THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 477 



by the Chambly river in the Montreal district. At four years old 

 he was sold to John Harris for $200, and at six years old was sold 

 again to Van Loiseu, a dealer, for $400. Van Loiseu taught him 

 many tricks, at learning which he showed great aptitude, and sold 

 him in New York to a Bostonian for $600. From Boston he got 

 to Lowell, &c. This story is probably all true of some horse, but 

 the identity is not established. Black Hawk's colts were never 

 gray, as many of them would have been if his dam was that color, 

 but many of them were chestnuts with white feet and faces, which 

 was the color of Sherman and of Sherman's dam. This fact pretty 

 clearly shows that neither the " Paddy" story nor the Canadian 

 pedigree are correct, but that Black Hawk was truly a Morgan. 

 He was a little under 15 hands, and weighed about lOOOlbs. In 

 1842 he won $1000 by trotting five miles over the Cambridge 

 Park Course in 16m. In 1843 he won a race of two-mile heats 

 with ease in 5m. 43s. and 5m. 48s., and several times trotted single 

 miles in 2m. 42s. He was the sire of Ethan Allen, Black Ralph, 

 Lancet, Belle of Saratoga, Black Hawk Maid, Flying Cloud, and 

 many others of good repute for speed. His colts were in great 

 demand, particularly in the West and South, where hundreds were 

 sold at very high prices. As many of his sons were, and still are, 

 kept as stallions, his descendants arc very numerous; and he 

 undoubtedly has done much to improve the stock of American 

 horses. But, notwithstanding these facts, the reputation of the 

 family appears to be diminishing. Of fifty-two trotting stallions 

 advertised in the Spirit of the Times in 1868, only three are 

 descendants of Vermont Black Hawk, and all of these are also 

 part Messenger. 



Every one of the fifty-two is descended from Messenger, and 

 those most distinguished as sires of trotters have each several crosses 

 of Messenger blood in their pedigree. These are very remarkable 

 facts, and, taken in connection with the whole history of trotters, 

 prove that we not only owe to Messenger the origin of American 

 trotting horses, but also that the continuance of that particular 

 quality, down to the present day, in increasing force, is due to the 

 perpetuation of his stock, and to breeding together his descendants 

 so as to combine the greatest quantity of Messenger blood in one 

 animal. The value of his descendants depends, undoubtedly, in 

 great degree, upon the quality of the horses crossed with the Mes- 

 senger blood; and those other horses, both native and foreign, 

 whether thorough-breds, Cammcks, or of mixed blood, that may 

 justly claim a share in establishing the fame of American trotters, 

 have done very little more than cross well with the Messengers. 

 It is, probably, no exaggeration to say that all of them together 

 would have failed to establish a family of trotters in the country 

 if Messenger the Great had not been imported. The trotting 



