Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1896-10-15
ROAMING HORSES.

ROAMING HORSES.
What to Do with such Numbers Il 1t
Present . Puzzle.
Imagine herd of horses aggregat-
ing $4,000, for which no practical use
can be found. Stockmen of the north
west are to-day considering what dis
position can be made cf this immense
number of animals.
This great herd roams the prairies Of
Montana, North Dakota, Washington
and northern Idaho. They are grazing
upon grass that is required for the sus-
tenance of cattle and sheep, and are
practically worthless for any purpose.
The cause of this condition is due to the
bicycle and to street car systems operat-
ed by electricity and by cable, the use
Of which within the last few years has
so largely done away with the employ
ment of horses. In some of the dis
tricts named the horses are increasing
50 rapidly in numbers that they are
actually crowding live stock, used for
supplying the meat markets of the
country, off ranges where they find
grass on which to subsist.
The men who own this vast number
Of horses, ranging, as they do, over
such a large expanse of territory, can
devise no means of relief, and they are
practically helpless. Excellent horses,
unbroken, can be bought for from SIS
to SIS head, but even at this low figure
no buyers can be found, while the
horses, too valuable to be destroyed, and
At the same time too expensive to keep
alive, continue to multiply.
This surplus of 125,0O0 horses con-
sists not alone of bronchos or cattle
horses, but in it may be found such
stock as coach and Clydesdale horses,
nearly all of which, however, are I'M
broken. Among them are the de-
scendants of some very high-priced stall
ions. One rancher near Walla Walla,
Wash, has 5000 horses on his range,
all of which are finely bred. These he
is willing to sell at ten dollars per head,
"big and little,' as the saying is among
cattle men, which means colts as we'll
rs the grown animals. He can find no
purchaser for his stock.
The question which is now agitating
these stock men is: "What can be done
to rid the ranges of this immense num-
Der of horses in order that pasturage
may be provided for the large herds.
Of cattle and sheep:''
In 1895 an experiment was tried with
view of providing way out of the
trouble. A plant was established at
Portland, Ore, for the purpose of
slaughtering horses and canning the
meat for export to France.
The plant was operated less than one
year, however, but it did not succeed.
Horsemen then sought to induce beef
slaughtering, packing and rendering es-
adjustments in the United States to
take horses for slaughtering purposes,
but the attempt failed. The packing.
house owners absolutely declined to
add horse slaughtering and canning to.
their beef slaughtering industry, on
the ground that if it became generally
known that they were canning horse
meat the sale of their canned beef would
be materially affected, if not entirely
destroyed.
Proprietors of rendering establish
ments refused to go west and buy horses
from the range" for the reason that
they were able to obtain in the cities
all the discarded horses they needed at
few dollars per head, or at the slight
cost of hauling them from different
parts of the cities to their establish
ments. Horse owners in the west were
thus again disappointed in finding q
market for their stock in large cities,
as they had expected San Francisco
Ehr0nicla