The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-12-23
OREGON'S HORSE RESORT
A MTSTERIOU SPOT WHERE THE
REMIINS
OF tho Anciont Three-Toed and Two.


they will run, unerringly, in the direc-
ton of the south Cork Of the John Day
river. A nomadic Oregon equire's itlne-
rary is never complete without at least
one pilgrimage to that point before
death. If convenient he goes there to
die. The steep slopes Of the bald hills
in that region are strewn with bones of
thousands Of his kind. If he dies else
where. his spirit visits the place, any
profound puzzles to the people Of this
section, have been explained only after
science has taken the matter under
consideration. 1t was left to Professor
Thomas Condor, state geoogist for Or
egon, and one Of the most learned and
ardent paleontologists In the west. to
make this discovery. His hypothesis.
based upon archaeological finds is
plausible and weird, apparently impos-
don has demonstrated that the region
Immediately contiguous to the south
fork of the John Day river is horse
heaven.
1t has long been remarked by stock
men of the John Day valley that the
south fork held some weird and wonder
full attraction for horses The fact that
it was a region of scant grass, of steep
hills, and of vast wastes of metamor-
phosed rocks precluded the possibility
of it's attracting by virtue of any supe-
riority as grazing ground. In the
light of the stockmans years of eXpe-
rience the matter was peculiarly mex
pl1cabe. 1t is the natural belief of any
one who has much to do with horses
that the cayuse Is creature of appe-
tite, whose rosiest equine aims and am
billions do not mount higher than in-
limited oats and no harness; that given
free rein he gravitates inevitably to-
ward the feedbox, and that, allowed to
roam the prairies free and untram-
meled, he arrives ultimately, with reg
ularty almost astonishing, at the best
accessible feeding grounds The stock
man thoroughly understands, perhaps
the materialistc side of a horses ma
never led him upon the discovery that
there is a spiritual side as we'll.
The south fork of the John Day river
finds its source among the myriad can
ons and gulles of Bald Butte, in Grant
county, thirty miles east by south of
Canon City, in eastern Oregon. 1t is a
mountainous region, neither scenically
lovely nor agriculturally possible.
And yet it presents one of The most in
teresting geographical formations
known to that absorbing science. For
here are found paleozoic fossils in such
abundance as to have attracted to the
region some of the most eminent sci
entlsts in America.
The first and most important excaya-
tions were made by Professor Condor
in 1884 His researches extended over
a period of four months, during which
time he unearthed fossils dating from
the earliest ages known to geological
science. His most important find. how
ever, was the fossil remains of an ey-
tinct variety of three-toed horse, call
culated to have existed such a number
Of years ago as to be beyond the count
ing.
archaeological discoveries in various
parts of the world have demonstrated
acceptab bly, that the horse is a prehistor-
ic animal, who had undergone peculiar
changes since his original inception.
His evolution is traceable through sue
cessive ages SIMPLY by his toes. Dating
from his creation with three, he has |
been tracked through the millions of
years of his existence as species SIM |
ply by his evolutionary disturbance Of !
those members. In the neolitbic age,
after unnumbered centuries Of life with A
three, he is discovered with only two.
To-day. reduced in length Of hair, in |
of tooth, shorn Of shagginess, |
and fed on oats, he has bur one. The
evolution of man. as compared with the
evolution of the horse presents this |
peculiar distinction--that while man
has perfected in his fingers and toes
and has even increased in the number
of the latter, during the progress of the
ages, the horse has Travelled a different
road, and while not degeneratinS. tfor
the latter day horse is nearly perfect) |
he has lost his toes. Whether it is q
realization of this saddening fact which I
lmpels the twentieth century cayuse to
visit the graves Of his ancestors in the
south tOrK region can Only remain |
matter of conjecture. That he does,
however, is a most astounding fact.
Professor Condon's fossil, hose was an
socene relic, deposited some time dur
ng the dawn of the existing order OF
things in the earliest tertiary strata.
The bones of his two-toed successor Of
he neolithic age nave also been found
IN the south fork, relics Of later era
he middle or miocene division Of the
period. The relics of these
mail, shaggy, two-toed equines are
SO frequently found in the pliocene
]erlod of the tertiary deposits, which
Though few million years old is just
,ack of the quarternary, or most recent
f periods. The south fork region
bounds also in fossils of the cretoceous
deposits, which are the Oldest known 10 ,
science. Relics of more re-
ent ages are in abundance az well. !
he occurrence of these fossils in the
outh fork country in such correct cnr1- I
illogical sequence, and the fact that ;
hey embrace relics of all the weil-de- !
ned ages mark the region as par1icu~ {
arly interesting to paleontologists. 1t ,
vas this fact which attracted Professor ,
la1sn oil Yale, one OF the most eminent
b,