From Nuisance to Gold: The Klondike Rescue of Washington's Horses

Edwin F. Benson, the subject of the first page illustration, has been engaged in the livestock business in this state for over twenty years. Few men are more generally known throughout eastern Washington than he. His energy and business ability were displayed in Yakima during the early nineties in irrigation projects and along horticultural lines. Later he enlisted the co-operation of Senator Ankeny and together they own the Prosser Falls Land and Irrigation Company, which the senator declares to be one of the most profitable and satisfactory investments he ever made.

Later on Mr. Benson became associated with W. H. Babcock, the wheat king of Washington, in a sheep and cattle partnership embracing over 100,000 acres of farming, grazing and timbered lands in the counties of Douglas, Kittitas and Chelan.

Mr. Benson's latest business association is the Yakima Valley Horse Company, composed of himself and the Bernard brothers, two of the most expert and best known horsemen in the state. The horse company is the lessee of Mr. Benson's Rattlesnake ranch, the most ideal horse ranch in the northwest, with sixteen sections enclosed of pastures and several adjacent townships without water but which furnish pasture for large bands of horses in connection with the Rattlesnake springs.

The object of this company is to supply every kind of horse, from the pet Shetland pony for the city child to the 1,800-pound draft horse for the lumber woods and city dray. Fancy driving horses, saddle horses and polo ponies, as well as the cheap pack horses for sheep camps and cattle ranches, either broken or unbroken, single or in carload lots, are to be had of the company. In short, it is a kind of clearing house between the horse raisers of eastern Washington and the horse buyers of the country at large. The need for such an agency where "every representation is guaranteed or your money back" has long been felt, and every lover or user of the noble horse will wish success to the Yakima Valley Horse Company. We predict a brilliant future and a greater amount of business than they can possibly handle.

It is only a few years ago that horses were the least valuable asset of the stockman. Thousands were sold to the cannery at $1.50 to $2.50 per head and everybody with one mind got rid of them as being a common nuisance and a range-destroying element. The Klondike took about 10,000 head for pack and saddle and work horses. The Boer war created a market for many thousands more. The grain farming operations encroached upon the ranges formerly occupied by these horses and the sheep and cattle men bought or leased and fenced up most of the remaining ranges. The result has been that an increasing demand and a rapidly decreasing supply has brought up the prices of horses to a point where money may be invested in the business with safety.