The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-09-05
HERDS OF WILD HoRREs STILL.


There is more or less general I'M
preston, encouraged to considerable
extent by magazine and newspaper
articles, that the wild horse Of the
plains, so we'll known in the early
days of the West, and about which so
many stories of adventure have been
written and SO many romances woven,
is practically extinct.
Don't believe it.
can take you to range high up
among the mountains of Nevada,
within thirty miles of the station of
Battle Mountain, on the much-travel-
led overland route of the Southern
Pacific Company, and show you band
after band of as genuinely wild horses
as were ever creased" or 1assoed by
the heroes of the early plains tales,
existing under exactly the same con-
ditions as then and just as difficult to
capture. And what is true of this
particular spot is undoubtedly true of
other regions.
In the case of the wild horses of to-
day in the particular section of Neva-
da, concerning which this article is
written, the history of the escaped
war horses of the early Spaniards has
to considerable degree repeated it.
self. They owe their origin to band
of domestic horses which were turned
loose on the hills and plains back of
Sheep Creek Mountains, to the north
of Battle Mountain, New, something
over thirty years ago, by the late ].
A. Blossom, prominent land owner
and mining man of that section.
There they have since remained,
breeding and running at will, and
until the last two years or so, no at
tempt has been made to capture them,
except in rare individual instances.
For more than quarter of cen-
tury they have worked out their own
salvation, without let or hindrance,
in country as wild as when the con-
tinent was discovered, full of deep
canons and maze-like runways, and
scarcely ever touched by civilization.
The conditions are the same as found
by their early prototypes, and like
conditions have brought about like
results.
The country over which these
horses roam is ideal for their freedom,
isolation and concealment. The Sheep
Creek mountains are comparatively
short range, rising from the valley of
the Humboldt river less than a half
dozen miles from the Battle Noun
tain station, so abruptly that the 900
to $500 feet to their summit is made
in travelling a distance of scarcely
mile and half from their base.
In the region noted it is estimated
that there are now in the vicinity of
1000 wild horse, but their method of
existence and travel is in small bands,
numbering from half dozen to twenty
head. Each band has stallion as
its leader and there is practically
never more than one stallion to
band. AS soon as a male colt &C.
quires growth and strength he is
either driven out of the old band, or
voluntarily leaves to form band of
his own.
The leader is in every sense and re-
spect the master of the band. The
members of his family are such by his
will, and acquisitions are made only
with his consent. The stock on the
range is frequently added to by strays
from distant ranches or from some
vaquero camp. This has been par
ticularly true in the past two years,
when effort has been made to capture
the wild bands, and cowboy camp
has been maintained in the hills for
much of the time.
l have seen iron-shod saddle mares,
| jacks, and even mules as members of
the wild bands, all apparently as wild
as the stallion leader, but have never
seen a gelding in such a band and am
told that they are never permitted to
| join. The few that escape to the
plains and hills may occasionally be
seen in bands by themselves, and are
certainly wild enough after a few
months running to be classed with
any on the range, but they are out
casts SO far as the majority are con-
cerned.
When single stray, either from
another band or from ranch or camp,
approaches a wild band, there is a
careful inspection on the part of the
leader before permission is given to
join. Hidden among the sage brush
l have watched a leader leave his
band, stop an approaching mare and
hold an apparent confab of ten or fif-
teen minutes before giving decision.
He touches noses with the would-be
member of his family, walks all about
her and examines her from every
side as closely and carefully as an in
spector of a cavalry corps, and finally
either both join the waiting band, or
the outsider is forced to start off in a
different direction.
The region where these wild horses
exist both on the fiat" and on the
mountain sides, is gridironed with
trails made by the bands going for
water. The horses never remain
near the water courses after satisfy
ing their thirst, preferring the open
country.
Catching these wild horses is, as
may we'll be imagined, exciting and
difficult work. Among the men en-
gagged in it the work is called "run.
ming" wild horses, and that is what
it amounts to. The vaqueros rur
them down by superior skill rather
than by speed and endurance and
force them into some corral or some
band of gentle horses where they car
be handled for market. Some two
wears ago r. G. Blossom. son of 7, A