New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-03
A TALE OF WILD HORSES
Out in the Last West" They
Have Reverted TO Savagery.
PREFER DEATH TO CAPTURE
Come Out of Their Businesses
and Steal Tame Animals
from Home Pastures.
ARToUs and weird are tn. CONGO

VARIOUS and weird are the coucep-
" tions regarding the swarms OF
wild horses that make their nome
among the untraversed hills OF the WHO
Okanogau country I'm Washington eta1e'
soon 10 be tapped by its first railroad.
To see those supple little creatures scale
the sides OF almost perpendicular noun
tains. and 10 watch them leap from rock 10
rock like mountain sheep make II hard 10
believe that they were once brothers Of pom
derous Percherons, colossal CIyuesuai'9
and Morgans But they are.
AWAY back in the 40s explorers and pros
nectors came 10 this section Of the state
bordering on Canadian soil, To locate.
They came from east and south. Many oi
these men. unused 10 the hardships or the
frontier DAYS. persisted. Their horses sur
vived and Joined the ranks Of the bears
'panthers and mountain goats. theh tue
large part OF the population OF TINS sec'ioh'
These horses formed the nucleus OF the
bands OF wild horses of to-cay
Then in the SOS and COS the gold fever
along the Pacific coast ragged, and horses
and mules were brought West FOR PACK am
mails In many instances, the men OF t"e
COS Ike those OF the 40s. perished. ana
their horses and mules joined the ranks OF
the horses already roaming the, plains
along the Okanogan River.
From, these two bands OF horses. the one
from the East and the other from the
south the best blood OF the kind was
hiardod Rut in the rough land OF the
Oknaogan country the once fine-boned ami
mails dvindled In size from steeds 10
dUarfs. and the kind disposition gave way
10 viciousness.
Tho wild horses now little resemble the
stock from which they sprang. They nave
long. tangled hair. and have deScneratcd
until they rarely weigh over 700 pounds
They possess vicious tempers and blte'
fight and kick among themselves IKE
drunken Indians In all this big band oi
wild horses. striving to sustain NE ana IN
crease in numbers on the almost barren
rocks OF the Okanogan country, are eN-
anples Of close confinement and malnutri-
ton.
Hemmed in by steep noun tains and deep
streams. this band OF horses must OF neces-
sity live and increase in cramped quarters.
deriving new blood and ambition only from
domesticated animals which wander from
farms and enter the secret passes or the
eternal hills and are forever afterward held
unwilling prisoners. unless. reverting TO
the instincts OF all animals. they reconcile
themselves 10 the wild free life OF the
savages.
There are about $500 wild horses IN this
Okanogan band so wild. in fact. that at
tempts to break them 10 halter lead or
drive have unfairly failed These horses
Will die, commit suicide by stransuiston'
rather than submit TO domestication and
humane treatment
Instances are recorded In the settled
communities OF Northern Washington
where powerful stations from this band
have managed to get out OF the hills and
enter pastures where tame horses were
foraging The Wild stations then COM
pei mares to follow them. and once back
In the wild country, force them 10 join
their harems. with the result that IN late
YszrA TIA Ala. al IA s-il4 A~---~ - ~