Stone Cabin wild horses

In July we won part of our federal court case for Stone Cabin/Saulsbury. We won the portion of the case that addressed the fact that BLM illegally delayed creating a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) for the Saulsbury HMA.

In July we were on the road documenting the Adobe Town (Rock Springs, WY) roundup and working on litigation for Devil’s Garden (CA) and other cases. There is a lot on the plate.

We immediately began our Appeal of the portion of the case to hold BLM accountable to the 1983 HMAP at Stone Cabin. That HMAP includes water improvements to distribute populations, actually evaluating the number of horses allowed on the range (what BLM calls “AML”) instead of simply retyping the number agreed on with the permittee and even identifying which horses belong to BLM and which belong to the Forest Service (as this was identified in the 1980s as an important migratory corridor).

Stone Cabin

Stone Cabin and Saulsbury have an extremely rich and important history to advocacy and the legends that built the West. 

The coloring referenced as a Stone Cabin Grey begins as a darker color at birth that can range from almost black to red. They begin to “roan out” after they shed their baby coat, look very roany by 3-4 years old and are (usually) completely white between 12-15 years of age.

The Stone Cabin Grey was revered by Velma Johnston, Wild Horse Annie, and she wrote about these gorgeous horses in her correspondence with BLM and other advocates. 

Velma Johnston (Wild Horse Annie) watching over the welfare of wild horses at the first roundup.

The very first official roundup under the Act was at Stone Cabin. The very first official litigation came with it. The order stated that BLM could not keep removing wild horses and claim it made some undefined improvement to the landscape and they had to include wild horses and burros in the NEPA process governing all proposed public land activities. The adoption program (back then it was a “foster program” with no transfer of title and the wild horse retained protections against sales to slaughter for their lifetime). (More about the first battle and the battle today HERE)

The Stone Cabin Grey horses are descendants of a Steeldust Grey Thoroughbred, that Jack Longstreet (famous gunfighter) won in a poker game (allegedly) at the saloon in town and is known to have let loose into the Stone Cabin Valley to breed.

Buried at the historic Belmont Cemetery, Longstreet was one of those colorful characters of the pioneer days of the American West. He was charged with the murder of his brother-in-law while employed by the Tonopah Stage as a hired gunman. After the court trial he was acquitted of the crime.

Jack involved himself in a disputes with the Bureau of Indian Affairs concerning the mistreatment of Paiutes. In one instance during the fervor to arrest native Americans due to Ghost Dancing, allegedly Longstreet was responsible for turning the peaceful dance into action. He led a party that abducted and (allegedly) beat a mine owner until he paid the Pauites back wages. The mine owner quickly rode into the Sheriff’s office and demanded warrants for Longstreet’s arrest. the officer responded that Longstreet was “a chronic case of refugee, and no Sheriff’s posse has ever been able to comer him.” 

The story is told that “one-eared Longstreet” had a hiding place built into the cabin for him to hide should the law show up at his door unexpected. His missing ear, some think, was a punishment he received for stealing cattle while he was still in his youth.

In 2004, a $90,000 grant from the Nevada Public Land Management Act was used to restore the Longstreet Cabin and springs in Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. 

Longstreet’s cabin in Ash Meadows is highlighted as a symbol of the pioneer spirit and history of the West.

But the wild horse herd that represents this legacy, not a stone building or bar Longstreet once occupied, but a living symbol of that pioneer spirit is given no more recognition than a meaningless line on a BLM website.

We are fighting to change that.

After a partial win, the case now sits with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to gain accountability from long standing neglect of the truly historic herd. by the BLM. 

Thank you for keeping WHE running to protect and preserve the living legacy carried in the hearts of our wild horses and burros. 

WHE also has a limited edition shirt “Bet Your Ass, I’m a Burro Advocate.” All proceeds raised will also be part of the matching funds challenge! You can order a shirt and help double our impact!