LELAND STANFORD AND PALO ALTO 



adopted by other progressive breeders after success 

 had crowned them, and the standard of the light 

 harness horse was thus more rapidly advanced. The 

 offerings from Palo Alto paddocks commanded fabu- 

 lous prices in the market, and the volume of speed 

 sustained by courage increased from year to year. 

 Mere capacity to fold the knee and flex the hock 

 will not win races. You must put behind this action 

 the nervous energy and the lung capacity which for 

 generations have been tested in the Derby at Epsom 

 Downs. In order to better study action Senator 

 Stanford took Muybridge to Palo Alto and spent 

 some $50,000 on instantaneous photograph experi- 

 ments. The first time I visited the farm Muybridge 

 was there, and the sensitive plates furnished indis- 

 putable evidence of motion at the run and trot which 

 overthrew the preconceived ideas of the great paint- 

 ers of the world. 



As Senator Stanford was a man of large fortune 

 and in the enjoyment of the prestige of success, peo- 

 ple were disposed to pay him bigger prices for horses 

 than they could be induced to pay men less favorably 

 situated. It was assumed that he was not compelled 

 to sell, and this whetted the desire to purchase. After 

 the death of the Senator the fortunes of Palo Alto 

 steadily declined. The magic touch of its creator 

 was lost. The foundation of the structure was there, 

 but the steadying hand was absent, and the edifice 

 slowly crumbled. 



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