Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-10-02
DOOM OF RANGE HORSES
THE VAST HERDS OF THE NORTH.
WEST DISAPPEARING RAPIDLY.

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 grass 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 new era
in the development OF Western sheep
and cattle raising, increasing produc-
ton, and putting the industry on a
solid basis. 1t ends the indiscrinate
pasturage of cattle, sheep and horses
over immense areas of the Northwest
ern States. 1t means the confining 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 exc out precarious
existence on the dry pasture lands left
by the cattle and sheep herders, where
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
65, 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
Sent to Alaska during the Klonkike
ruSn. o,O0l
Canned into horsemeat at Linton,
Oregon, for shipment to France. -. 5000
Driven to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and Utah, largely for pack
and saddle horses. es..................10 10 ,00(
Broken for use by new settlers in
Died during the last two winters. -. 8,00(
Loss from State in two years ...... 81, ,00t
This loss has been double the
natural increase, reducing the mum
ber of wild horses in the State from
about 1876, 900 to $4,000 or 10000. Al
this rate of decrease they would last
for many years, hut the fact is thai
the horses are being confined to &
smaller area each successive year
thereby increasing the chances of de
struction.
The figures given are based on es-
Inmates furnished by E. F. Benson,
who has charge of leasing the range
lands of the Northern Pacific Railway
He reports that the cattle and sheer
men are now leasing, buying and
fencing lands so rapidly that the
range horses already find it difficult
to obtain water. The attempt of large
numbers to feed on the scanty rcngt
left to them must leave them thin il
the fall, and it will need only one
hard winter, with deep snow and colo
weather, to kill them off 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, bu
under the present conditions these
tufts will be eaten off by the hungry
herds before the snow flies. At leas
5000 horses died of starvation las
winter in the districts north and soutl
OF the Snake River. From fifty tt
eighty per cent. Of some bands van
ished under the con pditions of shor
grass and deep snow. The cattle ant
sheep, on the other hand, are round
ed up in the lower valleys during tn,
fall and fed during the winter.
| Mr.. Benson reports that the range
horses are now confined almost en-
tirely to the thinly populated counties
Of Douglas, Lincoln, Adams ant
Franklin and parts of Yakima ant
Klickitat. These animals are wortl
from So to $40, according to size ant
quality. A large proportion of then
are cayuses, others are strong, large
boned horses.
In June 5000 head of Dougla
County horses were sold for shipmen
East at so. 80, So and Sc head, &C
cording to size. The horse canning
factory at Linton, Oregon, has con
verted about 5000 head into meat fo
shipment to France and Germany il
the last two years. A still large
number will be canned in the near fu
ture, for the industrial department o
the Northern Pacific Railway has aid
ed in the establishment of anothe
horse canning factory at Medora
North Dakota. A home market TO
many thousand head has been occa
stoned by the boom in the wheat in
dustry consequent upon the goo'
crops and the good prices of the pas
two years. Thousands of wild horses
weighing HOO pounds and upward
have been broken to the plow by bot
old and new settlers. The indication
are that this local absorption will con
tinue in limited way for severa
years in Eastern Washington an
Idaho.
While the cattle and sheep mon hav
in effect combined against their com
mon enemy. the range horses, it is n
less true that cattlemen look askanc