When Ron Hilkey owned the Adams Lodge, he would guide his guests to Marvine Lake, where he had row boats available. Ron had to haul in those row boats on pack animals. He devised a system using two Morgan horses, one leading the other. They were connected by a frame with two plastic canoes suspended on the frame.
Ron was not the only person to recognize the Morgan as a great horse. The Palmer family, east of Meeker, own a few Morgan horses. The family and their Morgans have long been associated with history of the White River Valley. It is widely accepted the original sire, Figure, was given the name Morgan about 1789.
His owner was Justin Morgan, a teacher, composer, businessman, and horseman. The horse’s ability to outwalk, out trot, outrun, and out pull other horses was legendary and earned his owner stud fees throughout the Connecticut River Valley and Vermont. Those qualities were highly valued, especially to the military later in history.
It has been said that an army marches on its stomach. I will add: the food rides in a wagon pulled by horses. That was true until WWI was over. Horses were always key to having a mobile army.
After the 1880’s, breeding light horses declined as farms increased and needed bigger horses for pulling equipment. In 1908, the U.S. Army was concerned about the supply of replacement horses. It created what was called the Remount Service. It soon realized that an organized breeding program was needed to sustain a source of fast horses with endurance. The horses were needed to serve the cavalry as riding horses and to pull canons and supply wagons. The Morgan horse was one breed preferred by the Army.
Verne Caldwell during WWI caught and broke wild mustangs. He sold them to the U.S. Army.
Verne, in partnership with Charles Frederick Ayer, had a herd of Morgans. The ranch was on Scenery Gulch, west of Meeker, north of Highway 64. Some of Verne’s more famous studs were “James RM” and “Jack Sprat.” Those bloodlines exist today nine generations later. Verne brought “Jack Sprat” from Dighton, Kansas. “Jack Sprat” was photographed several times. He had a distinctive white blaze on his forehead. Family tradition holds that Verne Caldwell once rode Jack 90 miles in a single day. One of the Scenery Gulch Morgan brood mares was named “Lucy Ayre” after Charles’ daughter, Margaret Lucy Ayer. When the partnership liquidated in 1941, Charles Ayer’s son took over the outfit with poor results. About 1944-1948 E.W. Roberts of California bought 90 percent of the Scenery Gulch horses. He sold many of them to the Chinese Military during WWII.
Ft. Robinson in Nebraska was the largest national remount center between 1919-1931. Many of the Colorado bred horses were trained there. The government ended its horse/pack animal program at Fort Carson, Colorado in 1957, as casualty of the modern mechanized Army.
Subject suggested by Claude Wood
Sources: Rio Blanco County Historical Society; Terry Mobley; Ron Hilkey; coloradohistoricnewspapers.com; quartermasterfoundation.com; morganhorse.com