The Lost Morgans of the

u MORGAN AMERICANA u

TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS
Are the wild horses of Oak Creek Canyon descended from once prominent
California Morgan breeding farms?
By Brenda L. Tippin

I
n the rugged Tehachapi (pronounced Tee-hatch-app-ee) Mountains,
a small band of remarkably uniform brown or black horses has
roamed for nearly a hundred years in isolated Oak Creek Canyon.
They bear a startling resemblance to Morgan horses brought into
California by early ranchers. These included Roland Hill, F. A. Fickert,
and the Tejon Ranch among others, all of which owned Morgan horses.
Where did these horses come from? Could they be descendants of Morgans
owned by early ranchers who ran cattle on these ranges? Although it
cannot be conclusively proven, we shall see strong circumstantial evidence
exists linking these horses to early California Morgan history.

ABOVE: Wild Oak Creek stallions fighting. (Photo © Diana Palmer)

The Morgan Horse 59

MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
BACKGROUND
Morgan horses were brought to California with the earliest white
settlers. Jedediah Smith, born in Bainbridge, New York, was the
first white explorer to cross overland into California through the
Mojave Desert in 1826. A handful of others followed, and perhaps
the first record of a horse known to be Morgan was the one ridden
by General John Bidwell on the first emigrant wagon train to
California in 1841. California had become a part of Mexico in
1821, but following the Mexican-American War was ceded to the
United States in 1848. The gold rush began with discovery of gold
in January of that year, which increased California’s non-native
population from less than 1,000 in 1848 to over 100,000 by the
end of 1849. Previously, cattle had only been valued for hides and
tallow, but the rapid population growth spurred by the mining
industry created a huge demand for beef. Sheep raising also
increased dramatically with the need for both meat and wool.
Kern County, extending across the southern end of the great San
Joaquin Valley, was home to many of the greatest ranching operations
in early California history, many of which were known to have Morgans
at some point. The rugged country of the Tehachapi Mountains was
home, in those early days, to grizzly bears and white wolves. Ranchers
needed willing horses with calm and tractable dispositions and sturdy
60 August 2015
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Map showing the
location of Kern County and the Tehachapi
Mountains; Tejon Ranch; Roland Hill. (Photos © Google
Maps; Carleton Watkins, Library of Congress; History of Kern County)
conformation, able to handle the steep terrain.
The historic Tejon Ranch in Kern County, founded as a
Mexican land grant in 1843 by General Edward Fitzgerald Beale, is
both one of the largest and oldest ranches with ties to the Morgan
horse, and is still in existence today. Spanning 422 square miles,
Tejon Ranch, which lies about 60 miles north of Los Angeles and
30 miles south of Bakersfield, is the largest continuous expanse
of private property in California. Morgans were among the many
horses used by the Tejon, and later they stood the brown stallion
Tejon Chief (Querido x Tab by Texas Allen), bred by Roland Hill
and foaled in 1932, though his offspring were never registered. Hill
also sold Morgans to J. A. Leivas, a vaquero of the Tejon, and son
of the old vaquero Don Antonio Leivas, who was one of Hill’s early
mentors and had worked at the Tejon as cattle boss for 30 years,
until his death at age 84 in 1922.
Henry Miller, a German emigrant who came to the United States
in 1847, formed a partnership with fellow German emigrant Charles
Lux—becoming one of the largest cattle operations in the world. By
the end of the 19th century, Miller & Lux owned over 1.3 million acres
in California, Oregon, and Nevada, which included holdings in Kern
County. In more than 60 years of ranching, Morgans were known to
be among the breeds Miller favored and used, although, like many
MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
stockmen of that era, his horses were not registered.
Another entrepreneur was the investor and rancher James
Ben Ali Haggin, who made his fortune following the California
gold rush, becoming a multi-millionaire by 1880. Haggin raised
Thoroughbred racehorses but also Morgans, and owned the
brown Morgan stallion Bismark (David Hill 2nd x Flora Temple
by McCracken’s Black Hawk), a double great-grandson of Black
Hawk 20. Another rancher, Jesse Carr, was Haggin’s partner in
many ventures. Carr owned the black Morgan stallion Redfield’s
Vermont (Independence x daughter of Royal Morgan)who
carried two crosses to Justin Morgan in six generations, five in five
generations, and two more in four generations. The huge Kern
County Land Company, which rivaled Miller & Lux, rose out of
the partnership between Carr, Haggin, and Haggin’s brother-in-
law, Lloyd Tevis. Kern County Land Company eventually acquired
1,395,000 acres in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico.
Interestingly, among the early pioneers of Kern County was
Solomon Wright Jewett, who had been a prominent farmer of
Addison County, Vermont, and an ardent supporter of Black Hawk
Morgan. It was at Mr. Jewett’s instigation in 1847 that a challenge
was published to match Black Hawk against any entire horse in
America at the New York State Fair that year. The challenge called
for judging the horses on four points: perfect symmetry of form,
ease and elegance of action, most perfectly broken to harness, and
finally, fastest trotting to single harness. There were no takers for
this challenge, but it did result in a contest against the Morse Horse
at that fair which Black Hawk, though 14 years old and in stud
condition, won the best two of three heats easily with times of 2:50
½ and 2:43. Mr. Wright was the breeder of Black Flying Cloud
(Black Hawk x Kate by Black Hawk, 4th dam Poll, the dam of Ethan
Allen), registered in Volume I of The Morgan Register.
62 August 2015
LEFT TO RIGHT: The Kern River, Rio Bravo Ranch,
1888; Richard “Dick” Sellman. (Photos © Carleton Watkins,
Library of Congress; Courtesy of David Ladd and Nancie Shelden)
Mr. Wright visited France and Spain a number of times,
importing the best wool sheep and was considered largely responsible
for the success of the wool industry in New England. During the
1850s, he sold his interests to go West and, in 1860, became the first
settler of Bakersfield, bringing with him an importation of Merino
sheep. At one time he owned all the land in what is now Bakersfield,
and his name is strongly associated with the development of
Southern California. His sons, Solomon and Philo, also came to Kern
County in 1860, first going to work on the Tejon Ranch. Mr. Jewett
and his sons built a home near the Kern River crossing in 1861 and
established the Rio Bravo Ranch to raise sheep. The Rio Bravo Ranch
is still in existence today and is the home of a large Equestrian Center,
accessing 9,000 acres of ranch property and trails, as well as being
adjacent to the endless trails of the Sequoia National Forest. Although
there is no record of the Jewett’s horses after they moved to California,
it is almost certain they brought Morgan horses with them.
THE SELLMAN INFLUENCE
Meanwhile, as Morgans began to find a place on the large ranches
in California, one Texas breeder was to have a marked influence that
would literally change the course of Morgan history. Richard “Dick”
Sellman was born in Maryland in 1855 to William Oliver Sellman
and Ann Priscilla Woodward Poole Sellman. William Oliver was
the son of William S. Sellman, who was born in Frederick County,
Maryland in 1786. By 1826, he had moved his family to 227 acres
along the Old Baltimore Road and, by 1839, owned more than a
thousand acres in both Frederick and Montgomery counties. The
original farmhouse, all that remains of the old Sellman family
farmstead, is listed among Maryland’s historic properties. It was
a two story frame log house built into the hillside, with stucco
covering the log walls. The east facing house had five bays across
MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Greenfield Ranch, 1888; Sellman stallion, likely Raven Chief; Sellman mares.
(Photos © Carleton Watkins, Library of Congress; Courtesy of David Ladd and Nancie Shelden)
with a gabled roof, two chimneys, and a front porch. At one time
the soil was regarded as the most fertile in all Montgomery County,
and the family raised tobacco, grains, and livestock.
William O. Sellman, the son of William S. and father of Dick
Sellman, was a prominent citizen, serving as the first postmaster in
the community of Sellman which was named after him. It is part of
the Sellman Historic District in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The whole township was named after him as well. When he married
Ann Poole, he also acquired the Poole farm, which had been in her
mother’s family, located in the Barnsville-Poolsville area known as
Mountain Vale. This was the farm where Dick Sellman grew up, and
after which his Mountain Vale Ranch in Rochelle, Texas, was named.
He was one of 13 siblings, all but one of whom survived to adulthood.
Originally, Sellman’s older brothers, Thomas and Robert, were
the first to go to Texas in the 1870s. Thomas brought sheep from
Maryland and established the ranch at Rochelle. Dick had expressed
his desire to go to Texas to go into business, wanting to get away
from the farming life he had grown up with. All of that changed
when Thomas Sellman was murdered August 30, 1886 by men
working for him, who he suspected of cutting his fence wire. When
his brother was killed, Dick ended up taking over the sheep ranch,
which he converted to a cattle ranch, becoming the largest breeder
of Angus cattle in the state of Texas, as well as becoming the largest
breeder of Morgan horses in the world at that time. That same year,
Sellman acquired the black stallion, Major Gordon, foaled about
1880 and bred by Major Gordon Praw of Red Oak, Texas. Out of
an untraced mare, Major Gordon’s sire was Young Octoroon 1715
(Octoroon 302 [Comet x mare by Brinker’s Drennon] x mare by
Old Joe Brown]), a stallion Major Praw had brought from Kentucky.
Young Octoroon was intensely inbred to Justin Morgan through
64 August 2015
Woodbury and Bulrush lines, as well as lines through Davy Crockett
who was from the famous Dansereau family of pacers in Canada.
Sellman also bought several daughters of Octoroon 302 from
Major Praw at the same time, and these were the foundation for his
Morgan breeding program.Although he never registered the daughters
of Major Gordon, he carefully recorded them, and they may be found
in the pedigrees of later horses he registered in Volumes III and IV
of The Morgan Register. In studying Sellman’s breeding patterns, it
is evident that he put considerable effort into his breeding program
and carefully sought to preserve all three of the main Morgan lines
from Justin Morgan’s three sons, Sherman, Woodbury, and Bulrush.
He next acquired the brown stallion Major Antoine (Meteor Jr. x
Molly Lee by General Lee) and Gold Medal, a three-quarter brother
who was also by Meteor Jr. and out of a daughter of General Lee to
breed to daughters of Major Gordon, thus producing his first crop of
registered Morgan foals. These stallions were inbred to the Sherman
line through Black Hawk, with some lines to Woodbury. Later he
brought in The Admiral, a son of the great Lambert stallion Jubilee
De Jarnette (Jubilee Lambert x Lady De Jarnette by Indian Chief) and
out of the outstanding Bulrush line mare Morill Queen (Winnebago
Chief x Olive by Monogram). Daughters of The Admiral were then
crossed upon Headlight Morgan (Peter’s Ethan Allen 2d x Lady
Stratton by Vermont Morgan); Red Oak (General Gates x Marguerite
by White River Morgan); and Morgan Chief (Chief Morgan x Maude
Morgan by Julian Morgan).
David Ladd of Blackthorne Morgans has done an excellent video
documentary on the Sellman family, locating Sellman’s ranch and
his barns which are still standing. He also located Nancie Shelden,
Sellman’s great-granddaughter, who generously shared many never
before seen photos of Sellman’s family and his Morgan horses.
MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
Oak Creek wild horses.
Sellman’s Morgans played a major role in developing the Morgan
breed in California, especially through the breeding programs of
Reginald Parsons in Northern California; the Fickert family of Bear
Valley Ranch in Kern County, and great California rancher Roland
Hill, who also had most of his operations in Kern County at that time.
FICKERT FAMILY–BEAR VALLEY RANCH
The Fickerts of Bear Valley were, according to old time vaquero
Ray Ordway, the first to bring registered Morgans into Kern
County for use in working cattle in the mountainous country
surrounding their ranch. Frederick William Fickert was born in
Prussia of German parents in 1830 and found his way to California
during the Gold Rush. After years of working in the mines with
only moderate success, he decided to take up ranching, and found
what he felt was an ideal spot in Bear Valley, purchasing the first
160 acres of ranch land in 1869. The fertile valley about three miles
long and half a mile wide was named for the grizzly bears which
were abundant there at that time. The Fickerts had five children,
with most of the Morgans being bred by son Frederick A. Fickert,
1876-1938, and daughter Nellie C. (who was originally named
Mary Elen, but went by the name Nell or Nellie C.) 1869-1959.
The Fickerts were said to have obtained Morgans from Dick
Sellman as early as 1912, but most of the transfers were not recorded
and they did not begin registering their horses until many years
later. (The transfer of the mare Headstar from Sellman to F. A.
Fickert in Volume V of the register in 1912 was the only one listed,
but there is an error, as Headstar, according to her registration, was
not foaled until 1918 and her dam was not foaled until 1914.)
Among the horses purchased from Sellman were:
• Jael (Alkadaza x Kitty E by The Admiral), 1919 chestnut mare,
dam of Chestnut Chief by Raven Chief, bred by Nellie C. Fickert.
• Emma B (The Admiral x Emma Antoine by Major Antoine),
66 August 2015
(Photos by Trinity Tippin)
1911 black mare, dam of four foals bred by Sellman and one
foal, Chlorine by Raven Chief, bred by F. A. Fickert.
• Ramona K (Headlight Morgan x Nancy G by Golden), 1917
chestnut mare, dam of Copper of Tonto by Raven Chief, bred
by F. A. Fickert.
• Dulcimer (Headlight Morgan x Kitty E by The Admiral), 1918
chestnut mare, dam of Tonto Queen by Raven Chief, bred by
F. A. Fickert.
• Favonius (Fearless by Headlight Morgan x Mollie B by The Ad-
miral), 1919 chestnut mare, dam of Eagle by Raven Chief and
Mary Jane Morgan by Chestnut Chief, bred by F. A. Fickert.
• Consuela (Pershing by Headlight Morgan x Fraso by The Ad-
miral), 1916 chestnut mare, dam of one foal bred by Sellman,
and Tonto Traveler by Raven Chief, bred by F. A. Fickert.
• Marta (Woodrow Wilson by Headlight Morgan x Puss by
Gold Medal), 1919 bay mare, dam of Tonto’s Roamer by Ra-
ven Chief, bred by F. A. Fickert, and Alida by Chestnut Chief,
bred by Nellie C. Fickert.
• Minna K (Headlight Morgan x Minnie Atkinson by The Ad-
miral), 1919 chestnut mare, dam of Carlotta and Wendy Mor-
gan, both by Raven Chief and bred by F. A. Fickert.
• Conant K (Headlight Morgan x Birdie by Major Antoine),
1912 sorrel mare, dam of two foals bred by Sellman, and Chief
of Chestnut by Chestnut Chief, bred by F. A. Fickert, as well as
Lucy Belle by Colorado, bred by Nellie C. Fickert.
• Kita K (Headlight Morgan x Polly C. by The Admiral), 1917
chestnut mare, dam of Colorado and Bear Valley Chief, both
by Raven Chief and bred by F. A. Fickert.
• Mary K (Headlight Morgan x Mary Gibbons by Indicator), 1915
chestnut mare, dam of three foals bred by Sellman, and also Dick-
ens and Glenna, both by Raven Chief and bred by F. A. Fickert.
• Louisa (Woodrow Wilson by Headlight Morgan x Kitty C
by The Admiral, 1919 black mare, dam of Chief Douglas by
MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
LEFT TO RIGHT: Oak Creek wild horses caught in a late winter snowfall; Wind turbines in wild horse range.
Chestnut Chief, bred by F. A. Fickert, and Red Flash by Colo-
rado, bred by the Berman Stock Farm. Red Flash was a very
popular stallion in southern California, and in 1948 was
Champion Morgan Stallion at the Los Angeles County Fair,
San Fernando Valley Fair, and Santa Barbara Fair. He was also
Western Livestock Journal’s Horse of the Month for September
1949, and was the sire of 33 registered foals.
• Texsky (Texas Allen x Frisky by Gold Medal), 1918 brown
mare, dam of four foals, all by Raven Chief: Mixer, Red Sail,
and Sun Down Morgan, bred by F. A. Fickert, and Ding Dong,
bred by Nellie C. Fickert.
• Headstar (Headlight Morgan x Evening Star by The Jew), 1918
bay mare, dam of three foals, Star Bright and Henry Q., both
by Querido and bred by Roland Hill; and Redstar by Redwood
Morgan, bred by Vance Bright
• Raven Chief (Morgan Chief x Baby Girl by The Admiral), 1917
black stallion, sire of 21 foals, including four bred by Sellman.
Raven Chief was responsible for the last sireline tracing to the
Justin Morgan son Bulrush and, though his offspring were not
that many, he left numerous descendants, which were com-
mon in southern and central California for decades. Many of
these were thought to have been absorbed into the Quarter
Horse breed which rose quickly in popularity after the 1950s.
The last known sireline to Bulrush was the stallion Forever
Gusto, bred by Lois Anderson and foaled in Bakersfield, Cali-
fornia, in 1980. He left no registered offspring, and the direct
Bulrush male line is believed to be extinct, although the family
of Raven Chief is still influential in many Western working
and sport Morgans through the female lines.
ROLAND HILL
Roland Hill was born in the Cummings Valley of Kern County in
1886 to parents Ross G. Hill and Lottie Gridley Hill. Ross Hill’s
68 August 2015
(Photos by Trinity Tippin)
parents had come to California from England, and Ross began
ranching with 2,000 acres in the Stallion Springs area in 1882. Ross’s
father, Joseph C. Hill, also bought ranch property in the mountains,
about five miles west of Oak Creek Pass in 1892. Roland Hill left
school to focus on ranching at the age of 16 in 1902. Ross Hill died in
1904, leaving Roland to manage the home ranch with the help of his
brother, Russell. Over the next few years the Hill brothers increased
their holdings from 2,000 acres, to more than 14,000. Roland then
formed a partnership with the three Gates brothers—large investors
based in Pasadena, California—and founded the Tehachapi Cattle
Company in 1912. The Tehachapi Cattle Company included the
14,000 acres of Hill land in the Cummings Valley, additional leased
lands in the Cummings Valley of about 5,000 acres, and the old
Greenfield Ranch. Leaving Russell in charge of the Cummings
Valley properties, Roland’s first task was to manage the Greenfield
Ranch, also known as the old Wells & Fargo Ranch, which lay 12
miles south of Bakersfield, adjacent to the Tejon Ranch, and convert
it into an alfalfa and stock farm specializing in raising cattle, horses,
and hogs. The Greenfield Ranch included 2,360 acres on the main
ranch property, with 17,000 acres of mountain grazing land, and
was started with 1,700 head of Hereford cattle.
Little is known about the early horses Hill used, but a sale
record is recorded in the Kern County records for 1918 of an
agreement between Roland Hill and Max Enderle, an early pioneer
and horse breeder who owned property in Oak Creek Canyon, to
purchase all the range horses on Enderle’s land—about 40 head—
for the sum of $10. The area described included Townships 10 and
11 North in Range 15 West, and Township 10 North in Range 14
West. The larger portion of this area covers some of the desert area
just below the mountains, southwest of the town of Mojave and
adjoining some of the Miller & Lux holdings. The area in Township
11 North and Range 15 West overlaps the upper end of Oak Creek
Canyon where the wild horse herd ranges today.
MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
Max Enderle was born in Germany in 1864, and came to Kern
County around 1900 where he was a pioneer rancher raising horses
and cattle. He lived in the desert for forty years, but also owned
property in Oak Creek Canyon. According to Arnold Rojas, an old
time vaquero of Kern County who had worked for Hills, Tejon
Ranch, and many others, and was the author of several books on
vaquero lore, Enderle lived on the desert next to the Tejon Ranch
near Neenach. Enderle and his brother raised horses which they
broke themselves. What type of horses they had is not mentioned,
but it is probable they obtained stock from some of the other large
ranches in the area, and/or bred to their stallions, and all of these
had at least some Morgan blood although at that time no one was
registering their horses. The Enderle brothers had a special way
with horses and an unusual method of bitting using a rusty old ring
bit which, according to Rojas, they pulled as one pulls a jaquima.
Somehow the horses rarely bucked and they always turned
out horses with good mouths. When the Enderle brothers moved a
band of mares, they never allowed the vaqueros to help them, they
would simply start out riding and the mares would follow. Rojas
recalled that Max would often move a band of mares from his place
in Antelope Valley across the mountains to the Hill ranch without
any help whatsoever, which was a mystery to the Indian vaqueros
as well as to Rojas himself.
Enderle was also known for breaking wild horses. As his home
for many years was in the Antelope Valley next to the Tejon, many
of these were likely the Barileño Mustangs of this area, which were
prized by the Tejon Ranch as the last pure Mustang herd of the
old Spanish Andalusian strain. The Barileños were predominantly
palomino and buckskin colors.
Roland Hill took the lead as the largest producer of registered
Morgans following Sellman’s death in 1925, obtaining his first
registered Morgans from Sellman not long before that in 1922.
These were the brown stallion Redwood Morgan (Headlight
Morgan x Bonnie A by Major Antoine) and a boxcar load of about
16 carefully selected mares:
1. Texanita (Texas Allen x Anita B, tracing to Octoroon)
black mare, 1918, sold in foal to Hill in 1922, produced
eight foals for Hill.
2. Melissa, (Morgan Chief x Black Star Gordon tracing to
Octoroon) black mare 1917, sold to Hill in 1922, pro-
duced seven foals, six for Hill. No 1923 foal listed.
3. Addy (Texas Allen x Pauline B tracing to Octoroon) chest-
nut mare, 1918, sold in foal to Hill in 1922, produced 14
foals for Hill. No foal 1932, 1934-35, and 1939.
4. Kitty C. (Sunny South x Kitty B tracing to Octoroon)
black mare, 1915 sold to Hill in 1922. Produced 12 foals
for Hill. No 1923 foal and none in 1933, ’34, ’35.
5. Angelina (Texas Allen x Mollie B tracing to Octoroon)
brown mare, 1918, sold in foal to Hill in 1922. Produced
13 foals for Hill. 1923 foal missing, also 1926 and 1933.
6. Jenavive K. (Headlight Morgan x Nellie Antoine tracing
to Octoroon) bay mare 1916, sold to Hill in 1922. Pro-
duced three foals, one for Hill in 1924 and after that dis-
appeared and was not transferred.
70 August 2015
7. Madcap (Woodrow Wilson x Sallie D tracing to Octoroon)
chestnut mare 1919 sold to Hill in 1922, already bred to
Joe Bailey, producing a total of two foals and disappeared
after her 1924 foal and was not transferred. Night Cap, the
1924 black filly by Pat Allen disappeared as well.
8. Camille (Alkadaza x Nannie L) chestnut mare 1918 sold
to Hill in 1922, 14 foals total, 13 for Hill. Missing 1925,
1932, and 1933 foals.
9. Tab (Texas Allen x Birdie) black mare 1918 sold to Hill in
1922, produced 19 foals for Hill, missing 1925 and 1940.
10. Nancy G (Golden x Nancy Gordon) bay mare 1910, sold
to Hill in 1922. Produced nine foals, seven for Hill. 1926,
‘27 ‘28 missing, also ‘31, ‘32, ‘33 and ‘35.
11. Joeb (Joe Bailey x Birdie) bay mare 1921, sold to Hill
in 1922 produced five foals, three for Hill, sold in 1928.
Missing 1925 and 1927.
12. Alkali (Alkadaza x Red Mollie) chestnut mare 1919 sold
to Hill in 1922, missing foals 1923-26, ’32, and ’34. Pro-
duced total of ten foals for Hill.
13. Lucca (Bald Eagle x Bonnie B tracing to Octoroon) chest-
nut mare 1919 sold to Hill in 1922 with brown filly Lucca
Bailey at side. Neither she nor the filly were ever heard of
again, not transferred and produced no other foals.
14. Lucia (Woodrow Wilson x Lulu Girl tracing to Octoroon)
black mare 1919, sold to Hill in 1922 with chestnut filly
Katrina by Joe Bailey at side. Katrina went on to produce
11 foals but Lucia was not transferred or heard of again.
15. Lulu G (Sunny South x Lulu Girl traced to Octoroon)
black mare 1915 sold to Hill in 1922, produced one chest-
nut colt Red Hornett in 1923 by Redwood Morgan. May-
be colt was gelded, but he was not transferred, and neither
this mare nor the colt was heard of again.
16. Sophomore (Headlight Morgan x Bossie A) brown mare
1919, sold to Hill in 1922. Disappeared, no offspring or
transfer recorded.
Hill did not retain Redwood Morgan as he wanted to try some
outcrossing on the Sellman mares, and sold him in early 1923 to the
Cuyama Ranch. He purchased instead from J. C. Brunk the black
stallion Pat Allen (Allen King x Patrona by Senator Reade), foaled in
1920. Allen King (Allen Franklin x Black Bess by Jubilee De Jarnette)
was a full brother of Penrod, the sire of Jubilee King. Black Bess
appears in the pedigree again as the dam of Patrona. Patrona’s sire,
Senator Reade, was a son of Strawn Reade by Charles Reade, who
was by Woodward’s Ethan Allen, a full brother of Daniel Lambert,
and out of Princess Dagmar, a daughter of Daniel Lambert, her dam
a daughter of Ethan Allen. Senator Reade’s dam was J. C. Brunk’s
prized mare Senata (Senator x Daisy by Billy Bodette). From 1924-
26, Pat Allen sired three foal crops, producing 50 registered foals
for Hill, more than half of them black, with a smaller proportion
of brown or bay, indicating he was homozygous for this color and
did not carry the chestnut gene. Hill retained a few of these foals for
breeding and sold a few others. Many were probably kept for ranch
work, but of 15 foals in the 1924 crop, all black or brown, there
were six colts and nine fillies. Two fillies were sold and went on to
MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
produce registered foals for their new owners. Of the rest, there is
no record. More of the foals from the 1925 and 1926 crops were
either sold or kept for breeding; the rest may have been kept for
ranch work. Meanwhile, Hill ordered more Sellman mares during
the years 1923-25 which included the following:
1. Wooddot (Woodrow Wilson x Dot N to Octoroon) chest-
nut mare 1919, sold to Hill 1923 with filly Forgetmenot
by Joe Bailey at side, produced total of four foals for Hill
including Forgetmenot.
2. Sonna (Sooner x Nancy tracing to Octoroon) chestnut
mare 1920, sold to Hill in 1924, produced 15 foals for Hill,
missing 1933.
3. Rokit (Red Oak x Kitty D tracing to Octoroon) chestnut
mare 1920, sold to Hill in 1924, produced three foals for
Hill, missing 1926.
4. Hegira (Headlight Morgan x Goldie Gordon tracing to
Octoroon) bay mare 1920, sold to Hill in 1924 produced
five foals for Hill, missing 1926-27.
5. Hemala (Headlight Morgan x Baby Lu tracing to Octo-
roon) chestnut mare 1920, sold to Hill in 1924, produced
18 foals for Hill, missing only 1934.
6. Robona (Red Oak x Bonnie B tracing to Octoroon) chestnut
mare 1920, sold to Hill in 1924, produced six foals for Hill.
7. Redoasy (Red Oak x Red Daisy by The Admiral) chestnut
mare 1920, sold to Hill in 1924, produced nine foals for Hill.
8. Roaka (Red Oak x Trilby B by The Admiral) bay mare
1921, sold to Hill 1924, produced seven foals for Hill.
9. Roboss (Red Oak x Bossie A. by Major Antoine tracing to
Octoroon) bay mare 1920, produced 14 foals, 11 for Hill.
10. Robsart (Red Oak x Bessie Hart by The Admiral) black
mare 1920, produced five foals, four for Hill.
11. Roda (Red Oak x Daisy A by Major Antoine tracing to Oc-
toroon) chestnut mare 1921, produced five foals for Hill.
12. Rodota (Red Oak x Dot N by The Admiral tracing to Oc-
toroon) chestnut mare 1920, produced three foals for Hill.
13. Rogata (Red Oak x Puss by Gold Medal tracing to Octo-
roon) chestnut mare 1921, produced three foals for Hill.
14. Rotila (Red Oak x Trilby B by the Admiral) black mare
1920, produced 11 foals, nine for Hill.
15. Semmes (Sooner x Young Jemes) chestnut mare 1920,
produced three foals for Hill.
16. Marietta (Red Oak x Nell Gordon by Major Gordon) bay
mare 1920, produced 15 foals, 12 for Hill.
17. Red Oak Lu (Red Oak x Fantina K by Headlight Morgan
tracing to Octoroon) chestnut mare 1921, produced 17
foals, 12 for Hill.
Next, Hill obtained the chestnut stallion Pongee Morgan, another
Brunk bred son of Allen King, out of Galva (Billy Herod x Chista by
Chetco). Pongee Morgan sired a total of 36 foals, 32 for Hill during
the years 1927-29. The same year he also bought the government
bred bay stallion Querido, foaled in 1923, a full brother of Mansfield
from the golden cross of Bennington x Artemisia. Bennington
was a son of government foundation stallion General Gates while
72 August 2015
Artemisia (Ethan Allen 3rd x Lady Laura by Bob Morgan) was
intensely bred in solid old New England lines. Querido also proved a
golden cross on the Sellman mares, and Hill kept him until he felt he
had exhausted that resource, producing 150 foals from 1927-1938.
He then sold Querido to A. Hartwell Carter in Kamuela, Hawaii, and
this outstanding breeding stallion was never heard of again.
Sometime around 1935, Hill moved his Morgans out of Kern
County to his properties further north. According to Arnold
Rojas, the reason for this was bad drought years, as Hill was very
particular about his prized Morgans. Hill bought the Elmer Brown-
bred chestnut stallion Joaquin Morgan (Romanesque x Margett
L by Linsley) which he used from 1939-1942, producing 34 foals.
Another Brown-bred stallion Hill used was the chestnut Sparbeau
(Linsley x Sparbelle by Sparhawk), sire of 34 foals including 30
for Hill during the years 1938-1942. He used El Cortez, a chestnut
stallion bred by the Hiebert Brothers of Kansas during 1941-1942.
El Cortez sired a total of 42 foals, including 15 for Hill’s Horseshoe
Cattle Company. The last major stallion Hill used was the
government-bred chestnut stallion Sonfield (Mansfield x Quietude
by Troubadour of Willowmoor). Sonfield sired a remarkable total
of 236 foals during his lifetime, more than 175 of which were
produced during the years 1939-1951 when he was owned by Hill’s
Horseshoe Cattle Company. Between the years 1923 until Hill’s
death in 1955, more than 600 Morgans were registered by Roland
Hill, his family members, or his Horseshoe Cattle Company.
THE WILD HORSES OF OAK CREEK CANYON
Dating back to at least the 1920s, stories began to be passed down
by local residents of Tehachapi about a band of black or brown
wild horses roaming in Oak Creek Canyon. Diana and Steve Palmer
became caretakers for the primary landowner in 1986, and began to
research the history of these horses. Diana gathered all the records
she could find on previous landowners who had lived in the area,
and talked to many old-timers, some of whom have since passed
away. For as long as anyone could remember, the horses were
described exactly the same as they are today: predominantly black
or seal brown, occasionally bay, and with minimal white markings.
No one ever remembered seeing chestnut or other colors among
them. The horses are well-built, compact, and muscular with short
backs, full round hindquarters with a long sloping hip and necks
of medium length rising out of a well laid back shoulder, excellent
feet and legs, lean bony heads with short pricked ears, intelligent
faces and large kind eyes, full and heavy manes and tails. In every
respect they resemble the old style Morgans used by many of the
early ranches which surround the isolated canyon. Properties owned
by Hill, Fickert, Miller & Lux, and the Tejon Ranch all lie within 15 to
20 miles. The canyon offers a number of springs and a huge meadow
which provides lush grazing from late spring until fall in most years.
Diana had DNA testing done by Dr. Gus Cothran of Texas A &
M University. Although it is not possible to conclusively determine
breed origin through DNA testing and the sample size was small,
Dr. Cochran noted the genetic data does not rule out the Morgan
as a primary ancestor, and based upon oral history and physical
appearance, Morgan ancestry is likely. The testing did clearly identify
these are definitely feral horses, and not of Spanish mustang origin.
 The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains u MORGAN AMERICANA
VAQUERO HERITAGE TRAINERS CHALLENGE: David Wratchford and McCall, 1st place; Amber McGee and Miguelito, 2nd place.
(Photos by Theresa Hull, Visual Works Inc.)
Dr. Cothran also noted that the low genetic diversity indicates these
horses have been isolated for probably several generations.
Diana notes, “Perhaps the ranchers in our area played a role in
these horses remaining isolated. The old fencing at the bottom of our
canyon is what keeps this herd from going east out of the canyon. We
see old fencing and very old cross-fencing; some is wire from the late
1890s and early 1900s. We have steep mountains on both sides of
our canyon, although they do climb to the top of them, they have no
need to leave. Most years there’s plenty of food and water, only three
couples live here year round, so very few people to bother them. My
husband and I are property caretakers for the primary landowner
and, while a limited number of people do come and go through the
canyon to their vacation properties, the horses are undisturbed for
the most part. When we first moved here in 1986, the horses would
winter over the ridge on the desert south of us, but with the increase
in dirt bike activity in that area, they quit going there.”
As the herd is on private land, the Bureau of Land Management
has never had a role in managing them as they do almost all other
wild horse herds still in existence. It is possible to imagine many
theories of how they came to occupy the range in Oak Creek
Canyon. However, one thing is clear: the homozygous black/brown
color and consistent type and conformation point to an origin
of closely related horses of fixed type and exceptional breeding
strength, most of which must have been homozygous for the black/
brown color. Given those limitations, it is fairly apparent that some
random stallion that happened to be homozygous black/brown
would have been very unlikely to be able to gather other random
unrelated mares who also happened to be homozygous for black/
brown and create this uniform herd which is probably the only pure
black/brown wild herd in existence. All indications suggest Morgan
origin, particularly the Morgans brought in by Roland Hill.
Consider that from the first batch of 16 mares Hill bought
from Sellman, a surprising proportion of them and/or their first
foals seem to have disappeared or were unaccounted for after the
first or second year, and most of these lost Morgans were black or
brown. For example, the black mare Melissa went on to become
the dam of seven foals but her 1923 foal is missing. The black
mare Kitty C. became the dam of 12 foals, but her 1923 foal is also
missing. And the brown mare Angelina who became the dam of 13
foals also missed her 1923 foal. Even more oddly, half a dozen of
the mares disappeared altogether. These included:
1. The bay mare Jenavive K, after producing her 1924 foal
2. Madcap, a chestnut mare, and her 1924 black filly Night
Cap by Pat Allen
3. Lucca, a chestnut mare, and her 1922 brown filly Lucca
Bailey by Joe Bailey
4. Lucia, a black mare was sold to Hill with her 1922 chest-
nut filly Katrina by Joe Bailey at side. Katrina went on to
produce 11 foals but Lucia was never heard of again.
5. Lulu G, a black mare was never heard of again after pro-
ducing her 1923 colt Red Hornett by Redwood Morgan.
6. Sophomore, a brown mare, disappeared after being pur-
chased in 1922 with no transfer or offspring recorded.
It might not be surprising for something to happen to one or two
of these mares, but so many? Yet when one considers that these
mares came from running free on the vast ranges of Sellman’s
Texas ranch, and were turned out in California on Hill’s equally
vast ranges adjoining the Tehachapi mountains, it seems a likely
possibility that some of the mares and colts may have escaped and
were not recovered, and perhaps a few survived to form their own
band. That they would settle in the one prime spot offering the
most grass and water within several miles seems logical as well.
Also, for Hill’s first few years of breeding, he used the Brunk
stallion Pat Allen, who was homozygous for black brown, on his
first bunch of Sellman mares. All of Pat Allen’s foals from these
mares were black or brown, and especially for the first crop in 1924
of 15 foals, other than two fillies which he sold, there is no record
of what Hill did with the rest of them.
The Morgan Horse 73
MORGAN AMERICANA u The Lost Morgans of the Tehachapi Mountains
VAQUERO HERITAGE TRAINERS CHALLENGE: Monica Whitmer and Corey, 3rd place; Steve Perron and Noir, 4th place.
(Photos by Theresa Hull, Visual Works Inc.)
Although these horses have managed to survive on their own for
nearly a hundred years, recent conditions have made things difficult for
them. The range the horses graze is from 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation,
bordered on one side by the Pacific Crest Trail. Until recent years, they
have lived in comparative peace, rarely bothered, with plenty of grazing
in most years and at least adequate in other years. The horses show
an unusual tolerance for eating the acorns which are abundant in the
canyon, and though acorns are normally often poisonous to horses,
these horses apparently are never bothered by them.
However, several serious fires, especially the severe Canyon fire
of 2011, combined with the worst drought seen in the nearly 30 years
the Palmers have been there has destroyed much of the grazing which
will take time to recover. Increased wind turbine projects have further
encroached the grazing. For unfathomable reasons, dirt bikers have
considered it entertaining to come into the meadow and chase the
horses. The Palmers have been compelled to intervene and have
been supplementing the horses with hay during the winter as well as
gelding so far about 45 of the stallions to help control the herd size,
which is currently around 115, divided into a number of small bands.
Also, they have increased efforts to help some of the horses find
homes through adoption. This year will be the second year for the
501(c)(3) nonprofit Vaquero Heritage Trainers’ Challenge Event hosted
by trainer Jeremy Dunn. This event, featuring the Oak Creek wild
horses, offers local trainers an opportunity to select an Oak Creek horse
to work with for about four months, provide a solid foundation and
showcase both the trainer’s ability and the horse’s natural talent. Each
trainer is also assigned a new fresh wild colt to work with at the start of
the event and, afterward, trainers have the option of auctioning their
horses to help them find a good home. Last year, the Oak Creek horses
demonstrated great versatility, adding even more weight to the theory
of Morgan ancestry. This year’s event will take place October 9, 10, and
11 at Sterling’s Arena in Tehachapi. Updates can be found by following
Vaquero Heritage Trainer’s Challenge on Facebook, and more about
the Oak Creek horses is posted at www.oakcreekwildhorses.com.
Could these horses be descended from Roland Hill’s lost Morgans?
74 August 2015
We may never know for certain, but the circumstantial evidence is
compelling, and could very well be a rare piece of Morgan history. n
RESOURCES:
• Algranti, Laura Stillwell, The History of the Morgan Horse in
California,
• Algranti, Laura Stillwell, “The Sellman Morgans,” Parts 4-6,
Classic Morgan Admirers, 1992.
• American Morgan Horse Association, “Online Morgan Regis-
try,” http://services.morganhorse.com/portaltools/horseregis-
try/index.cfm.
• Battell, Joseph, American Morgan Horse Register, Vols. I-VI,
1894-1949.
• Cleland, Robert Glass, A History of California, 1922.
• Houlton, LaVonne, late California Morgan Historian, person-
al communication.
• Jewett, Frederick Clarke, M. D., History and Genealogy of the
Jewetts of America, Vols, I-II, 1908.
• Ladd, David, Sellman Morgan History Project, personal com-
munication.
• Library of Congress
• Morgan, Wallace, History of Kern County, 1914.
• Oak Creek Canyon Ranch, “Wild Horses of Oak Creek,” http://
www.oakcreekwildhorses.com
• Ordway, Ray, Dean of the Living Vaqueros, personal commu-
nication.
• Palmer, Diana, Caretaker of Oak Creek Ranch, personal com-
munication.
• Rojas, Arnold, These Were the Vaqueros: Collected Works of
Arnold Rojas, 1975.
• Shelden, Nancie, great-granddaughter of Richard Sellman,
personal communication.
• Swanson, Jack, “Memories of a Vaquero,” Parts 1-2, Western
Horseman, January-February 2004.
• The St. Louis Lumberman, Vol. 51, April-June 1913.