A JACK RABBIT DRIVE. 



W. VV. H. MAC CURDY. 



With the stockmen and growers of vine- 

 yards in California the extermination of 

 coyotes, jack rabbits, cotton tails, squirrels, 

 gophers, rats, mice and other rodents is a 

 serious problem. Persistent effort has kept 

 the pests from increasing in the cultivated 

 districts but beyond the limits of orchard 

 and vineyard tracts, where the soil is yet un- 

 broken by the plow, and in the great fields 

 of wheat and barley they swarm in countless 

 numbers. 



The rabbit drive of the San Joaquin valley 

 is an institution devised and continued from 

 year to year to keep the enemy in subjection. 

 There are usually several drives in a season, 

 the first in February or March and the last 

 early in April. After that time the growing 

 crops would be damaged if not destroyed by 

 the army of exterminators. 



In the regular drive, men, women and 

 children, on foot, on horseback, in wagons, 

 buggies and carts, armed with guns, whips, 

 clubs and missiles of every description, par- 

 ticipate. On the day appointed for the drive 

 all the roads leading to the various places of 

 meeting, at an early hour are thronged with 

 the people on their way to join in the day's 

 sport. The corral of the latest drive was lo- 

 cated about 13 miles Southwest of Fresno, 

 near the line of the Southern Pacific Rail- 

 road. From this corral following the gen- 

 eral direction of the railroad track ran about 



5 miles of wire fence, poultry-mesh. A like 

 fence ran Southeast several miles. These 

 fences served as leaders to bring the rab- 

 bits into the corral. 



The North line of drivers extended about 



6 miles from East to West and was formed 

 just outside of the vineyards and orchards, to 

 the Southwest of the city, and nearly 5 miles 

 from the corral. It was made up of people 

 from Fresno and the country lying to the 

 West. The East line was composed of peo- 

 ple from the villages and colonies South of 

 Fresno, down as far as Fowler. The South 

 line was composed of people from Selina 

 and the country lying between that town 

 and Carruthers. on the West. Each of 

 these lines was from 4 to 5 miles long, in 

 charge of a marshal and his aids, all 

 mounted on horseback, who endeavored so 

 far as was possible to keep their lines in 

 order, not allowing them to lag behind nor 

 advance too rapidly. Messengers from the 

 right and left divisions were constantly 

 coming and going between their respective 

 divisions and the centre, to keep the com- 

 manders of each informed, as to the prog- 

 ress of the others. 



Only a mile or 2 had been gone over be- 



fore the right of the South division came 

 near enough to effect a close junction with 

 the left of the East or centre division, and it 

 in turn effected a junction with the left of the 

 Northern division. The left of the South, 

 and the right of the North division, about 

 this time struck the South and North ends, 

 respectively, of the wire fences leading to 

 the Corral, thus enclosing a tract of about 

 20 square miles. From the time the lines be- 

 gan to move jack rabbits appeared, with 

 here and there a cotton-tail or a coyote. 

 The cotton-tails and squirrels took to their 

 burrows as the line came up, but the jacks, 

 except in rare instances, trusted to their legs 

 to take them out of the reach of club and 

 bullet. 



The startled coyotes ran like scared dogs, 

 from one line to the other, but finding es- 

 cape impossible cowered among the jacks 

 and met their fate as the murderous lines 

 narrowed, with as little resistance as the 

 jacks themselves. All the morning the shot- 

 gun men have been getting in their effective 

 work on the jacks skulking among the 

 weeds or hiding in hollows along the 

 ditches. Marching along from 10 to 30 

 yards in advance of the line of teams and 

 stick-wielders, like skirmishers ahead of a 

 line of battle, they blaze away at every rab- 

 bit that comes within range. The plain be- 

 hind the marching line is dotted with the 

 carcasses of the slain. 



Every moment the number of visible jacks 

 increases, as they are routed from the weeds 

 and grass and sent scurrying across the 

 plain. When the march first began they ap- 

 peared singly or by twos and threes; now 

 they are in droves. Away to the Northwest 

 rise up volumes of dense smoke; the 

 skirmishers have fired some tule-marshes, to 

 drive out the cowering inhabitants. Shorter 

 grows the line as the distance to the corral 

 lessens; and denser becomes the swarm of 

 frantic jacks. The advancing line, doubled 

 and redoubled in numbers as the enclosed 

 area decreases, crowds the scared animals 

 forward to the corral. The corral gate, only 

 a few feet wide, furnishes a door of escape 

 and through it they pour in a solid stream 

 and spread out over its area. 



After the last rabbit has passed into the 

 corral hundreds of men and boys rush in 

 after them; the gate is closed and the mas- 

 sacre begins. The frightened creatures 

 make frantic efforts to escape; they rush 

 against the meshed barriers and along them, 

 seeking outlet, until they become one great 

 swirling mass, the sight of which makes one 

 dizzy; they pile up in great heaps at the 



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