The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1893-04-11
HORSES ON SNoWsHoEs.

HORSES ON SNoWSHoES.
The Only Place in the World where AMI
mails Wear the Lapl.nd FOotgear.
'Well. can't say that I've seen
horses skate. but I've seen them do
the next thing to it-use snow shoes
and do their work just as well as il
they didn't have them on, or nearly
So" said gentleman from California
the other evening in a Broadway cafe.
says the New York Herald.
This is the way it was: About the
middle of April year ago | had
business up in Plumas. Cal. and
went by stage running from Oroville
to Quincy. the central point in Plumas
county. We left Oroville at Z o'clock
in the morning in a four-hOrse. .jerky."
q sort of stage wagon specially built
for rough mountain work. For the
first six hours the road was dry as a
board. but after the noon change of
teams We struck patches of snow
which soon merged into solid and
deep snow going. Tom. our driver.
had called my attention to the new
team as it was being hitched up say
ing: "Them's our new horses. Wen
soon have to leave the wheels and
take the 'sledders' when We get fur
! Their up the road"
Though I had ridden behind and
upon many kinds of horses in the
West, yet l had never been intro
duced to the ..snow" breed before
and looked at them very closely.
They were all four white or gray,
whether from age or natural DISPOSE
ton couldn't tell, but l was much
impressed by their tremendou self
consciousness. their extremely slow
motion, the deliberate way in which
they stepped. straddling their legs as
far apart as possible. and their reluct-
apce to raise more than one hoof Off the
Ground at time. Every one of the
It was old enough to vote. and at
ugh estimate $50 head would have
en- about SIS over their value. At
e end of the trip | thought $50
bpiece was fully $3.50 less than they
were really worth.
That old gray quartette plodded
and worked its way along very weari-
ly to us, until we got into the deeper
snow. and drew up to large sleigh
standing alongside the road.
Change cars" called ont the
driver. land gents viii please shift
their own traps or they'll get left"
Unhitching his team from the ..ierky"
Tom lined up his horses. in pairs in
I, front of the sleigh and then took out
of it couple of gunny sacks. from
which he produced sixteen pieces of
wood having the appearance of fat
dishes. which he said were the snow
shoes used by the four horses. The
.sshoe" was made Of a stout. seasoned
one-inch plank of tough hickory wood.
fourteen inches square, strengthened
on one side by covering of oilcloth
and two one-inch wide strips OF hick-
DRY wood screwed onto the main
plate. So situated that when adjusted
horses foot would be right in the
center of the shoe were three holes
clear through the wood and oiicloth
underneath. One Of the holes was
large enough to let the heavy and
very high toe calk of the horses shoe
pass through, while the two other
holes as readily permitted the two
hind caiks of the shoe 10 enter and
come out as did the toe calk.
Then a wrought iron band. separ-
ated in the centre. swung on a hook
and eye on either side of the horses
hoof after he had been fitted with the
r snowshoe, by-passing the calks
through, was brought together in
, front of the hoof an inch below the
coronet and then tightly Joined by a
screw and nut passed through holes
bored in the projecting ends of the
band. Everything fitting as snug as
possible, and when the screw was
frightened up no amount of scraping
or kicking could loosen it from a
horses foot.
The passengers having by this time
piled all their traps into the sleigh
we made another start fer Quincy.
but at snail's pace as far as speed
was concerned. After we got under
way we found the snow getting
deeper every yard. until, in places,
judging by the trees, it must have
been at least fifteen feet deep. be-
came quite interested in the sagacity
of the four horses and their singular
Ecleverness in handling themselves on
their unusual footing. / found out
why they were so slow in moving
and why they straddled so wide.
Their slowness was to prevent
sinking too deep in the snow from
tn, heavy treading and the straddling
to keep them from skinning their
legs or cutting a tendon with the
edges of the s.snowshoes.
A Partisan Plan.
The Paris municipality is making
an effort to raise the status of its