The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1894-08-29
TURNING HORSES INTO FOOD.
A Pacific Coast Project for Utilizing Vast
Herds of wild Animals.

j. G. Brown, a prominent business
man of San Francisco, has returned
from the north after several weeks alb
sence. He brings the information that
a company has been organized to cap
ture 1000, 900 wild horses and treat
them in the abattoirs at Trout Dale, on
the Columbia river. reducing certain
parts to oil, saving the hams for the
people of France to eat and utilizing
the hides and bones in various ways.
Those backing the enterprise are L.
Zimmerman, F. May, F. D. Gardner
men and capitalists of the northwest
For some time the horses that have
grown wild in the mountains and iso-
lated valleys, and those in the ranges
not classed as wild, have fallen so low
in price that they are worth but the
mere bagateIle of from $3.50 to So each.
The aforesaid capitalists figured that
they could make 81 head, or a total
of $4,000, by capturing the wild horses
and shipping them to the abattoirs.
Since they got to work on the pro-
iect, however, they have concluded that
the opportunities are larger; that they
will have many more horses to handle,
get through with it. They have, there
fore, incorporated company and will
employ skilled crew of vaqueros and
do a great business. Many of the
horses have no owners, and they will
be caught wherever they are and
brought to the abattoirs. Vast numbers
besides these will be bought at the low
figures mentioned and brought to Trout
Dale. A dispatch from Portland, print
ed in the ET017at9aeT, gave some of the
details:
There are vast number of mongrel
horses now in various parts of the
northwest, and il is proposed to get rid
of them at profit, and, at the same
time, give the growers OF good Ameri-
can horses a better market for them.
The mongrels will, therefore, be brought
to the abattoirs and killed. The flesh
will be rendered of its oil and the resi-
due, with the bones and hoofs, will be
made into fertilizer. The hides, that
have always a market value. will be
salted, and the hair, with the names
and tails, will be used in upholstery
work. A portion of the meat will be
compressed for use as chicken food. Il
is estimated that in Oregon, Washing
| ton, Montana, Nevada and Idaho there
are at present :. ZOO, 900 haIf-breed wild
horses for which no market can now be
| found. The industry of reducing the
| horses hides to shoe leather has come
to be considered so important that 1the
company proposes to build new abat
toir at Portland.
Another dispatch gives more details
Several parties, both here and on Puge
sound, have been figuring for some
weeks on slaughtering the horses
There are large numbers of half-breet
and cayuse horses eating the grass OF
stock ranges in eastern Oregon anC
Idaho which cannot be sold anywher,
at any price 1t is thought that thou
sands of these horses can be bought TO
from 81 to 81 a head, and that thS,
might be slaughtered at small profit
There is a sale for the skins, bones, oil
etc., and it was even imagined that tn
hams might be cured and shipped t,
Paris, where horsefesh is eaten by tn
poorer classes"
In addition to the hundreds of thou
sands of wild and mongrel horses il
the regions alluded to there are man,
in British Columbia. In the whole Q
the Upper Fraser and Dog Greek sta
tions of Vancouver it is estimated ther
are 5000 horses never branded or las
seed roaming the hills, wild and agil
as deer. A proposition was made thre
years ago to shoot them down to saw
the ranges, but it was deemed imprac
ticable, and if captured the trouble c
breaking is more than they are worth
The horses are not in bands of an
great numbers, but wander here an
there over an immense district, so tha
any scheme to utilize them would il
volve killing them in scattered place
and transporting the hides and glue an
oil-producing sections of the carcasse
for long distances to the railway. Be
yond the mountains, near Fort Pelly,
band of 1000 or 1900 which def
capture. They are 100 miles from tn
railroad. Here and there throughor
the millions of acres of prairie are man
other wild horses. Some escaped froI
ranchers. Others are let go as nc
worth looking after"