236 THE HORSE BOOK. 



the range. A few breeders followed a saner 

 policy and these have succeeded in making much 

 money. Then just about the time some impres- 

 sion was being made on the ranger by the use 

 of pure-bred stallions, the depression of the 

 early nineties hit the business so hard that it 

 was impossible to get any sort of a remunera- 

 tive price for a range-bred horse. Commission 

 men at wholesale centers refused to accept con- 

 signments as the horses would not realize 

 freight and commission charges. Then an en- 

 terprising genius established a cannery in Ore- 

 gon and thousands of horses were slaughtered 

 and made up into salt meat for export. From 

 $1 to $2.50 was paid per head and the owners 

 thought themselves lucky to get so much. 



Not being worth anything, range horses re- 

 ceived no attention at all until Great Britain 

 went to work to crush the Boer rebellion in 

 South Africa. Her Britannic Majesty's agents 

 scoured the range country from the Bio Grande 

 to the Yellowstone, paying what seemed enor- 

 mous prices for everything able to carry a sol- 

 dier. Times were looking up in the range horse 

 business. Owners rounded up their bands and 

 sold them off as closely as they could. It was 

 a good riddance of bad rubbish. Times im- 

 proved. Horses became scarce in the East and 

 prices began to climb skyward. Then it was, 

 some four or five years back, that the few 

 breeders who had kept at the work of improve- 

 ment came into their own. Offerings of draft- 

 bred range horses were eagerly snapped up by 



