1920s Rodeo Cowboys in Oregon, Montana, and Nevada Archive

[Western Americana] Archive of 16 photos and postcards of rodeo riders in the 1910s-40s West. Nearly all are real photo postcards measure 4.75" x 3", with one additional photo measuring 1.75" x 2.5". Black and white as well as some sepia albumen print photographs. The real photo postcards do not have divided backs; two have AZO stamp boxes and three have DOPS stamp boxes. AZO and DOPS stampboxes indicate that these postcards date from around 1925-1942. One is copyrighted to 1918 and dates seem to range from 1910s-30s. Locations include Pendleton, Oregon, Boseman, Montana, and Nevada. Three of the images are titled: "Leonard Stroud on Indian Tom wins championship (truncated) at Cheyenne, Wyo." (copyright 1918, D.F.P. Co. Inc.); "Soapy Williams on Glasseye" (copyrighted to H.H. Garnett; "Milt Moe on Tea Trader (copyright R.R. Doubleday). One spectacular photo from Pendleton taken by noted Western photographer R.R. Doubleday shows a cowboy named Frank Smith "bulldogging", which was a maneuver where a cowboy would dismount his horse at full gallop while keeping a foot in the stirrup and grab onto the horns of a charging bull adjacent to him, leaving him suspended in between the two wild animals. Smith did this move at the 1923 Pendleton Round-up, a major rodeo in the Northwest which originated in 1910 and still runs to this day. The rodeo is packed with attendees who can be seen filling the stands behind him. There seem to be other shots of the Pendleton Roundup on the postcards in this collection. Another postcard shows a cowboy in a prairie holding his hat up high as his horse bucks in the air, kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. One card shows a relay race at the 1925 Labor Day Roundup, potentially also located in Pendleton. This action shot shows a cowboys racing each other at full gallop in front of a crowd of onlookers. Another Roundup photo has the caption, "They treat 'em rough at the Roundup." A photo entitled "A Short Stay in Nevada" shows a cowboy in a tricky position - thrown off his horse, face down in the mud, and with the horse potentially going to trample over him. A photo from Boseman, Montana from the mid 1920s shows a saddle bronc rider, Paddy Ryan, thrown sideways off his bucking black horse, holding on for dear life. Another five images are action shots that show daring cowboys attempting to break wild horses in 5 classic poses of saddle bronc riding. One photo shows cowboy Leonard Stroud triumphantly holding his cowboy hat in the air while he grips the reigns on the bucking bronco "Indian Tom." Another photo shows cowboy Milt Moe on "Tea Trader", a wild dark horse that has jerked several feet up in the air. A crowd of bemused cowboys and one cowgirl are pictured behind, standing upright or sitting on the rodeo fence. A particularly impressive shot shows the cowboy Soapy Williams on his black horse "Glasseye", which has bucked so wildly it has contorted itself into a crescent shape midair. Another photo, taken much earlier in 1904, from the Miles City Roundup in Montana shows a saddle bronc rider thrown out of his stirrups and floating over his horse as it jolts violently, kicking up patches of dirt around the range. A couple of the photos show bullriders, with one sepia-toned postcard showing a bullrider sent off the backside of the bull right as it bolted out of the gate. Finally, an exhilarating small photo shows a rodeo cowboy hanging between a charging bull and his horse, with an arm around each animal's neck, scraping the rodeo floor at a high speed. This archive shows the heritage of horse and bullriding in Oregon, Montana, Nevada and likely elsewhere in the 1920s. A fun collection of visual history replete with action and atmosphere. In very good condition. (Inventory #: 17807)