The Northwest Missouri Fox Hunt Association was very big part of Ridgeway society for nearly 70 years. The earliest article that I found was in the St. Joseph Gazette dated Sunday, October 2, 1910, originally published in the Ridgeway Journal. The fox hunters were holding their third annual encampment near Ridgeway that year. They had twenty-six packs of fox hounds, and fifty-seven horses were ridden the first day of the hunt. They scared up a fox early on the first day of hunting and chased it for three hours before it went underground near the camp. Afterward, all the hunters enjoyed a big breakfast courtesy of Mrs. J. W. Leazenby and her “corps of assistants”. The hunts went on through Saturday with several foxes being changed and one being taken alive. The event also included hunters and their animals participating in field trials which were enjoyed by good sized crowds. In 1910, Mack, owned by J. W. Leazenby (a Ridgeway resident, businessman and Missouri state legislator who was also an officer of the association) won the championship stakes and the hunting horn was won by L. W. Weather’s dog, Sailor.
The Northwest Missouri Fox Hunters’ Association met yearly through 1969 when they disbanded, according to the Ridgeway: Then and Now centennial book.
