248 THE MORGAN HORSE 



predated, and because of these rare qualities he made the pilgrimage of the 

 continent, from the frigid shore of the St. Lawrence to the tropical banks of 

 the lower Mississippi. The environment is completely reversed, the identity 

 of the horse is completely lost, but the horse himself remains the same. Still 

 comparatively young, he is transplanted to Kentucky, already then be- 

 coming famous, with its fertile fields, delightful climate and chivalrous people, 

 as the home and producer of noble horses, and there he finds his final home, 

 leaving an impress upon the already excellent stock of that young State that 

 but few horses upon her soil have ever equaled. A tradition had hung about 

 him throughout all his pilgrimage, that he was a Canadian ; but of his real 

 origin nothing in fact was known. Because his origin was unknown, and 

 he was a pacer, it may have been generally supposed that he was of plebeian 

 ancestry. But when it is remembered that few or none could compete with 

 him in speed and none produced better stock, the discriminating breeder 

 must have always hesitated to indorse this theory. The stream does not rise 

 higher than its fountain. The blood of Pilot had in it the elements of 

 strength, speed and courage, and must have come from ancestors in which 

 these qualities predominated. 



As illustrating the entire obscurity under which the origin and history of 

 the American pacer was hidden at that time, we quote from an essay by John 

 H. Wallace in the September number, 1877, of his "Monthly", and we may 

 premise by saying that there was no one better informed than he on the sub- 

 ject at that day : 



"The original Copperbottom was taken into Kentucky as early as 1810 

 or '12. There are two stories concerning him: One, that he came from 

 Virginia, and the other, that he came from Canada. 



" At that day the intercourse between Virginia and Kentucky was con- 

 stant, as the early settlers were largely from Virginia, while the intercourse 

 between Kentucky and Canada was, of necessity, very infrequent. There 

 were no family ties and no business relations, and it is not probable that a 

 single Kentuckian visited Canada once in a year ; we think, therefore, that the 

 chances are as a thousand to one that Copperbottom was a native Virginian. 



" The founder of the Hiatoga family, a pacing horse by that name, reached 

 Kentucky in 1822, and he left a sire and a grandsire in Virginia, bearing the 

 same name, which carries us back even further than the period of Copper- 

 bottom. 



" Rice's Hiatoga, that reached Ohio from Virginia, some ten years after 

 the other horse was taken to Kentucky, was by a horse in Virginia, called 

 American Hiatoga, and no doubt belonged to the same family from which 

 sprung the Kentucky branch of the family. From this it is evident there 

 were plenty of pacers in Virginia at the beginning of this century, and it was 

 not at all necessary to go to Canada for one. 



" Old pacing Pilot has generally been called a Canadian, and, with every- 

 body else, we have ourselves fallen into that habit ; but we have not a parti- 

 cle of evidence that either he or his ancestors ever saw Canada. 



