The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-27

sheep, which are usually herded nearly all winter, are now under shelter con- suming hay. The horse alone is left to roam the arid plains of the semi-arid belt and die. The winter of 1881 caught Ben Snipes, then the cattle king of this section, with thirty thousand head of cattle on the range They died of star vation, for there were no railroads then to transport hay, It was a lesson to cattlemen, and that is why careful preparations have been made for this winter.
 Regarding the proposed extermina- ton of the range horses, E. F. Benson of the Northern Pacific land depart ment, who has made special study of the situation, says: Hot winds, squir- rels and grasshoppers are bad, but the horse pest is becoming still worse in eastern Washington, particularly the cayuse variety. Horses have become so cheap that many bands are running loose without being branded or cared for in the least There being no de- mand, they have multiplied rapidly and are now eating bunch grass that should otherwise support thousands of sheep, which bring in revenue. These horses are not worth one dollar apiece. There Is absolutely no market for them. Up to three years ago we were shipping horses east in large numbers. Electricity and bicycles have killed the market. This, year Traffic Manager Hannaford, of the Northern Pacific, has made vigorous efforts to find a market for horses in the east Horses very cheap have been offered to glue factories and rendering establishments of various kinds. They do not want them. A few carloads are being shipped to the Atlantic coast for ship nlent to France, where horse meat is in demand, but these shipments make no impression on the supply. The horses are destroying the ranges twelve monthe in the year. There are over one hundred thousand head in eastern Washington, and they are destroying ranges that would support five hundred thousand head of cattle. The situation is appalling, from the cattlemen's standpoint.
 There are but few stockmen that handle both horses and cattle who will
 
 the range horses, providing practically all of them are taken I will cite an instance of what the horses are doing. In 1880 the Cow creek and lower Pal ouse ranges, between Sprague and the Snake river, had over one hundred thousand head of cattle and some sheep on them. Then the bunch grass was knee-high over the ranges. This year thirty thousand head of horses have kept the grass down so these ranges will barely support ten thou- sand cattle and forty thousand sheep. Since July they have presented the ap- pearance of absolute desolation. The horses eat twenty-four hours day and have kept the grass completely down.
 NO taxes are paid on these horses. The hard winter we expect will starve them to death. Owners will take out their good horses and care for them 1 If ninety per cent of the total number are killed off, the ten per cent. left will l be worth as much as, if not more than l the entire lot now. Once killed off they will never become as numerous again, for no efforts will be made tt breed range horses. there being nc 1 money in the business. The number needed for farming and the city de | mand can easily be supplied
 On one or two small ranges, where | horses have not been feeding during 1 the summer for lack of water, the bunch grass is high, sticking out of the