The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-02-22
THE VANISHING CAYUsE.

The Mustang of the Plains Disappear
 ing Like the Buffalo.
 Twenty years ago. or even ten or five years since, the mustang and the jack
 rabbit were two of the commonest pests
 in the west. On every plain and mesa,
 in each spot where a particle of green l feed found a livelihood beneath the shell ter of a dusty sagebrush or thorned
 mesquite, the little, hardy, shaggy cay
 use and the long cared, alert and rapid
 jack rabbit browsed in peace and qui- etude. A rider across the arid wilds of
 the great southwest could count, if he 1 desired, hundreds and thousands of the wiry, wild horses, and from every brush
 a jack hurried away from the path of
 the traveller, a gray streak, scurrying over the sand and gracefully sailing
 over obstructing brush-the kangaroos of America.
 Now not mustang can be found in a
 days travel, or a weeks, and only an infrequent jack breaks in on the mono tony of desert ride. Ten years ago two hundred thousand mustangs were scattered over the ranges in Texas,
 New Mexico and Arizona. As the bicy-
 cle grew in favor the horse decreased
 in value, and the mustang became an outcast and an outlaw. He intruded on the cattle ranges and was shot for his pains, the cowmen intent on the saving of feed for their stock. He ventured amid the sheep flocks and the coyotes feasted on his carcass. Everywhere he was worthless reprobate, an interlo- per, and valuable only as a target for the revolver of the vaquero. By 1n- breeding the species grew smaller, and the mustangs finish was perceivable. The extremely low price of high grade eastern horses put the cayuse out of service and his only haven of refuge was among the Indians. The red men harbored him. fed him and tanned him, and to-day on the reservations can be found the last of his race, disappear ing as did the buffalo, but from differ ent cause His externination was rapid and somewhat of mystery. Many stockkmen attribute it merely to degen- eration, but closertobservers assert that many thousands of the ponies of the desert were surreptitiously converted into canned beef, and are even now be- ing served over eastern tables and army messes as a select product of the cattle range Be that as 1t may, the mustang is no more, and has been replaced by higher and finer breed of the equine spe- cies. Over plains where once roamed the vast herds of mustangs-which, by the way, were doubtless the offspring of horses brought over soon after the S1anish inVasjor1--rlOW feed as fine horsefesh as can be found anywhere in the world. Several years ago great importation of Oregon mares the stur- dy stock of the rough northwest was sent south. At the same time a number of fine stallions from Kentucky and In- diana were shipped to the southwest The outgrowth has been that Texas and Arizona are rapidly becoming known as important factors in the horse trade. The offspring has been well propor- tioned, strong and extremely hardy horse. Over the rocky hills and the gravelly plains the horse of the south- west has had his travelling, and devel- oped his strength and capablllty for rough work. The dry, healthful climate has developed his lung power, and in the South African war English officers found the American horse of the south west the strongest, hardest and fastest in the rough work of the Boer cam palgn. In such esteem, indeed, Is he held that eastern buyers are scourging the horse ranges and paying the highest | prices for him, while British and Ger | man army buyers give their preference