Chapter 9: Horse Business In Holt County

← Before Today: A History of Holt County, Nebraska

Horse Business In Holt County Chapter Nine At 5:34 on the afternoon of June 13, 1893, a world famous horserace began in Chadron, Nebraska. It ended in Chicago one thousand miles, thirteen days and sixteen hours later. O’Neill was one of the check points on the road between.

The Dawes County Journal on June 16, 1893, reported that the race actually began as a joke, perpetrated by John J. Maher, local correspondent for an eastern newspaper. During a period when news was scarce, Maher thought it a good idea to “spring” the race as a going thing. Probably he would have contrived to send out news releases on the progress of the mythical race for a few days but, to his surprise, the cowboys and ranch-men of the area snapped up the idea and saw it through.

In France, a few years earlier, a record of over fifty miles a day for twenty days had been set. Such a race had never been tried in the United States and the horsemen of the western prairies saw in it an opportunity to prove the superior speed and stamina of the American cow horse. Furthermore, the World’s Fair was on in Chicago and the cowboys who entered the race looked on it as a lark and a chance to see the Fair. 66 Meetings took place and plans came out of them. Chadron people agreed to put up a thousand dollar purse for the winner. Then Buffalo Bill Cody got into the act and gave it a big boost. His Wild West show was playing for the summer adjacent to the Fair Grounds and the great showman saw some splendid built-in publicity for himself in the affair, so offered five hundred dollars and a fine saddle as prizes if the race ended at the entrance to his show.

The planners set the time allowed for the race at thirteen days, which meant traveling an average of seventy-seven miles a day. Each man in the race was to start with two horses, riding one and leading one. He was to register himself and his horses at check points in Long Pine, O’Neill and Wausa in Nebraska; Sioux City, Galva, Fort Dodge, Iowa Falls, Waterloo, Manchester and Dubuque in Iowa; Freeport and DeKalb in Illinois. He had to ride into Chicago on one of the horses he started with.

To ride seventy-five miles in a day was not out of the ordinary for these men and horses, but to average that for thirteen consecutive days would test both to the limit. The rider would not be mounting a fresh horse every relay and he would have to conserve the horse’s strength as much as possible. Also, a rider with a fresh mount under him can stand a long ride much better than he can on a jaded horse.

Newspapers all over the East publicized the great race by issuing highly colored accounts of the whole affair. “He Dog,” they reported, “Rattlesnake Jim,” “Buckskin Joe” and other such daredevils would ride in the race, each seeking the victory’or death for his horse. Such publicity, of course, quickly brought a pair of humane society officials down upon the Chadron planners. The pair were soon convinced that the race would work no undue hardship upon the horses, and they were invited to go along from check point to check point to see for themselves.

A day or so before the race began all the horses that were to take part were taken to the Forbes blacksmith shop in Chadron where the figure 2 was branded on the right sides of their necks as a mark of identification. The Chadron paper lists nine men and the names of each man’s horses as starters in the race. The men were: Davy Douglas, Doc Middleton, George Jones, James Stephens (Rattlesnake Pete), Joe Campbell, Charles Smith, Emmet Albright, Joe Gillespie and John Berry. They represented four states, South Dakota, Kansas, Colo*Dawes County Journal, Chadron, Nebraska June 30, 1893. P. l. rado and Nebraska.

At the last minute the start was delayed half an hour by a protest of the other riders against John Berry being permitted to race. It had been learned that he had been one of the commission that laid out the route to Chicago. It had not been known then that he planned to ride and the route was kept secret until just before the start of the race so that none of the others could familiarize themselves with it. Therefore, they felt that Berry’s prior knowledge gave him an unfair advantage. Unable to disbar him, he was entered “under protest” and the race allowed to go on. And so the great National Cowboy Race started, with three thousand people and quite a number of reporters thronging the streets around the Blaine Hotel, the starting point. J.O. Hartzel stood on the balcony of the white frame hotel to address a few remarks to the mounted cowboys before he fired the starting gun. From that moment on the nation watched and waited for news from the racers and their names made headlines as the hours and days passed.

On Friday afternoon (June 16) Middleton, Gillespie and Rattlesnake Pete were checked through Long Pine at 4:45.- Albright at 5:30. Early Saturday morning Smith, Jones, Douglas and Berry registered. At O’Neill a big crowd had gathered at the Evans Hotel, the check point for that town. Saunders wrote that “Rattlesnake Pete, ” the Kansas cowboy was the first of the racers to come down the dusty road. The Chadron Journal states that Middleton and Gillespie were the first to arrive, that Saturday afternoon. The rest came in some hours later.

Naturally all of O’Neill was out to welcome and encourage their old friend, Doc, which, according to Saunders, was the cause of his downfall, as he tarried too long with his former cronies and fell too far behind. As long as he remained in the race Doc seems to have been the star performer. Ladies pulled souvenir hairs from the tails of his horses until he had to stop them to prevent the de-tailing of his mounts. Everywhere he was cheered and hurrahed.

All along the way, day and night, crowds stood for hours, patiently awaiting the first sight of the cowboy racers. People on foot, on horses and bicycles and in buggies followed the horsemen. As some of the spectators dropped out, others took their places. Dave Douglas quit the race at Atkinson, as one of his horses had given out. At Coleridge, Iowa, Doc’s horse “Romeo” gave out, leaving him only “Geronimo.” Rattlesnake Pete, too, was down to one horse. The other mounts were still in good shape and going strong.

John Berry, the “protested” rider, was the first man in, pulling up at the entrance to the Wild West Show at 9:30 on the morning of June 27 on his stallion “Poison.” He had ridden the last one hundred and fifty miles in twenty four hours and both man and horse were mud spattered. The horse was said to be in better shape than the man, who was so weary he could barely respond to Buffalo Bill’s congratulations on winning the race. As soon as his horse was stabled two Humane Society veternarians attempted to check his condition, but Poison kicked so vigorously at the nearest one that he at once decided the horse was in fine shape.

Emmet Albright was the next rider in, then Gillespie and Smith. The last two had also ridden the final one hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours. Gillespie and his horse, “Billy Shafer,” were both in splendid condition. Gillespie, incidentally, was fifty-eight years old. Albright, it was said, had shipped his horses part of the way, then unloaded them and rode on to Chicago to see the Fair. It is generally conceded that Doc also shipped Romeo part of the way and rode comfortably into Chicago in a chair car, unloaded the horse there, mounted and rode up to the Wild West entrance in his usual flamboyant style.

There was a long hassle over the prize money, with so many conflicting accounts of how it was paid and to whom, that at this late date there seems no way of unraveling the tangle and getting at the facts. However, besides entertaining a nation for two weeks, some real good came out of the Great Thousand Mile Race From Chadron to Chicago. As Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) said at its conclusion: “It will show to the world what the native horse is worth. European nations have been watching the race. It is a test of the hardiness of the broncho, and after the wonderful result of 1,000 miles in thirteen days and sixteen hours there will be a rush after the American animal. European nations will want American bred horses for their cavalry.”* ****** In the century that has passed over Holt County, horses have played a vital part in the lives of its people. Most of them arrived behind horses, some of them very good teams. They were important to men of all walks of life. They were the source of power for farmers, the only means of transportation (other than “shank’s mare”) for everyone. Good horses were a 67 man’s choicest possession. The French draft or Percheron were nimble fourteen hundred pound horses, easy keepers and good for road work, an ideal animal to pull a freight wagon. The Coach, an imported horse, was developed for pulling cabs and carriages. A leggy animal and good moving, it lacked the stamina for long, hard pulls and was not successful in Holt County. Spirited and willing, the Hambletonian-Percheron cross had great endurance, moved freely and was a popular choice of teamsters. Registered stallions of draft breeding were brought into the county from eastern states and stud service made available for a breeding fee of $15, due when the foal stood and sucked.

David E. and Anna Bowen, Page, settled in eastern Holt County in 1912. Roger Bowen of Holt rated the “horse power” of horses, in the days before cars and tractors replaced them, as follows: A team of average or better horses or mules pulled a loaded wagon four miles an hour. Six horses on a gang plow plowed five acres a day. Fifteen acres of corn could be planted, day after day, with six horses on a two-row lister, or with a team on a planter.

A team on a one-row cultivator cultivated eight acres a day. At harvest time four horses on an eight- foot binder cut twenty acres of grain a day. Puttng up hay, a team on a six-foot mower mowed twelve acres day after day. On a (horse-power) baler ten tons of hay could be baled in a day. Six teams were used to thresh grain. Horses were used on corn shellers, sawmills and some grist mills. For threshing and these other jobs, the teams were hitched to a “sweep.” This was a “wheel,” twenty- four feet across, with six spokes. A team was hitched to each spoke, and all walked in a circle, turning the sweep or wheel. The power was transferred by means of a tumbling rod to the machine. The horses stepped over the tumbling rod as they walked their endless circle.

The Whitakers brought extra good work or draft horses from Indiana in 1880. “Old Ned,” a Percheron stallion owned by Vern Whitaker sired a good many colts in the Chambers area. During that decade John Dierks came from Tennessee to the Goose Lake country and raised Percherons which he branded until 1893. The Rectors homesteaded the Shaw place east of Emporia and Mr. Rector drove a big Clydesdale to a cart, selling the horse’s service over a wide scope of country.

In the southern port of the county Geary Brothers raised Percherons and Morgans. Jack Taggert had Percher-ons. Earl Estes at Stuart raised Morgans and Hambletonians, selling them as teams and singles. John Hirsch had Belgian draft horses. An early homesteader, northeast of Page, raised Clydesdales. For about forty years, (1895-1935) John Addison traveled the country with registered Belgian stallions. Rock Stevens drove his big Percheron stallion around the county to a two-wheeled cart.

Sterling (Tip) Wanser raised and sold registered Percherons in all parts of the country for many years. Frank Snyder, in eastern Holt, raised registered Hambletonians. The Danken- brinks had mules and a Hamble- tonian stallion. Henry Barnett, a homesteader on the Harry Tegeler place until 1903, had a team of twelve hundred pound coach horses. The Butlers and Gravers at Ewing had registered Percherons and Belgians. Graver Ranch, Ewing, 1915 Around the turn of the century Fred Feltz, a good horse doctor, also of Ewing, kept a herd of Hambletonians and raised and sold them at $600 a pair for use as carriage horses in Milwaukee.

From the above it can be seen that good breeding stock was pretty well distributed over the county at a fairly early date. Today it takes a wealthy man to afford to own draft horses. Even so there are still three registered stallions in Holt County. Art Waterman at Page owns a roan Belgian, Orville Paxton, Stuart, another Belgian and Vern Whitaker, Chambers, a grey Percheron.

When a cow was worth only $30 a good team of horses sold for $200 in gold. Aware that successful breeders of horses made money, a group of farmers in the eastern section of the county in 1900 formed a company and bought a good stallion. The men were Tom Roach, Dick Murray, Charles Grass, Bill Lord, Nels Coover and Leonard Heiss. They bought “Old Mark,” a grey Belgian, from the Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America, Wabash, Indiana. The stallion sired many good colts in the Page neighborhood.

Around 1920 several neighbors north of Emmet also banded together to improve the quality of horses in their area. They called their company the Pleasantview Draft Horse Association and bought a Belgian stallion from the Holbert Horse Importing Company of Iowa for $2,000. Anthony O’Donnell, Albert Sterns, Frank Pet- finger, George Barnes, Joe and Lawrence, Bruder, Herman Towers, Frank Wundercheck, William and Tom Tro- shynski and G. Braun were the partners. Frank Pettinger, Charles Schaaf and Frank Henderson “traveled” the horse and the company recovered the purchase price of the stallion through the stud fees. The neighborhood soon had many good horses for use in heavy work such as feeding cattle, field work, freighting and other tasks requiring strength and staying power. Lawrence Bruder, who lived on the old Bruder homestead northeast of Atkinson in the early 1900’s, raised and used Suffolk-Percheron crosses. The Suffolk mares were his, the sire a Percheron owned by Fay Scripter. These were good, dependable work horses and Mr. Bruder won many first prizes in county fair horse pulling contests. When, in later years, he bought a huge steam engine and a Red River threshing machine, he used his big teams to haul water for the steamer. One fall he threshed all over northern Nebraska and South Dakota. When his outfit got snowed in east of Rapid City he put the team in a livery stable for the winter and caught a train for Atkinson. The next spring he went back to get his machine and horses. There he traded the machine off for a piece of land, then came home to plant and harvest his crops. That fall he sold the old homestead and pulled out for Dakota with four of his big horses hitched to a hayrack loaded with hay, grain and furniture. Behind the rack he trailed another 68 loaded wagon, with four cows following that. With his caravan, he roughed it all the way to Custer City, where he went to work cutting ties for the Northwestern Railroad Company and hauling them to Chadron, over a long and rugged road, by team. The days were never long enough for this man who loved his big horses and always fed and watered them before he ate his own meals.

Fay Scripter, too, was a lover of horses. His family drove from Michigan to Holt County in a covered wagon, bringing five Percheron stallions and six brood mares with them. Fay’s father ran the first livery barn in Atkinson and, when the young man homesteaded northeast of Emmet, he farmed with some of the original horses from his father’s herd. Before he married, Fay bought a pair of spotted buggy horses, a cross between the Cleveland Bay and Indian ponies. Spirited, fast and handsome, they gave him an edge over the other courting swains in the neighborhood. Fay later owned and used a registered black Percheron stallion weighing 3,000 pounds. This horse sired many fine horses in the county. The last horse of the blood line of the old Michigan Percherons was sold to Bob Carr of Atkinson, who raised horses as long as he lived.

Several carloads of horses from Montana, carrying the bit brand (0-0) on the left hip were brought into Eastern Holt County by Buv Wanser in 1927-’28. Purchased for ten to twelve dollars a head, they were sold to buyers for forty dollars. Brones, weighing from nine hundred to a thousand pounds when they arrived, they were broken, grained and worked for a year. By then they weighed about thirteen hundred pounds, if resold, brought eighty dollars a head.

Stallions of draft breeding, usually Belgians, were taken into western states and released, replacing wild or native stallions. The offspring of this cross produced a medium sized horse, ideal for use on long distance hauls. But, having a temperment quite different from domestic animals, they were wild in every sense of the word. A challenge to break, the wild horse bawled, kicked, struck and bit. Many a man was put out of the barn by one. A herd of two to three hundred of these broncs was driven into Holt County by Jack Berigan of Ewing. He offered them to farmers for a summer’s free use, in return for breaking them, of course, and disposed of them all. In the fall he sold them as “broke” horses and made a good profit.

In 1936 the Holbert Importing Company imported two hundred head of registered horses from Belgium. Some were roans and bays, about two per cent were black and the majority were sorrel, the color most preferred in America. Ralph Prill of Page was employed by the company from 1934 through 1938 to sell and place the stallions and collect the service fees. Ralph kept six or more head at his farm at all times. Later, when working for the Indiana corporation as an investigator, he traveled through Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and southwest Nebraska.

In October, 1946, Ralph showed a team of blond sorrel Belgians with white manes and tails at the National Belgian Horse Show in Waterloo, Iowa. As three-and four-year-olds, the pair weighed 2200 pounds each, were perfectly matched and had plenty of action. The team placed second in the show, just below a team owned by the widow of John Dodge of Dodge Brothers Motors. The Dodge team had never been defeated in either the United States or Canada. Ralph kept his fine team until the next June, then sold them to a cattle feeder near Omaha for $675.00. Today the pair would bring $3,000.

Ralph Prill’s prize winning team of blond sorrel Belgian geldings. No other team from Holt County was ever entered in the National Belgian Horse Show. Ralph put the team together in 1945, showed them in 1946 and sold them in 1947, the day the picture was taken.

While taking part in a Draft Horse Association tour of England in 1970, Ira Lange, retired Atkinson farmer, attended a Suffolk horse show and bought four mares, three of which were bred. These horses had just taken second place in the show. Certain restrictions went along with the purchase. Ira had to belong to the Suffolk Horse Association and also to build a new barn in Nebraska to meet the specifications set down by the Association. He paid $840 each for the mares, which weighed about 2,200 pounds each and stood from fifteen and one-half to seventeen hands high.

It cost Mr. Lange something over one thousand dollars each to have the mares shipped to Atkinson. After ten days on ship board, they arrived in New York on June 26, 1970, and were shown in Illinois and Iowa for some eight weeks before finally reaching their new Holt County home.

Mules, too, were an important part of Holt County history. In some instances they were superior to horses, for they could stand harder labor and strain and endure more heat than most horses. Then too, a mule will not drink too much when hot and thirsty, nor overeat and founder, as horses do. For this reason some believed mules were more intelligent than horses.

A hybrid, some fine mules were raised in Holt County by using a “Mammoth” jack on Percheron mares. It was never considered safe to allow a “jack” to run with geldings or a stallion. Big, powerful animals, one could easily kill a horse by taking the windpipe in his jaws and refusing to let go.

Mules were used a great deal in both world wars as artillery pack animals and to carry rations through mud and in mountainous terrain. Ed Rector of the “Mule Shoe” ranch north of Page bought unbroke mules during World War One, broke them by working them through the summer to put up his hay, then sold them to the Government in the fall.

Buv Wanser, who probably bought and sold more horses and mules than any other man in the county, broke out an entire section of land with mules. He started the plowing in early March, employing forty to fifty mules. One twelve-mule team hitch was used on a three-bottom plow (an uncommon implement in those days) and a seven-mule hitch pulled a two-bottom plow. Walking plows pulled by three-mule team hitches were used by as many laborers as it was possible to hire.

Recently a “hinny” colt was foaled on the Dale Barnes place near Atkinson. A hinny is the opposite of a mule, being the offspring of a stallion and a jenny mule. This one was sired by “Sunny,” a Shetland stallion. The last peviously recorded hinny in Nebraska was foaled in 1928.

Justin Butterfield and Elmer Edmin- sten once owned about twenty-seven head of mules weighing from 750 to 900 pounds. Purchased from the Charlie Peterson estate, the hybrids came out of Dakota. Justin still keeps a team to drive in parades, and Buck Edminsten rides one to sort cattle in the sale barns in Atkinson. At the State Fair in 1925 Guy Beckwith bought a big jack from J. R. Paul of Elgin for $750. He weighed 1100 pounds but, said Beckwith, I saw a much larger one sell in Petersburg, Nebraska, that they claimed weighed 1400 pounds and was registered. His name was “Orphan Johnnie” and he brought $1600 at public auction. Racing attracted wide attention in Holt in the days when meets were major events at county fairs at 69 O’Neill, Chambers and other towns. There were none of the niceties of present day races at these affairs. Instead of an electric starting gate, giving all a fair chance, the “hully gully” method was used, with each rider attempting to get a galloping start at the sound of the gun and “They’re Off!” The winners were decided by judges who stood at the finish line and tried to make fair decisions. Many a quarrel and dispute resulted.

Now starting gates are used, and an electric camera eye, operated by three stewards who stand high above the track, decides the outcome. Only the cry, “They’re Off!” is still the same. “Shady” individuals used to frequent the races, taking bets “by word of mouth.” This, too, caused many arguments and fights. Pari-mutuel betting has changed all this. Other hazards of the old-time race tracks were the “slickers” who preyed on the crowds, picking pockets and running “con” games. Today “security” and local police watch such details at all race meets.

Stimulants, too, or other drugs, were all too easily administered to race horses in the old days by quacks or fake horse doctors, or by crooked operators. Today a certified vetern- arian takes a urine or saliva test on all winners, thereby doing away with such illegal practices. Another trick often worked on unsuspecting crowds by dishonest horsemen was that of substituting a “ringer” for the horse originally entered in the race. Many a race, or the money wagered on it, was carried out of the community by this means. Today each horse entered in a race has his number tattooed on his upper lip. The number is checked against the register each day from the time the horse enters the paddock until the race is run.

Once, anyone of any age could ride in a race. Now jockeys must be at least sixteen years old and properly licensed. Today Holt County boasts one nationally known jockey, Willie Seger of Atkinson, who rode in the 1950’s and 1960’s. At present he is a valet at Omaha and Arizona tracks where he saddles runners and cares for racing tack.

One of Nebraska’s present racing officials, Irv Anderson, of Hoskins, was a famous jockey, riding for Calument Farms of Kentucky in the Kentucky Derby during the 1940’s. He is in the Nebraska Hall of Fame and is a breeder of horses near Hoskins. Some Holt County horses of the present are products of his breeding stock.

It is hard to know where to begin in describing racing in Holt County there were so many well-known owners and so many fine racers. J. J. Harrington, Pete Duffy, Dave and Matt Stannard, John Reimers, Jasper Hitchcock, Ed Thompson, Ben DeYarman, Hugh McKenna, Tom Matthews, Luke Shultz, Kelley brothers and the Froe- lichs are names to be reckoned with. In the old days the barns and race track were located in the northeast part of O’Neill at what is now eighth to ninth on Hynes. Horses for the big races held there came into town on “horse pullmans,” hooked onto passenger trains. On these occasions the racing stables wouldn’t begin to hold them all, so O’Neill residents let their Model T’s stand outside and rented their garages out for stalling horses. Emil Sniggs had a blacksmith shop where the Standard station is now, and had a scale to weigh each racing plate, which he was most expert at attaching to a racer’s foot. One of the best horses that ever raced on the old track was “Shade On,” owned by John S. Kay of Ewing.

Shortly after he was foaled, the colt was trampled by some other horses and his leg broken. Mr. Kay nearly decided to have him shot, then changed his mind and had Dr. Watson set the break and put the leg in splints, then turned him out with his mother. .When he checked on him later he found the splints had been kicked off and the colt was running about as though nothing had happened. From then on he developed into a beautiful bay stallion.

“Shade On” Lunnette Swain, as a little girl, knew the beautiful pacer. “The race track was near the Ewing schoolhouse,” she remembers, “And Tom Cox trained the horse there. All the town kids would go down there and watch by the hour while he trained him on a two-wheeled cart. Then he was taken all over the South by Joe Kay, Tom Cox and my brother, Joe Swain. He beat all the other horses and became very famous. Every time he won Ewing had a big celebration, with free ice cream and candy for the kids.” Shade On went on to win the Classic Chamber of Commerce Stake at Detroit, Michigan, setting the World’s record for a mile with the time of 2:8.4. He won many races and became the sire of other famous “Shady Davie” by Shade On. With George W. Davies of Ewing.

horses and many good buggy horses. Many of Holt County’s fine racers and driving horses traced back to Shade On, and one of his fine sons was “Speed On,” also a pacer. Gene Leahy of Rushville has a picture of Speed On with all four feet off the ground while racing. Shade On’s later headquarters were at Neligh, and when he died he was buried there and a monument was erected to him. Romaine Saunders, “only a kid” in 1884 when the first Holt County fair was held in O’Neill, recalls that horse racing was the big attraction at that and subsequent fairs. All else came to a standstill while the horses were running, he wrote. Al Heilman and Jimmy Wynn entered the two speediest running horses, while the trotting matches were won somewhat alternately by Ed Thompson’s Hamble- tonian and Joe Plank’s horse.

One day, while Heilman’s little roan and Wynn’s spotted shavetail were racing toward the finish line, a dog that had followed his female owner to the fair dashed onto the track after the horses. Al drew his revolver, which he always carried, and shot the dog. “The lady sobbed.” In the early twenties Charley Irwin used to bring in race horses from Wyoming for these meets. Between races he would stand up and sing for the crowd. Andrew Johnson trained horses for Pete Duffy, Holt County sheriff, who owned the mare “Blue Rock,” holder of the half-mile cinder track record.

Pete Duffy, a great race horse enthusiasist, got his start in racing with two Thoroughbreds owned by the Government. “He made his home in th6 apartment over the Jail of the old Court House when I worked for him,” wrote Henry Scripter. “When I was twelve years old I took in the county fair at O’Neill and entered the races, riding a little pony on which I came in first. When Mr. Duffy’s jockey didn’t show up for the big races that day I was asked to ride, and was fitted out in the colors his jockey wore. Although it was my first experience in big time races I brought in three first place winners for him. Later he came to Atkinson to see my parents, and they agreed to let me ride for him.

70 “I lived with him and attended the Catholic school in O’Neill. He had many good horses and I began by working them out on the old fair grounds race track. As I worked with each horse and learned to know him a bond developed between us. All his horses were registered. At first he had Kentucky Whips, five-gaited horses. (Later he had the Thoroughbreds.) They were outstanding individuals. “Romeo,” a big black stallion, ran the one and five-eights mile race. Willing and eager, we took many firsts with him and never used a whip or bat.

“Miss Bagdad,” “Blue Lady” and ‘Nebraska Lady” were others we raced. I broke and raced many young horses for him, traveling throughout Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Kansas and Colorado, always coming in first or second. When he was on duty as sheriff he left the care of his horses to his trainer, Andrew Johnson, and me. I worked out his horses, entered the races and rode as his jockey. A wonderful person, Mr. Duffy was like a father to me. He was kind to everyone, young and old alike.” Many good horses came out of Duffy’s breeding, including “Prairie King,” “Arrow Heart” and “Colonel Beebe.” These last three were out of Duffy’s “Truant” and were owned by Buv Wanser, who bought them as “weaners” about 1930. “Colonel Beebe” was raced on the tracks at Lincoln. On a one hundred dollar bet with Marian Van Berg of Columbus, he placed in a matched race with Van Berg’s “Marion Lou,” outrunning her by a length and a half.

“Prairie King,” another Wanser winner on the tracks at the State Fair, was later sold to Dr. King at Sioux City, Iowa. “Billy Tinker,” “Arrow Heart” and “Flapper” were winners on the tracks at Albion, Fullerton, Walthill, Madison and at Winner, South Dakota, coming in first, second or third. A little bay pony, raced under a light saddle in matched races for about two blocks, was a fine short distance horse and never known to be outrun. Around 1911 Buv Wanser had a good unregistered match horse, “Jesse Page.” Entered in matched races on Saturday afternoons, or whenever a crowd gathered, he was hard to beat.

Jasper Hitchcock of Atkinson was another who got his start as a jockey for Pete Duffy. Starting in 1929, he raced the Duffy horses at the South Fork fair in Holt County and at the Antelope and Rock County fairs, and then on the tracks at Aberdeen and Pierre in South Dakota. Winners were “Blue June,” “Billy Tinker” and “Gladys McAllister.” As a trainer he followed the circuits covering California, Ohio, Michigan, Arkansas and Nebraska, and on into Canada. Most of the horses he trained and raced were his own. Later he rodeoed at Belle Fourche, South Dakota, Great Falls, Montana and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Jasper owned and raced “Saxon Door,” out of “Open Door,” a Government Remount stallion bred at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. An outstanding Thoroughbred, he won his first race as a two-year-old. His circuit included tracks at Chicago, Denver and Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 1956 he broke his leg in a race in Denver and had to be destroyed. Another of Jasper’s Jasper Hitchcock and “Saxon Door,” winner of an Ak-Sar-Ben race at Omaha on May 21, 1954.

Thoroughbreds, “Galla Pierre,” won a big race one week, and the next week fell dead on the track as he was being worked out by Ron Alexander, Hitchcock’s jockey.

Back in those days O’Neill and the surrounding country side were full of fast horses and races were a daily event. Ed Thompson had a stable of Hambletonians. Dave and Matt Stan-nard knew how to handle the fancy steppers and Ben DeYarman spent most of his time on a sulky. Match horses were owned by nearly every horseman. In 1915-‘l 6 Tom Matthews owned a good one named “Ketch- em.” Luke Schultz owned “Burlington Bess” and “Number 37,” both registered Thoroughbreds. A good horse out of “War Instigator,” a Government Remount stallion, was another, owned by Joe Gallagher of Inman. John Reimers was a harness racer. He had come from Iowa to a homestead near Pierce, some sixty miles southeast of O’Neill, at twelve years of age. Involved with horses from then on, he was in a runaway at the Pierce elevator and broke his leg. The same leg was later broken twice more, leaving him somewhat crippled for the rest of his life. In 1913 he acquired the flashy pacer, “Agnes W.” The handsome brown mare raced on circuits in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, as well as in Nebraska. If a man had a consistent winner he had to take precautions, as winners were sometimes poisoned, doped, or had their tendons cut to put them out of commission. Agnes W’s driver, Less Walker, always slept in her box car with her as she was shipped from frock to track. In the barns he slept by her stall. About 1915 Reimers sold her to Hugh McKenna of O’Neill and bought “Belle Coronado,” another brown mare, and “King Woodford,” a stallion. He raced both at county fairs at Madison, Pierce and Neligh. Belle always came in first and King second. J. H. Reimers with Belle Coronado. Mr. Reimers was a large man, which prevented him from driving a sulky. Belle, however, was a big animal and he often drove her himself. After he moved to Inman he sold Belle Coronado to a man from Greensboro, North Carolina for $750. When last heard from the big horse was racing on the ice in Canada. A man who had high regard for his horses and was well-known for the care he gave them, Reimers was unhappy when he saw how poorly “Agnes W” was doing. He bought her back from McKenna and with the help of Dr. Morgan Grosser of Inman, tried to get her back in shape, hoping to raise a colt or two from her. But the more continued to deteriorate until, finally concluding she had been poisoned, he had to have her destroyed. Just three months short of ninety years of age, John Reimers passed away in 1968.

A fine colt with a broken leg was given to Bill Kelley by Buv Wanser in 1946. The leg healed crooked and it was thought the colt would never run on a track. By the time the youngster was two years old it was noticed that it could outrun a few Thoroughbreds which the Kelleys had entered in races at county fairs. Since the colt weas eligible for registration, the owners obtained the papers from William Berigan, who had raised the colt, and registered him as “Beef Buyer” by “Bubbles” and out of “Miss Charmaine.” Beef Buyer won on pari- mutual tracks at Columbus, Lincoln, Madison, Mitchell and Alliance, Nebraska. Another Kelley Thoroughbred, “Our Marilyn,” won for five consecutive years on tracks at Fonner Park in Grand Island, Madison, Downs, and at the Nebraska State Fair. “Yor Beam,” a winner at Park Jefferson in Sioux 71 City, Columbus, Madison, Downs and the State Fair for the same number of years, was purchased from Dr. Roy Cram of Burwell. “Yor Little” out of “Yor Beam” won at the Atokad tracks “Yor Little”, Mrs. William E. Kelley, owner; James Kelley, Trainer; Dennis Baxter, up. 512 fur. 1:07.2, Aug. 6, 1973. 2nd, King Hunza, 3rd, Royal Love. $2500 claim; purse $1800. in South Sioux City in 1971 and Lincoln in 1972 and ’73. And the Kelleys still have good prospects in the yearling (1973) “Yor Keen” out of “Yor Beam” and by “Keen Prince,” and in a yet unnamed colt out of “Phil’s Kristi” and “Router Lance,” a new bloodline of Kentucky Derby fame. All are owned and trained by the partner brothers, James and William Kelley.

Many Holt County businesses revolved around horses. Numerous dealers made good livings buying, selling and trading horses. Horse doctors kept busy treating the divers ailments of the animals. Livery stables did a lively business stabling and renting horses and rigs. Blacksmith and harness shops were a vital part of the industry. In time the early buying and selling of horses evolved into the more modern horse auctions of later times.

The regular “traders” were the men who brought horses into the county by the herd or by the train load. “Wagon traders” were the Gypsy caravans, driving through the country in covered wagons, trailing their trading stock behind them. Buv Wanser and another man drove 450 head of horses down from Martin, South Dakota, at an early date. Guy Johnson of northern Holt County shipped in carloads of better class broncos from Reliance, South Dakota. Some were shipped on to Omaha and to Paducah, Kentucky. Through the Government Rehabilitation Program he supplied Holt County farmers with both green and well broken horses in the 1930’s. Jim and Jack Berigan dealt in horses over a wide area, buying as many as five carloads a week for Hilliker and Simpson at Fremont. Used in the cavalry and as artillery horses, they went to the French, British and United States governments during World War I. A good mule brought $500 or more in the twenties because of the demand for them in the South where they stood the heat better than horses. Carload lots went from Holt County to dealers in Missouri who resold them.

Many branded horses, bought in Wyoming, South Dakota and western Nebraska, and wild when they reached Holt, were halter or harness broken and resold as four-year-olds. Charley Julius had a way with horses and broke many difficult animals. “Dealing in horses was an enticing business. Opening up in December and January and lasting until May, horses were traded and sold after crops were harvested, and replaced up until time to go to work in the fields in the spring.”* Graver and Bronson, horse dealers in eastern Holt County, furnished stock for Ewing rodeos in 1914 and ’15, where some of the contestants were Roy Hunter, Fuzzy Reinke and Lyle Van Patter. Levi Fuller of Emmet was another prominent horse dealer during the first world war. He kept his horses in a large barn on the west edge of town and also raised from twenty to thirty colts each year. After the establishment of auctions at the Rass Roberts livery stable in O’Neill, he was a regular buyer, purchasing many Dakota broncs. Paul Wright, a Negro horse buyer, lived in O’Neill in the 1900’s. Many of the horses he bought were for the U. S. cavalry and had to be very, very good. Indians, too, got into some of the deals. They liked to sell entire families of horses together— the mare, suckling colt, yearling and two-year-old.

Range horses had a common trait— the mares always tried to go back to the home range to foal, the rest to go back to the place where they were born. Distance was no deterrent but fences often stopped them. This trait resulted in many advertisements such as the following: “The Frontier, June 21 , 1883. Stolen or Strayed. From my place on Tuesday night, a dark bay pony, newly shod, weight 825 pounds. Liberal reward for recovery of property or information. James Dorgan.” Or, “Strayed: From the undersigned, about half way between Stuart and Morris Bridge on the head of Ash Creek, Friday night, June 9, one dun colored horse, black mane and tail, with halter on. Reward of $10 is offered for information as to his whereabouts, or $20 for return. H. J. Crandall, Stuart.” Some men, such as the Cad- walladers of Stuart, made a business of breaking horses for people who had no time or ability for the job themselves. They also broke many mules for the Papkes, dealers at Jamison, Nebraska. For twelve years Harry Cadwallader bought killer horses through sale barns, and at private sale, for the Silver Fox Farm at Stuart. From 1935 on, two horses a day, costing from ten to twenty-five dollars apiece, were used. Averaging a semi-truck load a week, killer horses from Norfolk to Valentine and up into Edgement and Mission, South Dakota, were sold for four to six cents a pound to pet food manufacturers at North Platte.

The wagon traders were quite numerous during the severe drouth years of the thirties. Farmers who dried out in the Dakotas hitched up their teams, loaded their families into covered wagons and headed south where, along the valley roads, rivers and streams, there was still some forage. Trailing behind them a bunch of horses, they now and then sold one for a few dollars, enabling them to keep going.

During those years it was not uncommon to see such a caravan camped alongside a main road, the family clustered around a camp fire. The men worked each neighborhood, selling or trading horses. The trader always had to have some “boot” on a trade and it might take several days to “dicker” over the number of old hens it would take to complete the trade. The progress of a caravan was slow, what with the trading and the necessity for the horses to graze their own living along the way.

The Masons were a trading family that came to be well-known in Holt County. They came, one fall, to the rodeo at the Chambers South Fork Fair, bringing their horses. A son, Jerry, entered the saddle brane competition. In 1930 another son, Louis, rode as a jockey for Buv Wanser. Among their horses was one which was most unkept in appearance. Just before entering a town they hitched him to a wagon and drove the sorry looking animal in. This was “Red Link,” out of “Gold Link,” a good short distance horse that, in spite of his looks, was always in top running condition. All comers were challenged to race against the harness scarred old wagon horse. He looked easy to beat— but that happened only once— when he was run in a matched quarter-mile race against “Corn Cutter,” a horse owned by Charley Irwin. “Polly,” the fine dogging horse owned by Vern Whitaker of Chambers, was out of “Red Link.” Another good horse run by the Masons was “Johnny Brown.” He, too, had had the hair rubbed off his Quote from Jack Berigan, octogenarian and one-time prominent Ewing horse dealer. 72 hide by a brick wherever harness straps and tugs ordinarily scarred a horse. He, too, was rarely outrun in a matched race. This trick, of course, could not be worked very often in the same town or community, but the Masons traveled a wide scope of country and did very well.

Their caravan was made up of several families and most of them became excellent horsemen. Two of the brothers (possibly Jerry and Louis) were especially good and made exhibition rides at rodeos. One rode in the conventional way, the other, with his feet on the swells of the saddle, held onto the saddle strings and rode astride the brother’s neck. The Westons, Mose, Sam and Jim, and their families were also well- known traveling traders. Eventually they settled at Opportunity. Mrs. Jim Weston was from the South and at fifty years of age was still working out race horses. Jack Kendall, member of another trading family, owned a bull dog that could work his way into a farm yard and catch chickens for the family dinner pot as the wagon passed by.

Bill Anderson and his wife traded through northern Nebraska and into South Dakota. Bill, Jim and Ed Rhodes, horse traders all, finally settled in eastern Holt County. In the early twenties one trader stopped at the blacksmith shop in Page for minor repairs. Crates beneath their wagon carried “fighting cocks” and “setting hens.” No doubt their owner made a little extra money wherever he could arrange a fight. Page had no fighting roosters, so there was no match. The last of the covered wagon horse traders passed into history in the early fifties and, as Marge Kelley of the horse racing Kelleys said, “Holt County misses the “Old Trader” and his wagon with his trading stock following behind, with maybe a ‘stray’ or two picked up along the way. Now they live in memory only.” Side by side with horses were the “vets,” and Holt had some good ones. They were of two kinds, licensed and unlicensed. The licensed men went to school and earned degrees. The others used “horse sense,” studied from the many excellent books on horse doctoring and picked up a good deal of knowledge by helping the licensed veternarians.

Some of the licensed men in southern Holt county were Dr. McCart, Dr. Bernard and Dr. Tichler. Fred Hitchcock practiced at Atkinson, Dr. Mord Crasser and Dr. Smallbone at Inman and Page. In O’Neill there were Dr. H.L. Bennett and Dr. George Cook. In recent years Earl Estes and Fritz Desieve have served at Stuart. Dr. Lyman White is now located at Atkinson.

Local men who treated sick or wire cut horses in the south part of the county in earlier times were Charley Sigman, Jack Tibbetts and Ace Fouts. An auctioneer at Inman, George Coleman, was often called to treat horses in his area. Around Page the services of Bert Gray, Charles Auten, “Daddy” Olds and Doc Holliday were in demand. Other county horse doctors were Kidel, Wilkinson, Spittier, Hopkins and Giltersteen. Jim Brown, a veteran of the Spanish American war, was another.

Horses suffered from a variety of illnesses. Foundering (from overeating, or drinking too much when overheated) was common, so was colic and bowel impaction. Distemper, a respiratory disease, took its toll if not successfully treated. Worms, sprains, hoof trouble, “heaves,” were ailments the horse doctors were called upon to cure.

The most dreaded diseases were Swamp Fever and Sleeping Sickness. The first, prevalent only in the southern sub-irrigated section of the county in the Elkhorn and South Fork valleys, could be either chronic or acute. In the latter case the horse usually died, in the former he was of little or.no use for work. Some farmers lost their entire supply of horse power to the disease. In the 1920’s on epidemic wiped out most of the horses Levi Fuller of Emmet kept to sell or trade.

Sleeping sickness or encephalitis could attack anywhere. A summer disease, it took its toll of a farmer’s work stock just when he needed them most, and it was no respecter of horses. It struck the best and highest priced roping, dogging, racing or draft animal, as well as the cheapest plug. Fortunately, a vaccine has been found and, like polio, it is no longer to be feared.

Livery stables made up one of the livliest industries of the frontier towns. There was always something going on at the stables and much of the male population of any town gathered there to see who was coming and going, to look over the outfits stabled there, or to dicker over a trade. And not the least of the kinds of excitement to be found at a livery stable was on the occasion when it burned down— as most of them did. George H. (Hurley) Jones, (ninety years old in 1975) writes, “I can recall eight livery stables that were in O’Neill at one time or another. Bennett Martins’ stable, in back of the alley just southwest of the First National Bank, was finally torn down. The Moffit livery barn, facing south in the block where the post office is now, was destroyed by fire in 1892. The Adams and I.R. Smith barn, on south Fourth Street, burned down in 1896. About twenty horses burned. “The DeYarman barn burned in 1899, along with fifty horses. The Ed Ward barn, just across the street from it, burned the same day. Mullen Brothers’ barn burned down on election night in 1901. Twenty-five horses burned with it. The barn was rebuilt, then torn down in 1924. The Ike Boggs barn stood where the new city hall is now. The Lakan barn on Fourth and Fremont burned about 1910. Two horse drawn hearses, owned by the livery, burned in the fire. They were replaced, then when cars came in they were bought by a rancher and used as feed wagons. Remains of dead animals, burned in the John Dierk’s barn fire, the 64×64 foot barn burned to the ground on Feb. 2, 1891. Thirty head of horses, ten head of hogs, six sets of harness, saddles and machinery were lost. Among the horses were all of Mr. Dierk’s best railroad freighting teams and a $500 stallion.

Fred Wise had a livery at Stuart about 1916 and ’17. To get some spending money for one Fourth of July, the Cadwalladers delivered loose hay to the barn for four dollars a ton. A livery barn owned by Homer Everetts, a homesteader from northwest of Stuart, burned, destroying buggies, harness and horses. At one time A.K. and W.K. Smith had a livery in Stuart.

Sam Hadley had the first livery stable in Page. It stood south of the depot. John Walker and the Rakows had stables there later on. Jim Barrett owned a stable in Atkinson. John Taylor drove livery for him and helped unhitch. Don Binkerd had a livery in Dorsey. Bill Crippen had one after 1910. Ranchers in the South Fork country hauled countless tons of hay to Inman, left their teams in the corral or stable at night, and made the return trip home the next day with loads of wire, coal and groceries. After his barn burnt in Inman, Archibald Tompkins, better known as “Arch,” bought quantities of hay and piled it where the I.O.O.F hall now stands. The hay was hauled in from the South Fork country by four and eight horse teams, then reloaded on railroad cars and shipped east. Mr. Tompkins also sold Studebaker wagons, before the barn burned, and Mrs. Tompkins ran a hotel just east of it.

Other livery stables in the county 73 City, the: year Crar “Yo P belonged to S.S. Wilt, Stuart, 1900; F.D. Hall, Page, 1902; and Mellor and OV ni: 19 Lc in Line Kei the “Yo ant “Pr nev fan the Wi I vol de* sel do ail die rer an* the an me tin wf the fro dri wo be otl de an nc ca Re sh Ke Re H< ar Mellor & Quilty Livery and Feed Stable in O’Neill. Note the variety of rigs in front of the stable. Courtesy Eugenia Bowen Quilfy, O’Neill, date not given. There were several other barns in Atkinson. The one that ran the longest and was the most conveniently located was that of Wheeler & Son. F.G. Weller established a livery and feed stable there in 1883; F.L. Smith in 1882 and J.B. Jones the fancy “Palace Livery, Feed & Sale Stable in 1881.” The Butler Livery Stable in Ewing. The owner, Will Butler on right. Coe Butler holding horse in doorway. Courtesy Vera Anson Blacksmiths, too, depended on the horse and wagon trade for their livelihood, and every town and community had one or more. The smith shod horses, repaired wagons and m Hi in th u W George Lambert’s Blacksmith Shop in Ewing about 1920. Courtesy Ida Lambert. machinery and sharpened plow lays. It wasn’t uncommon to see teams lined up for a block, waiting to be shod at popular smiths such as Puddle Haynes shop at Page. Puddle forged shoes and charged a dollar a foot (or hoof) to put them on.

The first blacksmith shop in Ewing was built and operated by Adam Hohmen. Later smiths were John Race and Sylvester Schlotman. Frank Noffke, Sr., an immigrant from Germany, also built a shop in Ewing. His son, Frank, Jr., and grandson, Larry, operated it later. In 1882 Dan Cook had a shop in Dorsey, and Joe Gans had one in Stuart long ago. Early smiths in O’Neill were Emil Sniggs, Frank Merritt, Mike Tierney, John McKenna, Jess Bright, Emil Hagensick, Frank Howard, Ol ie Olson and Fred Tenborg. A man named Switzer had a shop a few miles out in the country.

Men who ran shops in Inman were Charlie Fowler, Ambrose Babcock, Bert Coates, and Earl Stevens, who went by the name of “Blackie” Stevens. P.H. Cosner had a shop at Dustin in 1883; Carl Barthel had the first shop in Amelia. A.L. Tomsik in 1880 opened a blacksmith shop and also sold farm implements, wagons and buggies in Atkinson. W.J. Dexter started a shop there the following year, and Daniel Lych was another early Atkinson smith.

While their women folks visited and traded out their cream and eggs at the general merchandise emporiums, the men took care of their black-smithing needs and traded news and gossip in the smoky, casual atmosphere of the flaming forge, sizzling water tub and clanging anvil.

Harness shops, although never such popular loafing spots as livery stables and blacksmith shops, were also vital to the trade. One could usually quickly find the shop by the life-size “plaster of Paris” horse that stood by its door, wearing a set of shining new harness, often with a fancy fly net on top. Inside the shop harness hung from stout pegs along the walls; heavy work harness; light, fancy buggy and carriage harness; plain, heavy duty plow harness and highly polished, brass nail studded sets that cost over one hundred dollars. A well equipped shop had all kinds.

Horse collars, too, ran the gamut from plain to fancy; huge collars for the powerful Clydesdale, Percheron or Belgian draft or work horses; small, light ones for the high-stepping trotters. Hames came in plain, cheap sets for ordinary plow horses, or with gleaming two-inch brass balls on their tips, where they showed off well above a big teams’ shoulders. Strings A typical harness shop. Courtesy Marie Krysl of colored celluloid harness rings, hanging from hooks, added frosting to the whole display. Fly nets, both plain and fancy, hung overhead, their cord or leather strands waving in every breeze like up-side-down seaweed. Harness shops sold new harness and repaired the old. A few harness men even made the harness they sold. A Mr. Gilmore in Ewing had such a shop and his harness were hand sewn with an awl and two needles. The last set made there was in 1900. Stubby Clark repaired harness and sold new sets in Inman.

H.B. Hubbard had a shop in O’Neill. (His daughter, Fern Hubbard Orme, later became a state senator.) When Tim Harrington came home from the first world war he went to work for Hubbard and later took over the business. C. C. Brewer also had a shop in Inman. It stood close to the Watson hay office and Al Judd had a shoe and harness repair shop on the other side of the hay office. Bert Shearer had a shop in Stuart in 1906. Twenty years later he sold it to Frank Root, who ran it until 1950. Prince Stevens made harness in his shop in Page. Vernie Hunter took it over later, and in the 1930’s Cliff Frink was in the harness business. In Inman the harness shop was run by John P. Mansenar, the shoe shop by Mike Slattry and a man named Brennan. Wagon shops were a part of the trade. Some early owners made the wagons they sold, others shipped them in “knocked down” and put them together in the shop. In a good shop one could find as many varieties of rigs as there are models of cars today. Heavy freight wagons, lighter lumber wagons, still lighter spring wagons, two-wheeled carts and plain and fancy buggies and carriages. Some of the latter had kerosene side lamps, fenders and side curtains. Buggies came with tongues for two horses and with shafts for one. Even hearses could be purchased at some wagon shops.

All hauling, or draying, in the towns was done by local teamsters. With their big teams and heavy dray wagons, they unloaded freight from railroad cars, or picked it up at the depot, and delivered it to the stores, A dray wagon pulled by a good half Coach, half Percheron team. The owner (not named) paid $400 for the team, pictured here in front of R. R. Morrison’s grocery store in O’Neill. Clay Johnson Collection shops and mills. Groceries, coal, lumber, dry goods and many other commodities were their stock in trade. Cream and eggs, loaded at the merchants’ back door platforms, were 74 hauled to the depot and loaded onto trains. In some cases even-the U.S. mail was delivered by dray to and from the post office.

Henry Ickhoff ran a dray service at Page in the early twenties. With his big black team, he was considered an outstanding teamster. One day, when a discussion arose in town as to whether or not three husky men could hold a good pulling team at the end of a thousand feet of rope, a hundred dollars and the price of a new rope were wagered by Buv Wanser and Heeb Asher.

Three men braced themselves in a shallow pit, holding fast to a drive shaft. As the Ickhoff team tightened the rope, the “stretch” came out and the team held. When the taut rope began to vibrate the men lost their grasp and the rod flew thirty feet into the air.

Hauling baggage to and from the depot to the hotels was also a part of a drayman’s business. One or more of a town’s leading hotels furnished “sample rooms” where salesmen spread their wares for the merchants who came to look and order. Thus salesmen, with their heavy trunks and sample cases, depended on draymen for “drayage” of their luggage. Sale “The undersigned will have in O’Neill on and after August 15, 1883, 200 head of Norman and Morgan horses, raised in Nevada and purchased of O.B. Hayer, the Nevada horse breeder. The herd consists of 100 mares, 40 of which have colts at their sides, the mares weighing 1000 to 1150 pounds. Besides these there are 100 head of geldings and fillies, better than average American colts. All of the above will be sold dirt cheap. There is with the herd three blooded stallions, and most of the mares which have no colts are with foal. Wilcox and Flanagan.” The above advertisement ran in an 1883 O’Neill Frontier and was typical of the times. By the early thirties the largest horse market in northeast Nebraska had been established by W.E. Wanser at Page. This was the “auction” as we know it today and all horses were sold by the head to buyers seated on open bleachers built beside an arena. Later a scale was added and a barn was built over the sale ring and seats.

Beside local horses, many hundreds from western Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas went over the block in the Page ring. Some sold as saddle horses but the majority went as work horses. Through the winter from fifty to seventy-five head were sold each sale day. Special sales lasted two days and from three hundred to five hundred head were sold.

If sold as “broke,” a work horse had to be proven. Cliff Frink tried each horse on a wagon with a “hitch horse.” The hitch horse had to be gentle and well-broken, one that could be depended on to stand hitched, holding up his half of the neck yoke. To work all day’sometimes with horses not very well- broken’he had to have plenty of stamina. Horses tried with the hitch horse had to walk and trot fifty yards, then turn and run back. After a fifty-yard run, if the breathing was abnormal the horse was termed “off in the wind” and rejected.

In the thirties a good horse or mule brought $100 and up. Today a good team of draft geldings will bring around $925.00 and registered Belgian mares will bring $1000 to $1500 or more. As has been said, it takes a wealthy man to own work horses today. Only two regular horse auctions are held in Holt County today, both at Atkinson, one in the spring and one in the fall.

Roger Bowen, learned the trade under W. E. Wanser, one of the best judges of horses in the county. While employed at the sale barn he acquired several good horses. One was “Pat.” A pinto, white with roan spots, he came from Martin, South Dakota, as a three-year-old. Weighing around 1050 pounds and well built, Pat had a fast running walk, a nice canter, and could run a hole in the wind.

“Smithy,” a bony blue roan came from the same part of South Dakota. A rough eleven hundred pound horse, he carried three brands. A powerful animal, “you knew you were on horseback when you rode him,” and he had an uncanny way of sensing what a cow planned to do’and beating her to it. He had been named “Smithy” after his previous owner who was caught leading stolen horses on him. When the rustler was sentenced to penal servitude and forced to sell the horse, Roger bought him at private sale.

“Polly,” another fine horse, was also a blue roan, owned by Vern Whittaker of Chambers, she was out of “Red Link” and was foaled in 1934. When Vern bought her she was an unbroken four-year-old. The second year he had her, she placed in the steer wrestling at the big Burwell rodeo. Soon known for her terrific burst of speed, she was used in rodeos throughout the west and was a money maker for her owner, who received one-third of her earnings from the contestants who rode her. Staying cool in the midst of noise, excitement and competition, Polly always drew attention’and cheers-from any crowd. Because of her outstanding performance and desirable conformation, she was accepted in the Quarter Horse Registry. The horses “Slash” and “Red,” which Chip Whittaker now uses in rodeos, are grandsons of Polly. To further carry on the fame of the great Chip Whittaker coming out of chute. He has already roped his calf. Courtesy E. L. Miner blue roan, “Sand Hill Sadie,” her granddaughter, is presently being used as a barrel horse by Amy Whittaker, an Inter-Collegiate rodeo contestant and consistent winner. “Red Link,” sire of old Polly, wes acquired from the horse trading Mesons by swopping two teams, on old race horse end four hundred dollars for him.

Other Holt County horses of note were Dick and Barney, a team of bay horses totaling three tons (6,000 Lee Brady with the big team, Dick and Barney. Courtesy Lee Brady pounds) in weight. They were owned by the Brady brothers, Lee and Lloyd, of Steel Creek precinct, who had purchased them separately. Although unrelated they were perfectly matched in color and movement— and each had his left eye out. They were shown at circuses, fairs and other exhibitions all over the country during the summer of 1930 and were believed to be the largest team of horses in the world.

And then there was “Lubber.” Lubber, a huge crossbred gelding, tipped the scales at 3,350 pounds. He was foaled on the Mellor ranch at Redbird by “Queen,” a thousand pound mare, and was sired by an average sized stallion. From that start he grew and grew’to become the largest horse in the world, or so it was said in Holt County. When his owner 75 was unable to find a harness or collar large enough to fit him, he was sold to Charlie Mitchell of Spencer, a government horse buyer, who planned to show him at the Chicago International Livestock Show.

“Lubber”. Courtesy Eugenia Bowen He was next purchased by A.E.

Ponton and Sons and placed on exhibition with the Walter Savage Carnival Company of Wayne, Nebraska, which was showing through Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. He was to wind up in New Orleans, and then to go to Madison Square Garden for the winter. However, Lubber never made it to Madison Square. At Rock Island, Illinois, he suddenly became ill and died. An autopsy showed that a needle had pierced his right shoulder and worked into his heart. He was eight years old when he died in 1922. One of Holt County’s mules also made the notable list. Owned by Dr. H.L. Bennett, an O’Neill veterinarian, the mule stood seventeen and one- half hands high, or seventy inches at the withers. Old “Tom” came out of the Dustin area and weighed in at 1700 pounds. With ears measuring fifteen inches in length, he was well equipped to respond when called. Whether or not his “Hee Haw” matched his other measurements is not revealed.

For a good many years several Holt County ranchmen have made the breeding and raising of popular breeds of saddle horses their business. Charley Peterson, owner of the Lazy F ranch sixteen miles south of Atkinson was for a long time “Mr. Appaloosa,” the world’s largest owner and dealer in the beautiful spotted horses. Previous to 1957 he shared that honor with Howard Rase of Missoula, Montana. Since it was a bit confusing to have two “world’s biggest Appaloosa ranchers,” Charley settled the question by buying Mr. Raser’s entire herd and taking indisputable right to the title. The Appaloosa is the oldest known identifiable breed of horse, dating back some 2500 years. Brought to America’s shores by the Spanish Conquistadores, the horses fanned out in all directions. The Nez Perce Indians in the Palouse River region of Washington and Oregon, under the guidance of a missionary priest, learned the art of selective breeding and gelding. It was from this region that the name Appaloosa was coined by white men from the phrase “a Palouse horse,” Meriweather Lewis described them as being as finely bred as any of the Corsairs from the east, and they were found superior to U.S. Cavalry mounts.

After the Indian wars most of the Nez Perce horses were infused into draft and other breeds until only a few breeders still had the Appaloosa as it was found by Lewis and Clark. Then, in 1937, a few interested people who bred better horses for their own use decided to form the Appaloosa Horse Association and keep the breed pure. As the breed applies to Nebraska, the first one registered from the state was No. 151 Nebraska Champ. Bill Held of Chambers was the first breeder of registered Ap- paloosas in Holt County.

Old timers said there had always been Appaloosas here in the early Some of Charley Peterson’s Lazy F Appaloosas. Courtesy Eugenia Bowen days, only they were referred to as “Indian ponies.” The first one this writer (Duane Gray) remembers was one named “Spike” and owned by Buv Wanser at Page in the early 1920’s. A small white horse with black specks over the body, Spike could do “Spike”. Courtesy Eugenia Bowen it all. When livestock was moved “on the hoof,” he was often seen, riderless, trailing a bull or several horses and mules between Buv’s farm and the livery barn or stockyard in Page.

If Buv made a swap or purchase in the country the little Appaloosa could be depended on to bring the stock home. The first animal would be tied to Spike’s saddle horn and each successive horse to the tail of the one ahead. If they were not broken to lead at the start, they would be at the end of the trip. Buv won a bet that Spike could beat a man to a stake and back, for he could turn on a dime. After Charley Peterson became interested in the breed he bought more of them than any other Appaloosa fancier. Some were national champions, many were mediocre to poor. He then spent a month traveling 22,000 miles to find a stallion fine enought to head his big Lazy F herd. From then on he kept no male colt that didn’t conform to his strict requirements for beauty, intelligence, strength and stamina. It was the presence of all these components that made, and still make, the Appaloosa a top “Rough Country” cow horse. The world’s greatest Appaloosa herd was dispersed in 1973.

Quarter Horse breeding and showing, too, have long been an important part of the ranch horse business in Holt County. This great breed has proved its worth in a country where ranch work and rodeoing go hand in hand, and “Ready Fox” is believed to be the first registered Quarter Horse stallion brought into the county. A Dan Casement (Kansas) horse out of the “Duece,” he was owned by Vern Whittaker, the present owner , of “Zang Hancock,” a Fred Lowery steer-roping horse.

Sharon Miner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Miner of O’Neill, the first girl from Holt to compete in the State High School Rodeo held at Harrison, Nebraska, in 1957 was “State High Sharon Miner— taken at Harrison High School Rodeo.

School Rodeo Queen,” and competed on her registered Quarter Horse gelding, “Bing,” a son of “Ready Fox.” “Crying River,” a registered stallion from Mankato, Minnesota, was purchased by Millard and Mary Ellen- wood in partnership with Joe Wewell. At Millard’s death in 1959 the Ellenwood horses were dispersed. “Crying River” is now owned by Bill Farr of Newport; Nebraska.

76 Another fine herd of Quarter Horses is that of the AAudloff brothers, Larry and Norman. The foundation stock was acquired with the purchase of a stallion of “Pat Star” breeding from Melvin and Elva Carson, and “Poco Texas Lad, ” a Jack McGrew horse and an American Quarter Horse Association champion. Mares from the Willis Peterson ranch have been added. Larry now owns the stud, “Hackberry Two” by “Two D. Two,” the sire of “Two Eyed Jack,” a Howard Pitzer horse. In 1968 a training stable was built and there the brothers train horses in cutting and reining. A mare by “Poco Texas Lad,” trained by Larry, placed first in the novice cutting in 1969.

Other great horses to reckon with are “Salty K.K.” an AAA horse by “Bob K.K.” out of “Chicaro” and the splendid old mare, “Salty” of Marietta, Oklahoma, and a number of performance horses raised by the manager of the Lee ranch, Harvey Hanson. “Sally K.K.” was purchased about 1960 by Harvey Hanson of Atkinson, shortly before building a training barn Roger Mark, Darrel Peck, Kenny Prussa and Perry Franks trained the horses for cutting, roping and barrel race competition.

Keith Kennedy, son and grandson of skilled early day horsemen, now owns the fine stud “Johnny Twist,” grandson of “Hard Twist,” an outstanding horse raised by John Mohr. Keith also owns a number of other good registered Quarter Horses and, in 1974, built an indoor training arena where ropers from a wide area gather to compete in jack-pot roping. The Elkhorn Valley Quarter Horse Association, organized more than twenty years ago at Stuart, brought some fine Quarter Horse blood into north central Nebraska. Members were Wes Cobb, Arlo Rhodes, Jack McGrew, Rolly Peterson, Millard Ellen- wood and Willis Peterson. They imported the King Ranch bred “Wimpys Little Rascal,” “Poco Polo” and “Hells Half Acre.” Annual sales held thereafter featured the get of these noted sires. “Wimpys Little Rascal” is now twenty-four years old and turned out to pasture at the Jerry Steinhauser ranch.

Registered Quarter Horses from as far away as California and New York have been shown at the Elkhorn Valley Quarter Horse shows, which have been held regularly since 1963. The Norton-Carlisle Legion Post is the show’s sponsor and Ray Estes is ring steward.

The McVay Quarter Horse ranch just south of O’Neill, one of the oldest in the state, started in 1945 with a few good registered mares. Since then hundreds of good horses have been raised and sold. The stallions, “Adonna Man,” “Claremore,” “Star-fire Jag,” “Little Bracket and “Top Notch Twister,” have produced many outstanding using and show horses. In 1965 this ranch, too, built an indoor arena and a seventeen-horse stable. Bill Keyser, one of the top four trainers in the United State then moved to the ranch and trained there for six and a half years, producing many champions at major shows. Probably two of the best known horses from the McVay stables were “Star Nick” and “Adonna Man.” Star Nick, a mare ridden by Charlotte McVay, was a winner at many barrel races in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, winning over numerous other top G.R.A. racers. “Adonna Man,” ridden by Barbara McVay, won the High School Barrel Racing championship, tied for top Collegiate championship and was champion of the State of Nebraska NCRA in 1969 and 1971. Adonna Man, now seventeen years old, is still winning. Another good registered Quarter Horse stallion was “Frog,” owned by Lester and Charles Waterman of Page. The Watermans bought him from Jim Kirwin of Pickstown, South Dakota, in 1961. Out of “Frog W,” a Colorado horse, he .sired some good colts in Holt County.

During the first quarter of the present century Ruth and Caleb Thompson founded a white horse ranch near Stuart. A few years later they moved the ranch and their white horses to Naper, north of the Niobrara River in Boyd County. There they raised and trained pink skinned albino horses. The place soon became famous as the “White Horse Ranch.” Not only the horses but all the other livestock on the ranch was white: cows, chickens, cats, dogs.

Head of beautiful “White Wings.” White Horse Ranch.

A western wonderland in white, by the 1930’s the ranch was known nation wide. There the family produced fantastic shows featuring the founding herd of pure white American Albino horses. The white steeds, decked out in white saddles, blankets and bridles, carried riders (many of them beautiful girls) dressed all in white. Stage coaches and buggies used in the show were white and the performances took place against a background of white corrals, barns and the house. In time Warner Brothers came there to make two movies, “Ride A White Horse,” and “Ranch In White,” carrying the ranch’s fame to the farthest corner of the nation. In 1937 the Thompsons helped to found the American Albino Horse Association. The organization took place at their ranch and Ruth was its secretary. From 1939 to 1949 the National American Albino Horse shows were held at the ranch and the “Ranch in White Training and Riding School” was established there. The school was enormously popular. Young people, especially girls, flocked there to learn to ride and train and show horses. Thousands of tourists made the fantastic white ranch a stopping point on their way through Nebraska.

Grand Champion “Snow King” of the White Horse Ranch. Courtesy Eugenia Bowen.

The last White Horse Roundup was held at the ranch on June 14-15, 1963. Mr. Thompson’s death soon afterward put an end to the White Horse Ranch and its way of life. The animals and trappings were sold and Ruth moved to Oregon. The white buildings and fences lost their gleaming paint and fell into disrepair.

But neither Ruth Thompson nor some of those who had known and loved the famous ranch could forget it. And now, a dozen years later, the ranch is alive again. Ruth came “home” and a teacher from Sioux City, with a clutch of his teenage students, along with some old Stuart neighbors, have cleaned up and restored the place.

“Ladies in White” from the White Horse Ranch. Courtesy Eugenia Bowen.

It is now a retreat for boys and girls, and for families, who want a vacation in the peace and quiet of the Sandhills. A youth center, bird sanct- 77 G’NEILL PUBLIC LIBRARY uary, wild life kingdom, fishing paradise, or just a place to lie in the shade of the big old cottonwoods, if one is traveling Highway 20 across Nebraska, it’s a good place to stop. Another ranch, modeled on the great White Horse show place, is Myers Albino Acres, a 320 acre place a half mile northwest of Stuart, set up as a recreation camp for girls and owned and managed by Janice and Kay Myers.

The sisters rode in the Warner movies filmed at the Thompson ranch and use only Albino horses for their own riding and training school. The girls have built a cement block dormitory for sixteen girls, with dining room, kitchen, recreation grounds and swimming pool. On a smaller scale, their summer’s program follows the one developed at the old White Horse Ranch.

******** There were few Shetland ponies in Nebraska in 1915 when William H. Graver bought one for his four sons. The pony proved so popular with the neighbors’ children as well as his own that, a month later, he went to a public sale in Omaha and bought eleven more. “If so many people like the ponies,” he said, “why not make it a business?” By 1916 he had around one hundred Shetlands, registered and grade, on his ranch southwest of Ewing. Most were purchased in Illinois and Iowa. To be registered these ponies had to be less than forty-two inches tall. He could buy them for $75 to $125 per head at that time, and sell the weanling colts at an average price of $40 each. As many as fifty colts were foaled in a single year, the registered ponies selling for breeding stock and the grades for child use.

For nearly thirty years the Gravers showed their ponies at county fairs in O’Neill, Neligh and Albion, and at the State Fair in Lincoln. After each fair season they sold as many colts as they wanted to part with, then turned the mares out to pasture until the next spring.

William’s son, Dale L. Graver, continued to raise the ponies for fifty-seven years. In 1970 he sold twenty mares and has since dispersed the rest. Ponies had a hey day from 1955 to 1965, he said, and the business boomed. Almost any registered pony brought $500 to $5,000. Today there is little demand for the small horses. Pete Heriford of O’Neill also bought his first Shetland when his son was a little boy. The pony sparked an interest and one pony led to another until he had thirty-five head. He then formed a partnership with George Colman of Inman, with George training and showing the ponies. He broke some to ride, and nearly all to drive double to a light wagon, or single on a little sulky. Mares in foal were let out to families with children, who were allowed to keep the colt in return for the care of the mare. Mr. Heriford delighted in driving about O’Neill with his granddaughter and other small children in a light sulky. George Colman still owns two matched teams, a pair of dapples and a pair of spots, that he drives in parades.

There was too wide a gap between the forty-two inch Shetland and the average riding or saddle horse. To fill this gap the Pony of the Americas breed was developed. A “follow up” of the Appaloosa breed, enthusiasim in this type of pony was sparked by Leslie Boomhower of Mason City, Iowa, who owned a fifty-one inch white stallion with black spots. Along with two breeders from Montana and others, who owned small horses of this type and color pattern, they founded the Pony of the Americas Club in 1956.

Their purpose was to meet the need for saddle ponies for children who had outgrown the Shetlands, and to develop a uniform breed of western type pony with a minimum height of forty-six inches and a maximum height of fifty-four. All must have the Appaloosa color and characteristics. When his own children and their friends were at an age to need this type of saddle pony, Duane Gray of O’Neill, who had been a member of the Appaloosa Horse Club since 1946, turned to the new breed and purchased a Pony of America at the first National Breed Promotion Sale in Mason City in 1957.

Many of the ponies were developed by crossing Appaloosas on Welsh and Shetlands. Some, imported directly out of Old Mexico, had no Welsh or Shetland blood but were direct descendants of horses brought over by the Spanish Moors. Through many generations of bare existence they had been reduced in stature to the desired height for a Pony of America, but still retained the Appaloosa color and refinement of build. The blend of these bloodlines made a beautiful and popular pony which is now well established as a breed.

The Grays had a large herd of these ponies at one time. As the family grew older and the need for ponies was taken over by Appaloosas, Duane dispersed the last of his Americas in 1967.

Back in the early days Duane’s grandfather, Robert Gray, Sr., while proving up on his homestead, now a part of Page, had to make a trip back to Silver Creek and Genoa, Nebraska. Robert Gray homestead at Page, from which he drove to Petersburg where his buggy mare, Maude, burned to death. Courtesy Mrs. Evelyn Gray. He drove his buggy mare, Maude, a blend of Cleveland Bay and other light harness breeds, many of which are now extinct. Maude had a filly foal at side, sired by a Kentucky Whip stallion, another breed not heard of now.

The foal was left a home in the box stall. Mr. Gray stayed at Petersburg that night and Maude was burned to death in a livery stable fire. The orphaned filly grew up and became the source of some very fine saddle and harness horses. Her name was “Fleet” and she could run down a coyote, dodging and whirling until she could knock it out with her front feet. People around Page still remember Bert Gray’s jet black team. From this mare, they were sired by a Morgan stallion.

The following table of statistics for horses in Holt County, provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bu- reau of the Census, is most interest- ing: Census Number Numbei Year of Horses of Mule: 1880 1,137 104 1920 20,745 1,941 1930 16,125 1,774 1950 6,297 196 1969 1,457 12 The 1969 figure for horses includes 276 ponies and represents the number of horses on farms but does not include those kept at non-farm residents or in riding stables. The number had declined so far by 1964 that no census data on horses was taken. Most of those now owned in the county are pleasure horses. Even the beautiful draft horses, although worked on hay sleds and haying machinery in most instances, are kept mainly for the pride and pleasure of their owners, and for showing at fairs and/or for horse pulling contests, now growing in popularity again. Once a part of nearly every county fair, the contests went out when cars came in. In pioneer times worthwhile prizes were awarded the winners and competition was keen. Hurley Jones remembers that his father, George W. Jones, won a mower and a rake in an O’Neill contest.

It seems fitting to close this chapter with the amusing reminiscences of Guy Beckwith of O’Neill. In his color- 78 ful account of the way it was when the horse was king of the road, he introduces himself by writing, “I am past eighty and never finished the seventh grade in school but got fairly well educated trading horses for almost sixty years. I handled quite a few horses while farming; not as many as some of the dealers but I kept track and one week I traded and sold forty head.” Mr. Beckwith leads off with the story of the widescale operation of a pair of horse thieves. About 1928, he relates, a shipment of at least two hundred head of horses from Gordon, Nebraska, was advertised to be sold at auction at the Burlington railroad yards in O’Neill. Horses were cheap then and I had so many I wasn’t even going, but it rained hard about eleven o’clock, so after dinner I went down and sat in the car and listened to the auction. They wanted to sell all the horses so, even when it started raining again, they kept right on. Most of the crowd left so I got out and sat on the fence and bought the last thirteen head. They cost me $83. About sun-up two weeks later, just as I sat down to milk, a man came into the barn with a large book under his arm. He began talking, and finally asked me if I had bought horses at that sale in O’Neill. When I said “yes,” he asked how many and wanted to know what I had paid for them. I told him, then said, “Mr., you have asked me some questions, now I’m going to ask you a couple. Just who are you and what is your business?” He began to grin and introduced himself. He was a detective from Omaha and he said the horses were sold by fellows who had been stealing them from the Indians and the government planned to prosecute. He asked me where the horses were and I told him I didn’t know.

After the sale, when I was tipped off that the horses might be stolen, I had gotten rid of them. When the detective asked me if I could locate them, I asked him what he planned to do with the horses, if they were to be rounded up and returned. He said they weren’t worth the expense of doing that, that the Government just wanted enough evidence to convict the guilty parties. In that case, I told him, I could locate most of them. About eighteen people from O’Neill were subpoened for that trial; the banker who clerked the sale, Jim O’Donnell; Jim Miskimins, the auctioneer; George Miles who published the sale bills and printed the ad in the paper; the depot agent and some others, mostly men like myself who had bought horses.

The trial was held in Deadwood, South Dakota. Most of the fellows went up on the train but, since I had traded George Peebles two of the horses, he was subpoened, too. He was an old bachelor and I felt responsible for him, so I took him up with me in my Model T. The roads were mostly trails, with square corners, and we followed the old Blue Pole highway part of the way. The first day we got as far as Merriman, where we camped out for the night. We arrived in Deadwood about ten o’clock the next evening and meant to camp again, but it had turned cold so we went to a hotel. Next morning there was about three inches of snow on the ground.

Those subpoenaed were paid five dollars a day and three cents a mile expenses. The forty Indians summoned were apaid the same. Most of them brought their families, and they all sat out on the floor of the long hall in the court house. The trial took place during Prohibition days and Prohibition officers were out raiding the bootleggers every night. The stills and whiskey brought in as evidence were kept in a separate room in the court house.

Farmers up there were dried out and times were hard and many of them had turned to bootlegging, especially those living on the table west of Hot Springs, although they were arrested and brought in from all over. Our meals were served in a large dining room in the hotel and the prisoners were brought there to eat, too. We talked with many of them. One fellow was a man by the name of Whitten who had once lived near Emmet. He and a neighbor were picked up and brought in at the same time. Together they scraped up $40 and hired a lawyer from Hot Springs. Then their trial was postponed for a few days and when the case came up again their lawyer had left with their $40. They were broke and had no one to defend them.

One evening a man came in and told his neighbor, who was being held for bootlegging, that some fellow had gone to his place, loaded up his wife and kids, hitched the team to the wagon, loaded the pig and chickens, tied the cow on behind and left the country with the whole outfit. The prisoner didn’t seem much excited, so the neighbor with all the information asked what he was going to do about it. “Nothing,” said the bootlegger. “When I get out just give me three dark nights and I’ll have a better outfit put back together and a lot better looking woman.” Every night some of the big shots would put on a party upstairs in the hotel with the best of the bootleg whiskey. At the trial it was proven that the rustlers, Carpenter and Robey, would ride north of Gordon to the (Pine Ridge) Reservation, buy some horses, hire a couple of riders and start back toward Gordon. Horses were running loose everywhere and all they had to do was round up some of them and take them along with the little bunch they had bought for about six dollars a head. In Gordon they separated those they had bought from the stolen ones. The purchased horses were inspected and shipped under a “feed and water in transit” billing, meaning they could unload along the way to feed and water the shipment. The stolen bunch was driven to Merri-man, about twenty miles east, where they unloaded the ones on the train and replaced them with the stolen horses. Those taken off the train were driven back to Gordon and loaded out again.

They had been shipping the horses to a small packing plant just outside Chicago, where they were butchered. The larger chunks of meat that would meet the weight requirements went to Holland for human consumption, the rest went into dog food. (The Government subpoenaed the packing plant foreman and bookkeeper, too.) If the horses sold at O’Neill had been shipped to the packing plant, as the others had, the thieves would not have been caught, but they thought they’d make more money when sold at auction— and that’s where they got tripped up.

We were in Deadwood a week when the trial was discontinued. We were paid, and then subpoenaed on the spot to appear in court in Sioux Falls in another week. The trial there resulted in a conviction for the pair, who got six years apiece in the pen. The night we got to Sioux Falls the sheriff from Pine Ridge brought two young Indians down for trial on some offense. That night they broke out of jail, stole the sheriff’s car and were back on the reservation the next day. After finishing with the horse thief story Mr. Beckwith went on to recall some other horse tales. By far the prettiest stallion I ever saw, he said, was a spotted black and white that Ike Boggs had in O’Neill. He was jet black where he was black and pure white where he was white. He weighed around 1200 pounds and was five-gaited: walk, trot, canter, single foot and rack, and he had a lot of style in any gait. My father got him when he was past his prime and two years later sold him to me. I went after him with ground feed, linseed meal, bran, shorts and stock tonic and got him into pretty good shape. We got some good colts from him, but when he started to fall away on that kind of feed I gave him to a fellow 79 who used him just to ride after the milk cows.

When I was a boy we lived just across the track from the fair grounds in Neligh and I spent almost all my spare time there. I can remember “Shade On,” the great pacer. There were three barns there, filled with horses that were being trained and raced. Each had his own box stall. They had some of the best horses anywhere there. Besides “Shade On,” there were “Shady Badey,” “Maude S” and “Raven Boy.” Just about everyone had a good driving horse or team in those days. A driving horse that couldn’t pace or trot a mile in three minutes was considered mostly a plow horse. O’Neill and Neligh used to ship their best horses back and forth between the two towns for a friendly match. The stock cars had managers along the sides where hay was fed, and watering cups connected with a pipe and hose could be attached to the water spout beside the tracks, and both folded up along the sides when not in use. Horses for those friendly races could be shipped for about eight dollars per car.

Some of the O’Neill men who participated in those races were the two Harringtons, Dave Stannard, the O’Donnels and Judge Dickson. The Neligh racers were Judge Boyd, Johnny Mills, Tom Cox, John Kay, Matt Hoffman, Charley Luben and an uncle of mine, E. E. Beckwith. Many families in town had a barn on the back of their lots, and another little building with a path “out back.” Dave Stannard got up late one morning, after all the other men in the neighborhood had gone to work, and made his trip to the little building. Stannards lived near the edge of town and he sat in there, reading an old newspaper. One of his horses came up to the open door and stuck his head inside for attention. Dave shook the newspaper and hollered at the horse and it reared back and caught its head in the door, pulling the little privy over, with its door on the underside and Dave trapped inside. After a lot of yelling some of the neighbor women heard him, came over and rolled the building over so he could get out.

There is an astonishing wealth and variety of history embedded in Mr. Beckwith’s recollections: Education, for instance. More boys than not, and some girls, quit school before finishing the eighth grade and “went to work.” There is the interesting sidelight into prohibition and bootlegging, a mention of prevalent modes of travel for both man and beast; the love of, and dependance on, the horse for both pleasure and livili- hood; and, of course, “the little house out back” and incidents connected therewith. All so much a part of the time.

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