In 1922, the Modoc County Board of Supervisors did a bold act in an effort to control the wild horse population. At that time, they passed a resolution to allow the Modoc National Forest to round up stray horses on public land using the provisions under California Legislation under the various provisions of the Estray Acts.
George Lyons the Supervisor for the Modoc National Forest contacted W.G. Durbin of the Lassen National Forest for assistance with Lassen County officials, since a portion of the Modoc Forest extends into Lassen County.
On January 31, 1924 Durbin wrote to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors to pass resolution similar to Modoc. Durbin wrote: “For a number of years the Forest Service and stockmen of Modoc County have been trying to free the Modoc Forest of this class of stock and have gotten rid of most of it, except in that portion of the Forest Service extending from Willow Creek and Hayden Hill south to the Pitt River and east of Bieber. To a very large extent this stock is made up are commonly called fuzz-tails and are wither unbranded or of so little value that the owners do not care to go the expense or even gathering them and in some instances they will not claim them after they have been gathered.
”These animals consume and destroy range that is badly needed by the ranchers in the Big Valley country for their cattle. There is only one way of getting rid of this class of stock and that is to dispose of them under the State Estray Act.”