The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-30
NOTABLE FEATs OF HORsEMEN.
Long Journeys That Have Been Made
on Horseback in Time of Need.

ElOi oCOdGH III iIIlC VI NCNAs
It appears that the Cossacks have
done more than the artillery to keep
up the reputation of the Russian army
as to its power of endurance under .ad-
verse circumstances. The Cossack is
really to the eastern world what Gus
ter's men. Morgan's, Kilpatrick's and
ROosevelt's, have been in the western
armies-the men who could sit the sad
die, saber and shoot, starve and swim,
be all or nothing for the glory of quick
action in time of trouble. As to the
proof of this here is the story of Dine
tree PJeshkoff, a Siberian Cossack, who
rode from Blagovejechensk, eastern ST.
IBERIA, to st. Petersburg. He surpassed
Burnaby, who rode to Khiva. and AS
sayef, who made the hard <ide from
Lubeen, Poland, to Paris.
BlagOVejChensk is a Cossack station
on the Amur, i'm latitude 80 degrees
north, longitude 127 degrees east, and
the distance to be covered to the Rus
sian capital 5000 VerStS, or ,, 400 English
miles. In lib days out from his start
ing point Pjeshkon was at Omsk, haV-
ing accomplished 1900 versts or nearly
$500 miles of his journey. In III days
he was in St Petersburg, having made
an average of thirty miles a day, in
the saddle, from the start. An average
OF this character requires remarka BILE
physical and nerve endurance. 1t also
requires fine Judgment as to forage
for beasts and sUstenance for the rider
calculations as to weather. tempera-
ture changes, water supply and kin
cred things that go in with a steady
and long ride
The hero of this remarkable feat a
man of some education. was COM
mander of a hundred in one of the
COSSack regiments stationed on the
Amur, and had to obtain leave of alb
sence to show what he could do on a
long-distance ride with a horse. But
the fact became more remarkable be-
cause the Cossack made his journey
with one hOrse-the same horse he
started with ending the journey. The
horse, like its rider, was of the ordi-
nary COSSack breed. 1t was foaIed in
Siberia, and was purchased for $50 rou-
bles, or about 500 in our money. It was
IL years old, and of light gray color
In height and weight it corresponded
with a fair-sized American "cayuse''
OF the western plains. 1t had the
"cayuse' capacity for short feeds and
minimum water supply. The animal
was fed only on oats and hay 1t car
ried, including the rider. saddle. bIan-
kets and harness, a total of about I72
pounds
The appetite Of the beast increased
with the distance Travelled. At the
start it required eighty pounds of oats
anu 4ouIleen POUNDS OF nay a day 10
keep IL up, and for water il took the
snow alongside the road. as we'll or
spring water was not obtainabie When
two-thirds Of the journey was com
pleted the horse was eating thirty
pounds of oats and fourteen pounds of
hay each day An English or an Amer
lcan horse, aside from the plains
breed OF the latter country
would have surrendered quickly. The
western American horse has made
some wonderful long-distance journeys
IN quick time. During Clusters cam
paign of 1876, which ended in the mas
sacre on the Rosebud some Of the
scouts for the army covered $50 to 28O
miles in forty-eight hours on three
feeds and three chances to water for
lhelr horses. In Grierson's wild ride
during the civil war to cut the confed-
crate lines, the ride which eventually
gave birth to Sherman's march to the
sea- one Chicago cavalryman was in
the saddle for 40 miles and that with
out dismounting He lives now as a
mail carrier for the postoffice.
One November day in the Goose Riv-
er country of Dakota, a cowboy named
IVerson was called to a ranch house
and told doctor must be secured for
ms employers daughter, who had been
taken suddenly Ill with Group The near
est doctor was thirty-eight miles away.
the temperature was Is degrees below.
the wind was scurrying the snow of
the pralries in every direction on the
trail there were only two stopping
places where fresh horses might be Sc
cured IVerSOn made the round trim in
ten hours, killing two horses. and dur
ing the last five miles homeward bound
carrying the doctor on his weary breast
The child's life was saved by his
promptness.
In the last Custer campaign in Vir-
ginia, just before the surrender of Lee
a courier of the Union forces CARRYING.
information as to where Custer might
earliest strike the Confederate wagon
supplies made a complete circuit of
Lees army and reached his superior
officer in time to have the information
prove of value. With two horses he
rode 100 miles in IL hours. This is a fair
average to place against the Cossack's
journey from the Orient to St Peters
burg II is said in French dispatches
that the courier who carried from Port
Arthur the final news of coming sur
render to General Kuropatkin at Muk-
1en walked. crept. swan and rode in
the saddle $50 miles in so hours. This
IS not impossible. When It comes to rid
ng almost everything depends upon the |
horse a little on the man, if he be a