MID-WEST PIONEERS 169 



great credit for campaigns waged against odds. 

 Farming on a large scale, which quickly forced the 

 greater utility value of the draft horse upon the at- 

 tention of combelt farmers, was not general where 

 these men lived, and the farmers and horsemen were 

 less numerous and less able to buy. 



Mr. Ficklin's start was really made in 1866, by 

 the importation of 2 stallions and 2 mares. One of 

 these mares produced a filly in 1867, and from these 

 3 mares he produced 13 colts during the period under 

 consideration. The stallions produced were lost to 

 sight in the common stock of Virginia, but the fe- 

 male line persisted and is today represented by more 

 than 60 descendants, in the studs of T. L. White, 

 F. B. Albert, D. T. Martin, C. H. King, D. M Cloyd, 

 and others, all of Virginia. More tlian 40 of these 

 trace through Constance 8th 8215, foaled in 1879. 

 Mr. Ficklin 's Percheron breeding ceased in 1888. 



On the Pacific Coast. — In December, 1870, William 

 C. Myer of Ashland, Ore., bought White Prince 496. 

 His place was located in a valley tributary to the 

 Eogue River. Here, within sight of mountain peaks 

 and with Indian pony mares as the chief mates in 

 his harem, that imported horse started the work of 

 improvement. The colts were uniformly good in 

 color, compact, well-proportioned, with style, sym- 

 metry, and size. The progeny, even from pony mares 

 not exceeding 800 pounds, weighed 1,200 pounds and 

 over. Such results were exactly what the western 

 ranchmen wanted, and as a consequence Mr. Myer 

 established a stud by bringing out 2 more stallions 



