Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-03-28
BROOK NOOK RANCH.
BIRTHPLACE AND HOME OF MANY
FAMOUS MORGAN HORSES.

Something About the Montana Farm that
Has So Successfully Bred Vermont's
Standard Horse-An Ideal Place for the
Purpose.
Brook Nook ranch is in the upper
Ruby valley, on Ruby river, some
twenty-five miles from the county seat,
Virginia City, the first capital of the
territory, made famous by Alder Gulch,
the richest placer gulch ever known,
and the "Vigilanties" of early days, forty
miles from Dillon, on the o. 5. l.. Il. Il.
and eighteen miles from Alder on the
n. z. Il. Il.
There are some fifteen thousand acres
of valley and foot hills under fence, with
the Ruby river running through the
center of the valley from north to south,
and three smaller streams on the east
side and two on the west side emptying
therein. The valley is surrounded by
mountains and is $500 feet above sea
level. There are five thousand bushels
of oats and eight hundred tons of hay,
timothy, alfalfa, alsyke, orchard grass,
ETC., raised on the rancho yearly, which
is fed to the stock 10 the winter months.
ut Clltlldtc, RIdSstS duu pure UOuu-
tain water, soil, altitude and latitude are
especially adapted for producing the best
stock in the world, and it may not be
generally known that Montana cattle
bring the highest price in the Chicago
market of any range cattle.
There is no gainsayng the fact that
Montana horses Outrank all others in lung
power, depth through the heart, muscle,
legs and feet, and will weigh fully one
hundred pounds more than the horses
raised in the East, of the same height.
There are some five-hundred horses of all
ages on the ranch and last season there
were one hundred colts raised and one
hundred aud twenty mares bred. The
stations 10 use are Alfonso, :29}, 300,
sire of Marie c., 2lGt and II others.
Alcone, 2:3li, G7S0, sire of Benton
Wilkes, 2l3, (sire of Harbormaster.
2:lS), Jefferson Wilkes. 2:l4, and 10
others. Vice Regent, 20065, Keller, = :13i,
Gl35, sire of Onoqua, :0Sd, and others;
Lambert Boy, 3l, and Star Ruby. The
last two named are Morgans and the
owner has always been great admirer
of this family, believing them the greatest
more Morgans than any other breeder,
and will breed sixty mares, many of them
Morgans, and Others out of Morgan dams,
this season, to these Morgan stations.
The mares are carefully selected and are
said by horsemen to be the best lot of
mares that they ever saw together. by
such sires AS Robert McGregor, 2:l74,
Red Wilkes 1479, Commodore Belmont
1910, Woodford Wilkes, 252S, Altamont
2:26i. Alcyone, 2:27, Piedmont $3.50,
Alaska, 2:20, Allen, 2:30, Ben Frank
lin 2:29, IIerod, 2:244, Malcolm 1851,
Prospect {sire of Turk Franklin. p
! lG! p), Ethan Allen, 225!. Daniel
Lambert l02, Lockheart, POSI-, and
others.
The breeding season begins in April
and lasts until August and most of
the colts are foaled in April, May and
June and are usually weaned in De-
cember. There are eight large barns
besides some smaller ones and sheds
on the rancho with box stalls for the
brood mares and tie stalls for the others.
They do better, however, to run out, I'M
less the weather is cold and stormy, and
the streams are fringed with willows and
cotton-woods, which make admirable
wind breaks. The colts when weaned
are tied up nights and fed oats night and
morning and allowed the range or large
field during the day, until the grass starts
in the spring, when they are turned out
until another winter. and they then re-
ceive the same treatment as the first
winter, and the same care is also given
the third year. They are bitted, broken
and driven in the fall when yearlings
past and in the summer when two years
old and are driven each season thereafter
and thoroughly broken.
In the fall, when four years old past,
they are taken up, stabbed, fed and
driven, and fitted up for the market and
sold when five years old, but they really
should be kept till six years DID, as they
continue to improve and are not at their
best until seven or eight years old. They
are sold in the East, Boston, New York,
etc.
The rancho has now up and fitting for
the spring market four carloads-72
head of matched teams and single driv-
ers, many of which are very promising
TOR speed and will make fast records if
handled None are trained for speed on
the rancho, so that the purchaser gets
sound, uudeveloped horse, just as nature
fashioned him, who has filled his lungs
with fresh mountain air and his stomach
with pure limpid water in which speckled
trout abound, and bunch grass-the most