THE NEW CENTURY DAWNS AUSPICIOUSLY 455 



speedily came into general demand in spite of tlic 

 prejudice against branded western horses. 



Work effected in North Dakota by the Little Mis- 

 aouri Horse Co. was far-reaching, resulting to a 

 greater extent than that of any other breeding es- 

 tablishment in the northwestern states in popular- 

 izing Percherons for use on the range. Great credit 

 must be given to A. C. Huidekoper, who founded 

 this enterprise and to Earle C. Huidekoper, who as 

 general manager after 1896 directed the systematic 

 improvement of the horses bred on this ranch. Per- 

 cheron breeders generally have known little of the 

 work of this breeding establishment, and it has been 

 belittled by some on account of the fact that some 

 of the Percherons raised there, which subsequently 

 passed into, the cornbelt states through Fred Pabst's 

 stud, were lacking in size. This was due to the fact 

 they were raised under range conditions and was 

 not traceable to any weakness in the foundation 

 stock. The story of the work of the Little Missouri 

 Horse Co. is an epic of the northwest. It is fitting 

 that due credit should be given in the history of the 

 Percheron to the mighty influence wielded by this 

 stud in the development of Percheron interests on 

 the ranges of the west. 



The Riverside Ranch Co., controlled by Cosgrove 

 Bros, of St. Paul, carried out on a somewhat smaller 

 scale the same kind of work that had been done by 

 the Little Missouri Horse Co. This stud was closed 

 out .just before the beginning of the century, and 

 reference is made to it here on account of the fact 



