The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1899-10-03
DOOM OF RANGE HORSES
THE VAST HERDS OF THE NORTH;
WEST DISAPPEARING RAPIDLY .

Cattlencn and Sheepmen Are Driving
Them From the Pasturage and Water
Exposure Is killing Them; and Fac
tories Are Canning Them.
Gradually but surely the great herds
of range horses ON the interior plateaus
of Washington, Idaho and Montana
are being driven to the wall. Several
causes are working to depopulate the
bunch glass ranges of the vast herds
that have roamed there for centuries.
Briefly stated, the chief causes are the
increased demand for irrigable lands
by settlers and the purchase or lease,
followed by fencing, Of great areas OF
range lands by cattlemen and sheep
men. The latter are fencing in the
springs, creeks and ponds that form
the water sources SO vital to range in
dustry. These facts denote a new era
in the dovelopm ent Of Western sheep
and cattle raising, increasing produc-
ton, and putting the industry on a
solid basis. It ends the indiscrinate
pasturage Of cattle, sheep and horses
over immense areas of tho Northwest
ern States. 1t means the confnlng OF
the cattle and sheep to lands that can
be acquired, fenced and made more
productive, and it means also the
gradual extinction Of the horses.
The horses, or at least their owners:
know that their hour Of doom has
struck, declares the New York Sun,
Already they are being moved off the
ranges by tens of thousands. Those
>left.are forced to eke out precarious
existence on the ufy pasture lands lef
by the cattle and sheep herders, w1sic'
they may die Of thirst in the summer
or starve to death in the winter, with
DO one to mourn their end.
During the last two years at least
e5, 900 head of range horses have been
removed from the ranges of Eastern
Washington alone. Their disposition
has been approximately as follows:
Shipped to Chicago and other Eastern ooo
markets.. 1u;Voo
Sent t. Alaska during the hionEike
rrsh, h,......... ....l............... 5000
Canned into horsemeat at Linton,
Oregon. for shipment to France. -. e.coo
Driven to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and Utah, largely for pack
and saddle horses. .......... ......... IL, GUU
Broken for use by new settlers In
Washington. ..1O GOO
Died during tho last two winters.... 5000
Loss from State in two years ....... .65,o eco
This loss has been double the
natural increase, reducing the num-
Der of wild horses in the State from
about l25, 900 to $4,000 or 10000. At
this rate Of decrease they would last
for many years, but the fact is that
the horses are being confined to a
smaller area each successive year,
thereby increasing the chances Of de-
structiou.
The figures given are based on es-
Inmates furnished by E. F. Benson,
who has charge OF leasing the range
men are low leasing, buying and
fencing lands 80 rapidly that the
range horses already find it difficult
to obtain water. The attempt Of large
numbers to feed on the scanty range
left to them must leave them thin in
the fall, and it will need only one
hard winter, with deep snow and cold
weather, to kill them of by thou
sands. Their usual method of winter
feeding is to paw through the snow
for the tufts of rich bunch grass
which furnish their sustenance, but
under the present conditions these
tufts will be eaten off by the hungry
herds before the snow flies. Al least
5000 horses died Of starvation last
winter in the districts north and south
St thea au: sna4a 4ays5 R5zeE srv EFG1 tftH q
pressed and dried in stove. n
Bohemia an average yearly PROV =
of 885 tons, which comes primo
from three n1ines-the two mentions.
above and that Of Krummau, which
produces an inferior grade Of the sub
eatanee, These mines afford employ,
fall and fed dTrr1ret;1=as dTrr1res d the bett&
MI. Benson reports that the rars
horses are now confined almost en-
tirely to the thinly populated counties
Of Douglas, Lincoln, Adams and
Franklin and parts Of Yakima and
Klickitat. These animals are worth
from So to $40, according to size and
quality. A large proportion of them
are cayuses, others are strong, large
boned horses.
In June 5000 head of Douglas
County horses were sold for shipment
East at $3.50, IS and s6 a head, ac-
cording to size. The horse canning
factory at Linton, Oregon, has con-
verted about 5000 head into meat for
shipment to France and Germany in
the last two years. A still larger
number will be canned in the near fu-
ture, for the industrial department of
the Northern Pacific Railway has aid
ed in the establishment Of another
horse canning factory at Medora,
North Dakota. A home market for
many thousand head has been occa-
stoned by the boom in the wheat in
dustry consequent upon the good
crops and the good prices of the past
two years. Thousands Of wild horses,
weighing 100 pounds and upward,
nave been broken to the plow by both
old and new settlers. The indications
are that this LEGAL absorption will con-
tinue in limited way for several
years in Eastern Washington and
Idaho.
While the cattle and sheep men have
in effect combined against their COM
mon enemy, the rauge horses, it is 10
less true that cattlemeu look askance
at the steadily increasing numbers Of
sheep pastured in the open rauge