In The Beginning...
There was Rodeo. It started as a contest between cowboys to see
who was the best roper and rider. Soon it evolved into ranches
competing against each other to see who had the best cowboys—
much like a ranch rodeo of today. Before long, organized events
were taking place in towns like Prescott, Arizona which claims to
have the world’s oldest rodeo (started in 1888) and Payson, Arizona
who argues they have the world’s oldest continuous rodeo (started
in 1884). Then you have Pecos, Texas who claims the right to the
world’s first rodeo (1883). However, history tells us that William F.
Cody (AKA Buffalo Bill) staged his first Wild West Show (which
also had rodeo events) in 1882 at North Platte, Nebraska.
But wait, there is more! Santa Fe, New Mexico also claims
the first rodeo based on a letter dated 1847 written by Captain
Mayne Reid from Santa Fe to a friend in Ireland: “At this time of
year, the cowmen have what is called the round-up, when the calves
are branded and the fat beasts selected to be driven to a fair hundreds of miles away. This round-up is a great time for the cowhand,
a Donny-brook fair it is indeed. They contest with each other for
the best roping and throwing, and there are horse
races and whiskey and wines. At night in clear moonlight, there is
dancing on the streets.”
Many will argue exact historic dates of the sport, but none
will doubt the birth of rodeo was a contest of the cowboy.
In the early 1900s, rodeos were largely unorganized and
scattered. Rodeo events as we know them today were mostly acts
mixed in with wild west shows—which were actually more common at the time than a rodeo, as thought of in today’s terms. As a
matter of fact, rodeos and wild west shows enjoyed a parallel existence in the early days and one was really not much different than
the other (they even had a lot of the same stars and contestants).
Just like today, many towns held annual “rodeos” but the
shows back then were more commonly known as Cowboy Contests, Stampedes, Frontier Days Celebrations and of course, Wild
West Shows. The term rodeo was not widely used until organization
started to infiltrate the sport (in 1929).
From the early days, rodeo was a way of life for some cowboys. However, in its earliest days, there was no standard to the
event schedule, rules, judging, etc.. You might have a steer roping
sandwiched between an Indian relay race and a shooting exhibition.
Then they might have saddle broncs and steer wrestling followed
by the “chicken pull” and trick roping. It’s been said there were
over a hundred different events or acts to choose from. One was a
unique event held each year at Chicago called the Cowboy Swimming Contest where mounted cowboys went to lake Michigan, were
floated out on a barge, and were then forced off, having to swim
their horses several hundred yards back to shore! The first one back
was the winner. Rodeos of the day were a lot more Wild West Show
than rodeo as thought of in todays terms.
These shows were very entertaining and popular with the
crowds. However, cowboys competing in these performances were
not treated like a modern, independent cowboy athlete is. The organizers thought cowboys should be happy with cowboy wages—and
payouts for winning events were reflective of this mindset. At the
time, cowboy wages were about a dollar per day ($30 a month). So
if a cowboy could win (or was paid) that much, or sometimes even
up to $100 for winning an event, he ought to be happy—and most
were. Many cowboy from back in those days have been quoted as
saying that winning $100 or so at a rodeo was more money than
they had ever seen at one time in their whole life and that is what
got them hooked on the shows. There were problems with this system however.
Cowboys still had to pay an entrance fee, much like today,
and the amount of fees paid by the contestants was not reflected in
the winning payout. Then there was the problem of each producer or town having their own ideas of how the show should be ran
and which events to include. There was little standard in judging
the events and rules varied from place to place. Then there were
always those few who worked the system to their advantage and
sometimes winners were determined before the show even started!
(Unofficially of course.)
Accusations of bribes and crooked judges ran high. The rodeo cowboy became disgusted with this situation over time. It took
a while, but cowboys finally realized they were the stars of the show.
Folks paid to see the rodeo cowboy perform and he was not getting
a fair share. There were thousands of dollars being made on some
of the bigger shows from ticket sales and contestant entry fees, but
only a few hundred would be paid back to the winners. This was