 Back
to the Grant stallions. In 1888, *LINDEN TREE
was bought from U.S.Grant, Jr. by another fascinating character, General
Leonard W.Colby of Betrice, Nebraska. One account has it that Colby paid
a pre-inflation $10,000 for the horse and later "politely" refused
$50,000 for him. Another version merely says $10,000 was later refused
for him, with no original purchase price given.
Beatrice,
Nebraska was not a place to let this exotic and historically-associated
beast go unrecognized, and in 1890 when a harness racing track was opened
by the Beatrice Trotting Association, it was named Linden Tree Park. When
the time came, *LINDEN TREE was
buried in the infield of the oval, "in a straw-lined grave."
General
Colby was born in Ohio in 1846, grew up in Illinois, served the Union with
distinction in the Civil War, and returned home to finish high school and
college with honors, eventually taking to the law. He moved to Beatrice
in 1872, was commissioned first lieutenant of the state militia on its
founding in 1875, and served in the Indian conflicts of the time, eventually
being promoted to brigadier general in 1890. Although I am speculating
from limited data, I gather he was deeply affected by the now-infamous
Wounded Knee Massacre of 1891; he brought home an orphaned Indian baby
girl, and he and his wife raised her in their home. In 1895 he presented
a paper on "The Ghost Dance of the Sioux Indians" to the
State Historical Society; he served in Nebraska state office and in the
U.S.Justice Department where he was involved in defense against claims
for damage against the U.S. Government and the Indian tribes; on his retirement
from the Justice Department he was employed by the Creek, Cherokee and
Seminole tribes as their attorney in Washington, D.C. He was active during
the Spanish-American War and "on call" during World War I; he
died in 1925 in Beatrice.
Again, we are interested in
an aspect of his career which was not considered worthy of detailed documentation.
He and his friends made use of *LINDEN TREE
on local mares to such good effect that the reputation of the using horses
on the cattle operations around Beatrice spread through the midwest and
as far as Colorado. One version has it that Colby "persuaded his old
friend" Grant to let him bring "LEOPARD
and *LINDEN TREE to Nebraska
"for just one season" in 1894, but as Grant no longer owned the
horses as early as 1883, and as Linden Tree Park was named in 1890, that
doesn't hold up too well. At any rate it does appear that *LEOPARD
had joined the Colby menage by 1894--this in spite of a 1941 publication
to the effect that Colby's second Arabian was named "Don" rather
than *LEOPARD and had no connection with Grant. There
is a strong local tradition, to which we will refer again, that *LEOPARD
did reach Beatrice, and another account corroborates this.
Mrs.
Norma Smith of Kent, Washington tells us that her late father-in-law, who
was born in 1878 and lived to be 100, reported one of the most vivid memories
of his boyhood as seeing *LEOPARD ridden in a militia
parade by General Colby. He told her the horse was ridden only on special
occasion due to his age, and that this was "around 1893"
when *LEOPARD would have been 20. Mr. Smith recalled
the extremely fine hair of *LEOPARD's coat, through
which his skin was visibly spotted. This is, of course, another indication
of advanced age -- not the fine hair coat, which merely shows "breeding,"
but the mottling and speckling of the skin typical of many aged grey horses.
*LINDEN TREE was dismissed with
"Colby had two Arabians"--*LEOPARD
was the impressive one. (*LINDEN TREE
was a year younger than *LEOPARD but may have showed
his age more, especially as *LEOPARD stayed longer
in New York and probably had led a more sheltered life. On the other hand,
*LEOPARD was described from the beginning as the "handsomer
and more graceful" of the two, which I suppose is reasonable for
an Arab compared to a Barb.)
In the
late 1890's a group of Colorado ranchers got together to finance a trip
to Nebraska by the respected rancher A.C. Whipple, to bring back one of
the superior Colby-related horses from Beatrice. Whipple selected a band
of young mares of *LEOPARD and *LINDEN
TREE breeding, and to head them, the stallion TONY.
TONY's sire and dam are not named in any existing
account, but their parentage is given--both were by *LEOPARD
out of "Army TB" mares, which presumably refers to mares used
as, or derived from, cavalry mounts. TONY was thus
an Anglo-Arab by modern definition, if "TB" refers to full Thoroughbred
mares.
This
band of Nebraska horses left influential and highly-regarded descent in
Colorado, and over the years other horse of similar quality, some with
reputed Arab or Barb crosses as well, were added. This resulted in tough,
hardy, very able cowhorses which were recognized in 1934 with the name
"Colorado Rangers."
See also M. Bowling's article
a co-companion of this article
|
Part
2
