Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-08

RENO, New, February 9, 1908.
~ RIDERS were received yes
~ terday from the forestry de-
partment instructing the
~ rangers on the Toelyabe. the
Toquima and Monitor for
ests in Lander county, New, to kill all
wild horses found on the government
domains There are about $1,000 wild
horses on the reserves"
These few lines, flashed from Reno last
week, became Of great interest to thou
sands of readers of the daily papers. But,
the fact that the corre-
spondent managed to get his information
badly twisted, that dispatch opened the
eyes Of hundreds Of thousands of eastern
people to the existence of peculiar nui-
sance-the wild or ''outlaw" horses of the
western ranges.
Not only did this telegram bring to the
notice of the eastern people the exist
ence of these wild herds, but 1t occa-
stoned a deluge Of mail upon the de-
partment of forestry seeking information
not few seeking concessions to take
over the slaughter of these animals.
This latter class of communication was
source of great annoyance to the de-
concession seekers that there was moth
ing doing in that particular line of In
dustry, but one letter emanating from
the intensely practical brain of an in
ventive Yankee is worthy of later note.
The problem, however, which faces the
western stockman and the government,
and which occasioned the erroneous re-
port concerning the slaughter of these
horses, is a unique and interesting One
In Nevada and many other of the western
states wild horses rove over the open
ranges, causing damage amounting to
many thousands of dollars each year. The
easterner finds it hard to imagine so val
uable an animal as the horse becoming a
nuisance, If not an actual menace, but
such is the condition, says the depart
ment of forestry, In the great west. When
the gentle horses owned by the ranch
men and settlers mix with one of these
"outlaw bands" it is almost impossible
to recover them, and it has often been
necessary to kill the leaders Of the wild
bands before the domestic animals would
submit to recapture.
A bunch of wild horses running on a
rangs keeps the other stock in a constant
turmoil and causes inestimable damage
in trampling down the grazing grounds
They will fight the cattle away from wa
ter holes and salt ticks, knocking down
and often fatally injuring cows and
calves in their efforts to escape when
the stockman arrives to drive them from
his ranges.
Many years ago the Nevada legislature
passed a law legalizing the killing Of
wild horses on the open range and al
lowing hunters to sell the hides for what
they could get for them in open market.
This law opened the way to new and
unusual industry, and brought for
time to the plains and ranges unusual
characters in the persons of the hunters.
tering the herds found it a profitable
business
Six-shooters in hand, they would ride
among the outlaws. firing right and left.
keeping up with the maddeped, fleeing
animals. Over miles of territory here
and there lay the carcasses of outlaws
And then, when the herds finally escaped
the bullets Of their pursuers. the hunters
would ride back over their course, faying
and skinning. The work was exciting, for
often a wild stallion would give battle.
and show himself no mean antagonist.
This gave the peculiar industry the added
zest of sport.
"Time past" said an official of the bu-
reau of forestry few days ago, and
the business of killing these outlaws on
the ranges assumed greater and greater
PROPORTIONS; stockmen found that the re-
yolvers of the professional hunters were
dealing death to branded and shod horses
and that the hunters themselves were out
rageously abusing their rights. This put
an end to the business, for. on complaint
of the stockmen, the Nevada legislature
promptly repealed the law
TT is estimated that during the time the
law was in force no less than 1900 horses
were killed. This figure gives the basis
for the telegraph story"
The report of the Nevada correspondent
however, while not strictly true. has a
good basis Of fact. for the wild. horse
question has grown to be serious one In
the last few years and is as burning a
problem as it was when the Nevada legis-
iature was enforced to enact the old law.
The United States forest service. however.
has given no orders for the killing Of a
single OUTLAW because it lacks the right
to do so. The officers of the forest service
on the Nevada national forest ranges fully