ORIGIN OF THE DRIVES. 53 



country was surroundefl and the battle continued. Tlie result of the afternoon's 

 work was 1,000 hares, making 4,000 for the day. One result of this exciting day 

 was a realization of the danger of using guns in this manner; several people were 

 peppered with shot, hut none were seriously injured. " * * 



The following year, 1887, the rabbits had become so destructive on the great Miller 

 & Lux ranch, on the west side of Merced County, that men were employed to kill 

 them. The hunters were supplied with horses, wagons, and aiuniunition, and were 

 paid 5 cents for every rabbit killed. Over 7,000 were killed on that one ranch during 

 the season. 



The iirst largo rabbit drive on the plan afterwards adopted took ]>lace near Pix- 

 ley, in Tulare County, on November 14, 1887, a year and a half after the Hauford 

 slaughter. Firearms of all kinds were forbidden, and dogs were not allowed within 

 the lines. A corral of rabbit-proof wire was made, and from its entrance two 

 V-shaped wings extended a distance of a mile and a half. Into this space the rabbits 

 were driven. Many hundreds stampeded and broke through the line, but the result 

 of the drive was 2,000. 



The modem inetliod of driving rabbits into a corral seems to have 

 originated with Mr. W. J. Browning, a professional hnnter, of Tipton, 

 Tulare County. Stimulated by an offer of $1,000 for 1,000 live Jack 

 rabbits for coursing, Mr. Browning undertook to capture the animals by 

 driving them into a corral made by stretching lish nets between posts. 

 In a letter dated January 15, 1895, he says : " I commenced the busi- 

 ness of trapping jack rabbits with a corral drive net, witli wings about 

 half a mile long, during the summer of 1882. I have shipped many 

 thousands to all parts of the country, alive, for coursing purposes. 

 * * * In driving, I use six or eight men mounted on good horses, 

 and in this manner usually trap from 50 to 500 jacks. The big drives 

 of this State were patterned after my system, as the first drive I ever 

 heard of outside of my own was made [at Pixley] in this county in 

 1887, in tlie mouth of Xovember." 



In order to obtain all the information possible on the subject of rab- 

 bit driving, Mr. J. Ellis McLellan, a, field agent of the division, was 

 detailed to visit Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield, and other points in the 

 San Joaquin Valley in the autumn of 1894. Mr. McLellan gathered 

 manyfactsof interest, and the following brief account has been mainly 

 condensed from his reports, while the list of drives on pages 5.5-,j7 is 

 largely the result of his energy in collecting data. 



Early in the autumn of 1887 the question of taking measures for a 

 wholesale destruction of jack rabbits was discussed in Kern County, 

 but nothing was done for some months, and the project would probably 

 have proved a failure through apathy or opposition had it not been 

 vigorously agitated by the ]»ress. In the meantime, however, an exper- 

 iment was made at Pixley, Tulare County, and the first ])ublic drive 

 took place there on November 14, 1887. Two thousand rabbits were 

 killed, and it was demonstrated that jack rabbits could be successfully 

 driven into a corral. Another drive took place on December 3, and 

 1,000 more were slaughtered. Babbit driving began in earnest in 

 Kern County on January 2, 1888. The first drive was made near 



