278 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 
A LEADER OF MODERN SHORTHORN PROGRESS 
109. There is an old breeder’s adage to the effect that having 
found a successful sire, one should start immediately to look for 
a new one, on the theory that when the good animal is gone it will 
be too late to find his successor. Few students of bloodlines have 
realized how pertinently this applies to tribes and families, as 
well as to individuals. The man in American agriculture whose 
foresight permitted him to divine this truth was CoLONEL WIL- 
tiam A. Harris, the founder of Linwood, and the custodian of 
the lamp that lighted the Shorthorn supporters to new achieve- 
ments following the days of the Duchess reaction. There is no 
question but what America’s greatest nursery for all classes of 
purebred livestock was Woodburn Farm (82) and there is scarcely 
less certainty that its most worthy and specialized rival was found 
by the banks of the Kaw river, on the southern slopes of Linwood 
in eastern Kansas. 
Cot. Harris’ life was almost an epic. Born at Luray, Va., 
the son of a former congressman and Minister to Brazil, Co. 
Harris received his first training at the historic Virginia Military 
Institute. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was peacefully 
pursuing his studies under the guidance of the professor whose 
name comes down to us as “STONEWALL” Jackson. Co. Harris’ 
father was of that coterie of thinking men who opposed the policy 
of secession, but when the will of the majority cast the lot of the 
cavaliers’ domain with the South, the younger Harris responded 
to the call. His progress in the military service was rapid and 
at Gettysburg he was Chief Ordnance Officer of one of the divi- 
sions in Longstreet’s corps. Later campaigns against the Con- 
federacy completely wrecked the Harris fortune, and the recon- 
structive period saw him engaged in locating the Kansas Pacific 
railroad from Kansas City to Denver. Although engineer by 
training, his insight and instincts were agricultural, and he made 
mental note of the excellent grazing location some twenty-five 
