As recently as the early 1960s, a few people were lucky enough to see wild horses in the Badlands.

    These wild horses, the last in South Dakota, were all descendants of ranch mounts that either escaped or were turned loose by their bankrupt owners. The number of "outlaw" horses increased in the Twenties and Thirties as many homesteaders abandoned their holdings.

    By 1928, a large herd of feral horses roamed the open range east of Interior. This was the Runyan Herd, the fleet offspring of races horses owned by a settler named Runyan. During the Depression, hundreds of these horses were rounded up and sold by county officials desperate for revenue.

    To catch a speedy Runyan horse, or any other wild horse, was the goal of any a young cowboy. A horse born in the wild was unbranded, and usually considered the fair property of whoever could lasso or corral it. This was no easy task.

    Badlands horses were famed for their ability to elude capture. At a dead run, they could disappear among pinnacles and peaks, then reappear minutes later where least expected. Their knowledge of escape routes was uncanny.

    The last area for wild horses was the Lost Dog Country, so named because even a dog could get lost among its many gullies. And just like a movie script, the last herd of fifteen mares was led by a black stallion. This stallion, like those before him, was often blamed for "stealing" mares off area ranches.

    In 1959, Lynn Williams of Wall, used his airplane to heard what may have been the last three wild horses past a group of camping Boy Scouts. At this time, the Park Service was attempting to remove all horses from Badlands Monument.

    There is no record of when the last capture was made, but on that day, wild horses thundered into the pages of South Dakota history.

10/01/03