
| ,410, some Of the natives opened
their mouths and wondered if there
wasn't some sort of job In it, bu
now 81 ,410 is by no means an un
usual price for horses down there
and such figure has more thai
once been commanded by an Au
drain county bred horse. 1t was a
the close of this sale that Bo
i White made this remark in tn
LEDGER at Mexico: "Good horse
don't eat any more than scrubs, an
they bring a sight more money
r Why don't our farmers raise them2
i The wisdom of that remark is no'
felt by every farmer and stock raise
In Audrain county. A section G
Missouri that never had horse
good enough to enter at its own fal
= fairs, is now the proud home of th
lspeediest stallion in Missouri. An
nobody envies Cy Clark his posse:
a sion.
MIR Clark has not only cause
many farmer to look up pedigree.
J. bat he has done good deal for th
= general speed of the state. He ws
one OF the prime movers in the Oh
:. ganization of the Missouri trottin
:. aud pacing horse breeders associi
II ftnya uhsah k,, Jo-~ ,r,nL L. 4,