Document text
foody
1-ngelore
.rrant Co., rdst. A7
DO. Pearson (Idaho Bill), 39, torn
July 28, 1888, -:est of the Missisalppi
Hiver and on the Oregon Trail. Knut
;learson, his father, was a carpenter,
stone -and brick mason who built homes
and cleared land fora promoter in this
territory. 1 -le also owned _a number of
horses that he used to hunt buffalo.
his gave Idaho Bill an opportunity to
learn to ride a horse at an early age.
He has spent his life around horses
and held a nu-lber of rodeo contests in
various parts of the country. in story:
-,age 71
la^
iw
"ell sir, my name is 13.13. Pearson but I'm just old Idaho
T!ill to everybody. Now, I was born on July the 28th, '058, somewhere
:sot of the -issis'ippi 7iver on the Oregon Trail. If anybody knows
exactly where, they've got me bested a mile because my own faily
couldn't recall the place When I was a young buck. y dad's name
was -nut ..)earson. '!e was helping to clear up some land out there
on the :rec7;on -rnil for a promoter out of Blair, Nebraska, when
was born.
:Te
was a carpenter, stone and brick mason, so he helped
to build lots of places. if course, mighty little -brick was used
at first. oat of that Came later but there was stone building
a -plenty. e hunted buffalo too, so he always had a boss remude
with him and he tauht me to ride a h)sa as soon as I could possibly
sit one.
'I liked to ride so well that I could ride a pretty snaky
L.‘ hoss when 2! wasn't but 10 years old. In fact, I was a tolerable
fair range hand at 11 nd was working f -or Gordon 7dgerton. Fe run
I a lot of cows North of the 7epublican =dyer in Kanses. I was so
1
Young and that's so long ago that I don't recall whether he had a
brrnd or not. The more I think on ,it, the more doubt that he even
had a brand beoause there was no other cattle close to us then.
?hipps, ;ioody
:angelore
:'errant Jo., Dist. .17
Page $2
FC
"I quit him and went to work -for J. Johnson.when I was 12.
You Know, ;hen I look around me and see these college fellows and
the kids of 12 these days, I wish I heJ a chance to show all of them
how a real boy lived in those days. .Kids nowadays have mufflers
and all kind of things. I was living where the climate gets cold
a -plenty and had to live in dugouts and caves when we found one.
7y good clothes were homespun and my working clothes were made from
old tarps or any other thing thnt canvas was used in making. ry
food was nearly all beans and beef with black coffee bOled in a
tin can. reny's the time that I had to take a big rook and bust
the ice on the river or n crick to get some water to wash up and make
my coffee with. T had to melt the ice itself when it was too thick
to get to the water. I don't mean by this that there wasn't other
men along but in order to have harmony, everybody had to pitch in
and do everything that came to their hand ta do. That way, our
life was easier to live.
"Book to Johnson's place now. He run a lot of cattle along
the Platte River and South of there. Not far from Fort Kearney,
Kansas. Fe run several brands but the one I recall was a oombinatinn
THB.- To make it, you run the letters together. That's called a
combination brand.
"Nell, while I was with JAInsons I began to busting wild
hoses. I don't know but T. was born with the knack of handling
hosse I think. I always loved a gold hose and I loved to change
a brono's mind about not letting a fell)w ride him. I stayed with
Johnson for about three years before I went back to the he ranch
-Before I left, I was busting the worst,hosses in the country.
Thipps, woody page 123
Rangelore
Tarrant CO., 1)ist. 17 FO
"1 almost forgot the trouble the Olives'had while I wee
working for :ohnston. The Olive gang came .up from Texas with their
big herds and settled tolerable close to Johnson's place. Now,
that Wflff alright beoause there wasn't no fenoes in those days and
there was plenty of range for everybody. You couldn't hardly hog
it because there was so much.
"Trouble started to pop when the Olives came in. There was
so many settle that all the water holes had to be clear. 7'hat is,
they coldn't be fenced. Now, there was a few nesters pround there
End they hadn't fenced up anything so far. when the oatLle started
to running over their few acres of planted stuff, they began to
fencing in the water holes and their plots. The Olives wouldn't
stand hitched .for this, which Johnson knew and he deoided to yJst
let them handle it because they had a rep for handling anything they
didn't like.
the Olives warned the nesters but the nbsters wouldn't
beok water. r)ne of the )lives, I don't recall his name, went to a
o:Junle of them named Tetcham and litchell and told them he was the
sheriff. .:1 also told them to get off the range before somebody
got them, and to go back where they osme from, 7heae two realism
up and killed Am, then the shonough sheriff came from Port
l!earney and started to jail with them,
"Now, the jails in those days won't much. 'ou could just
drop a rope on one of them and dm7, it of. That's what the cow-
punchers on m spree usually did. The sheriff decided to take them
to a real jail which was at Abilene, ;'7ansas, I think. The Olives
got their (,:ang together end overtook the sheriff. Wey took his
I\
Aciipps, Ay)dy
Rangelore
:arrant Co., -list. ,7
:)age -14
prisoners away from him and burnt them at the stake. I heard an
old timer say years after that, that they used et least five cord
of wood on the fire. Of oouree,-- nobody could identify the men in.
the gang. Ay,- not even the sheriff could place a man. Men,
another. Olive got killed in some mysterious way so that left old
I.P. Olive. T guess he was so tough that they couldn't get him.
He move(-: to Plum crick, which has since bern changed to Lexington.
He's still.living there today.
"Befere I went back to the Tiomf. ranch, 1 went tp work for
the Hat Ranch at Rooatello, Idaho. 3.11. Dart owned it. end had two
brands. The hat brand -was for the regular range cattle, then he
had some high powered cattle that he imported from England. They
were of a breed that is well known today but I just can't name it
because it's high powered too. He used the combination upside down
BH.T.for these. The hat brand caused a lot of trouble beeause each
state allowed one brand but they wouldn't cooperate. Ihe -result
was that each state had a hat brpnd aloir with the others. I don't
recall the number of head thnt Bart run but I expect it would shade
10,000 head alright.
"Well now, about the home ranch. Dad got to where he wanted
me to go hove for a opell so bad that he offered me a trip overseas
if I'd do that. He'd piled up a little money because he made it on
everything he turned to and didn't ears much about spending it. 14,
didn't drink or go *hell -raising around. I don't oars much for that
kind of a life either. ;hat he was afraid of was that I'd finally
get in with a bunch of wet ropers. A wet roper that proved up was
in a spot those days. He generally got light footed and ended his
Phipps, ody
nangelore
Tarrant Co., Dist. 17
Page ,;8
FC
"I run into an American promoter, I don't recall his 'Arne,
and he got me to go with him in several of his exbibitions as an
‘1,merioan oowpuncher. A111, it was an easy way to make money so I
takes him on. I worked with him for a month or so, then went with
several other promoters. Some of them even took me to the Northern
part of Aftioa. One of those places that you can't pronounce the
name. I don't even know whether or not I oould 'mint it out on the
map but there wasn't anything to the places we went to. Dirty,
scrubby people. I'll take the States overytime. I finally begun
the year of '87 with Carl Haokensaok's Winter Circus. He was tour-
ing :lemony. I didn't go so many places with him because homesick-
ness began to get me. I ended up b- taking a tramp steamer back to
the 3tates. You tell 'em for me that there's no place like home.
I was tickled plumb pink to get back.
"tfter I went home rlid got a little money to operate on, I
went around to the (Afferent hoes ranohes and bought up the bosses
they couldn't bust. Then I couldn't bust them,
took the to rodeo contests. rhe refAson I said
that's what everybody says when they speak of a
rider just says 'contest', and lets it go.
"Now,
say that I've
of the little
T kept them end
'rodeo', wee because
contest but the
about the places I've be n to contests. You might
been to everyone of them thaLfc very big and to a lot
ones. I don't recall those that I went to back of
the )'a very well. One
sell the first bosses t,
raised the; hossea on my
thing I did do back of the JO's was to
the lueblo, Colorado, fire department. I
hose ranch et Snake River Valley, looated
about 50 miles from Cal*well, Idaho. I inherited this place rrom
Phipps, -old
Rangelore
Trrant co., ist. 17
Page -is
-rtry
.:eraron and Goulding in Denver* Nley ran their hosses in both Nevada
and Idaho and their brands were the 'ZS' ad the 'JO'. You know,
'm en old man and forget more things than I can remember. If we
were at my ranch office, T could give you .day and date of everything
I've done down to the time I was about eight years old. ()f course,
T don't have so much of it before T. was about 15, but I have it all
fro -1 then on end it makes ighty interesting reading.
"Mile I'm on the 3mith Drothers, let me tell you of a funny
thing that peened while I was wprking there. Cooks were scarce as
hen's molars in those days so everybody had theme chink cook. Our
cooky was about the laziest human Ievór came across. 7e actually
wouldn't do a thing he wasn't force,, to do in order to hold his job
so you can imagine how clean he was when the gang didn't care so
a.wful'much. They wanted to eat at the right time and they wanted
their black coffee hot when they wanted it.
"7;e11, one of the young bucks suspected something wPs wrong
about the cooking becfuse he never did see cooky getting any water.
7ie plays sick one day when he saw the water supply was 1)w* Thile
he's lousing around the chuck wegon, he sees the.cooky take some
water from the coonie and add to the sinker water, of which he didn't
have enough. how, the coonie wasn't nothing but an old steer hide
swung under the wagon to carry dry wood in. In crossing a crick to
eet to the present 1 cetiong sooky.wes so lazy that he didn't take
the wood out so the coonie picked up some crick weter. That water
was lready a week old when cooky used it.
"This makes the young buck kinda pink around the gills and
he goes to the foremen about it. ell, the foreman kinda doubts
ehipps, -oody Rge 9
Tangelore
?arrent Co., 71st. ,7 ?C
the renny's word end really didn't care so awful muoh but because
some of the others might care, he plays sick the next day. e sees
003!:Y get all of his water fromethe coenie for the coffee and the
sinkers too. ow, he said he didn't care about the sinker weer
eo'line from the comic but he wrnte-: his coffee water streieht so
he tells the rest of us. You know, that bunch of waddles. were so
mad tht they title this chink under e hues that hed never teen
bustee end then hits hire with their hats. eo fer as we know, thpt
zooky is still going.
'1 guess I've coveree the time between my birth and the 1900's
pretty well. lie stampedes were a thing to be expected rust as you
expect a flat on a car.' You'd just have them when you roundee them
ue into any kind of n herd. uoyote, lobo wolf, rabbit, rattlesnake,
or their own pure orniriness would send them on e stomp. T never
was in an Indian raid outside of P rodeo where it was put on for a
show so T can't tel anything ebout them. Watling gets worse every
yearses we go al mg so you can tell me more about rust7ine Y expect
then could tell you. enly time I ever lost any beef was when a
renny out one out for' meat end hardly nobody cared atout that because
n cownEn realizes that you've gotta eat. .'hey sometimes cut down a
neighbor's beef anyway.
"I'd built up my hoes ranch at finake 'qver Talley by _190:,
'til I was ready to go into the contest business for myself. I had
buckers and arena bosses for sale, then I SLID lied.them on a rental
basis, then run the whole -how myself. y first big one was held in
the Altersall frmore on 13th, etreet, Chicago. It was in the dead
of winter and the cold weather was with them. I had sawdust hauled
Thipes,„e)edy
Telngelore
T7r:rrant c)., Dist.
Page P`10
Fc;
in and eovered the entire floor. :hen I gave passes to about 500
neweies. '.:ou know, a newsy alweys eet e my goat because the money he
makes is usuLlly the suport. :'ve known them to support as
high as seven and eight on selling pepers. .1 think it's good for a
youne fellow to get some herd knocks when he's a kid because it takes
this jelly tern stu:f out of him and makes hin realize that money
just doesn't come to you but you have te go fter it. I've met well
dresed men on the streets of ehica6o and had them to ask me if I
rememberee him es one of the newsies I geve a pass to my, rodeo.
ack to this contest. I tacked a 1 000.001)M on a post
on one side of the front doer end a 500.00, bill an the other side
es
prize to any ranny that rode one of three certain hosses. I've
pulled thet stunt lots of times since then and never lost but very
few bills. eost of the prizes T lest were saddles end other. thine
that didn't cost so euch. lee reason they didn't usually ride one
of my reel tuckers vs because I didn't offer the prize until 7 found
that I couldn't r de hie myself. 'hen one of them was rode, it eas
becruse he had decided thet it Tvsn't eny use. eome of them were
ho. -see that hed been good sad hoeses eut just went bed. rL!ht
have killed a e'en or an6 found that they could whip one. -fter
tit, they're only eoo(1 for contest or the glue fectory, or a shot.
"7he bieeest contest I ever out on wes at Dewey, "7;klahome,
'fells irs in liil2, and the town only hsei about 2,000 populetion but
we showee to 23,000 people. :here they ceme froml.nobody enowS. 3t
just hapeenee that I had the best line up there that I ever had.
fhe best hosses end the biggest names in the rodeo business. I met
one fellow there that lived over in ocileghe, a few miles from there.
Phipps, o)dy
1%anL:elere
.5rlant Co., 1st. 7
;IP ge Jtl
:Te was t stage hand, or rather, he wrs s trick roper and worked on
the stage ell over the counLry. T!e also had a few bright cracks 80
7 let hi:, show his b,,g there. is bag of tricks. Next time I met
hi r!1 was when we were both scheduled to speak to the Adventure Club
in ::es rigeles, in 1.32. *I'd heard that he had charge of -several
million so I set down scrosl: the rostrum from.him because.I didn't
want to seem like I was fawning on him. You know, there's enough
seo,ole doing that without me doing it too. he got ue rnd come
over to were T wPs and sat down with be. "e stPrted the conversation
by saying, 17eve you got ,Aly more bucking hosses?' That man wes -ill
7ogers. 7'ere' a icture I have of me standing by his casket in
"orest Lawn CeMetary in Los rIgeles.when he died in 135',
-OB11, beck to the Dewey Contest. ':'uffelo Vernon was one of
the name riders T. had. '!e come out on Death Valley, one of my worst
/losses. Eecause I knew the hess, I stayed right in the arena to be
on hnd in ease I was needed. .it didn't ta%e Death Valley
long to be rid of his rider. 2o start with, he was one of the meanest
hoses .T ever sew. !e'd come right at :'ou in the corral •just like a
mad dog with his teeth bared. be worst eart as that he rerlly tried
to bite you. Alen he came out of the chute with L'Oirfall Vernon in the
sdOtb, he was pitching the worst I ever saw him. In about four jumps,
he had hurt 'iTuffalo before he pitche him off. You sec, if you didn't
haonen to be set for the coma -down, you'd have your guts busted out or
a mispi&ced fin. :an You h:-.(3 to know your businetv7 and 2uffelo was
one of the best riders of that day but he let Tenth Valley get him
out of nosition and he was badly hurt before he came down. tan, it
we no trouble for. leatt Vrlley to throw him.. fter Bufi'lal hit the
ground, '..)eath 'Valley turned around and made for him, aiming to stomp
,hibps, oady
'angelore
:arrant Jo., :Ast. ,7
page -12
right into the-izround.
-Al I -said, I v.s in the arena so I whipped my hoes over to
the two and my hose knocked 7.:;eath Valley over when he was poised right
up over 7:niffalo vernon. If I'd bw.n a second later, ,iiffalo would.
h,.ve been minc: 8 it was, he was laid up for quite a spell
but he couldn't hve got to where he as in the contest businass if
he hadn't of !e,-ri tough. In later years, he wan a. beautiful saddle
Theyenne, --loming, for riding U. bucker that had never been rode.
-There was another bad hose in my remuda by the,name of,
'Tdaho sathlle boss'. He was g saddle hogs that had gone bad
and a rancher gave him to :rie because he didwt want to kill the
animal. l'he rider that w s to ride him wag a gond one but was little
known in those days. He has since made 9 nnne.for-himself and is now
in the :oovies'. e was uch A.rickland. y arena hoss, Vera, and I
were out there to help !!11h just as we had just helped 7ernon if he
was unlcky enough to do what Euffalo had done. ell, !lush was
thrown end the'hoss was making for him when 7 rode in and picked hugh
up. I carried him to the corral fence and put him over, then we went
on with the rodeo.
"The next plape we went to nips 'ort :Aiss, in 7.1paso, 'axes.
7ord had gotten to me that 7.--Tugh had said, 'I'll ride him, flair or
foul'. 'ell, —uh was m,d becaus he had been throni but you never
could tell vtout-e new men.. wouldn't suspect him today at all
because he has proved up blit I deciddd to snub off for him and the
saddle hogs myself. 'Al had a good crowd and everything was going
fine. :nother puncher was helping. Hugh while I held the hoss to the
snub. .fter '!ugh mounted, then hell ponnedi 7hat hogs got F,way too
soon and aun stomped me right into the ground. They carried me off
,ehipps, .00dy
'zaneelore
-7nrrant CO., Dist. -7
Tage 13
the field for dead and the ehow went on. ell, ''m etill foaling
c lot of peoele. wee long time ,:ettine over it but here I am,
To men if T wrsn't so old.
"T sold -11 the rest of my bosses except one that was called,
'cerrie .The was e ze,re ene wes namec for the old woman
th,t went around .ustin un things. lh yes, I kept ',rare, my arena
boss too. e17., Carrie w's an old decrepit looking mare. She was
nothin,.; but skin and bones but had made me lots of eloney beneLse
had green horns to ride her. 2hey eel ways thought they could -surely
ride her because e:te wee so old. lie punchers that went with me
from place to pl of- always pleyed a trick on :he new hands that came
in. 'hey'd say, 'You ride that old mere'tit you get caue t on tb
the reut of the remudrf. T -forgot to say thet this hapeened before
our parades. e always put on a Parade in Eech town where we got
peemiesien to do it. 'he green horn would mount old Carrie, then
7et tossed off so nret.y. If they had ale spunk, they'd go back two
or three times because it just didn't seem possible that she could
do that. :he le)ked like she Nes about to aavetin. ore than half
of the new men would leeve us because they figured thet if the oldest
).013 mas so bad, then the young ones would be bad or eure. 'bile,
wrsn't very strone for this treatment, T stood for it bectuse all
the rest of then would lava if I to)k their fun away from them.
'hey'd stand round end laueh for r weel, after one of these stunts.
Cot new honds any everywhere we sent beeeuse they all rented
to be a broil:: stomper.
I pastured old ,3ar ie out and decided to just rest
awhile. 1 takes lora and rides over into Old 2'exieo. Atile I was
riding around in the mountains of the State of Chihuahua, I looks
Minns, oody rge 14
lOcr-Telore
L'f.r-rlInt Co., !Ast. 7PC
back and sees whet loos to be about the bir7g-est grizzly bear that I
ever sew in my life. in my time, I had roped Lobo wolves on
my ho s- ranch end sent them to the Lincoln ?ark in Chicago along with
the bir:7, bosses you'll ser, there when you go to the park. lien too,
I'd roped catamounts, panthers end most anything else that a rope
would loon so I decides to take this critter.
"It so happened that I'd taken the orecaution of taking two
ropes with me on my mountain trip because T. thought I might neec them,
haying had to use a rope before when I got in a tight on a high plow*.
Non, a good lasso rill hold more than an ordinary rope. lhey are
treated some way or other, or built different to stand extra weL-7ht
because they are stromzer than an _ordinary rope. I snubs one
rope to the trunk of tree, and takes the loop across the path to
another tree where I snubs the other lasso to the tree's trunk.
climbs up end gets in r 7oSition to drop the loop right over his
head.
"Now, a beer can scent a person a long ways if the wind is
toward him but if the wind is like it was that day, he wont know
you're close until the damage is done. -:hen the oriter got richt
under me, T -looped him pronto, then hell broke loosel I beet him
to the punch b7 drooping to the ground, then leaping to one sf.de
after looping him again rlth the other lasso. Since the first was
snubbed close, it was ei easy matter to draw my second 1)op up
tight before he had any idea 7,-ihst was happening. I had him standing
up with both ropes tight. If he moved any way, he cut off his own
wind. ien ManZ les that tear mad*?
"The next thing I done was to get Vera and light out for
that town at the base of the mountain with the unpronouncable name
._oody 15
Pangelore
rrint Co., Dist. .7 FC
1(1 buys an old International truck. fter I told several jpicks
that I wanted them to help me load a beta:- into a truck, there was
a labor shortage.. Icoeldn't hire anybody for love nor money.
ell, thnt made it tough but I'd got so far with it and I was going
to see the deal out.
I goes beck up the trail anc had to cut quite
a bit of the trail to get there.with the truck.
"I'd bought me half u dozen laseos white in the town so I
hed enough to handle the critter. I sure was afraid that he'd get
away while I wes gone. but when I rounded the bend on the ledge,
there he was and pretty droopy. I gaeae he'd had to stand there for
about four hours, or maybe a little less, so he wee getting tired.
7verytime he moved, he cut his wind oe*f.end he didn't like that all
so I figured that the way to handle him was to keep his wind pipe
tight, then he'd be pretty easy to handle. Do yel know, right when
I thought I'd won the fieht for sure, and almost had hin tied in the
truck pretty good, he gets F chance to reeeh me with a paw and puts
this scar on me. see there, it ranches frcel my hair down to a
little Abome my lip. 1 thought I'd bled to deeth before I got it
stopped with pushine ,,he edges of the cut together and.holdinc it
wit e my bandana. lethen took some strands of a rope and tied the
bandana to the place but had holes cut for my eyes.
7kfter I got down to the town, I got the doe to fix me up.
!Yll. the way down, the bear was reising hell because he had smelled
blood. lie kinds let up after I got fixed up but he still didn't
like the fix he was in. ,hen 1 decidee to light out for the -J.Aates,
he wt,s getting pretty well used to being tied up and I was feeding
him pretty well.
-hinns, :oedy
7ee elore
:areent Jo., 7)ist. 47
a
"'fter I got into 71easo, all the fellows on the prase said
T ought to give him to the nresident. eell, T'd kinde liked the
way Harding carried on before I got hurt 66 I decides to do it.
e weighed the critter and fter we took off enough for the truck,
he weighed about 700 pounds. Now, yea can see *hat a catch ied
made. I lit out for eeshineton with the bear in the truck, and by
the time I'd got to fashington, I'd found out that Harding had died
peeeeeee,_
so I decides to give ti it to hisii.seoreimder,Iloolidge. I've got a
picture of him and me on the White Mouse lawn with the hear tied up
between him and me end he's smiling. That's soeething pretty rare
for him to smile. He decides against keeping the beer fora pet so
he gives it to the zoo in 'eishington and it's there today with e
cerd on the front of the cage telling all about it.
"eel', I got out of the arena end of the contests after my
acoident but T still kept my 'lend in on the sueelying of buckers and
arene bosses. T*ve sure sold lots of thorn In my time. One of the
orders I've kept in my desk at home is en order from A.111em Cody
for lb buckers end 30 arena bosses. No, here it is. I've got ie
with me here and you can rend it. eee?, that's from lAiffalo Tql1
himself and written four weeks before his depth from the Irma 7otel,
tee one he eeve his deuehter Irma, and is in the Cody eark near
the Yellowstone.
died on Jenuary the 10th, le17, and the letter
is dated just four weeks earlier.
"Buffalo eill was one of my best friends and I've had lots
of them. Not all of thee were on the law's side., either. You know,
I've nemed them over lots of times in my life and it's nothing
uncommon to have. some -one doebt thet I knew so meny. Tt. just hepeens
that I have always dealt in good hoes flesh and that's whet most of
nnsi
Ye rrel, re
Terrmn, Co., Dist. 7
7-a 1.7
then n eded In their business. I've sold to men on both sides of
the lv lere comes the chtd4. The men i usually sold to that
were 3 tside the law were men who had be n forus,, there by some of
the bi4 lend drabbers, or some misSake de While still just t
strinlin,c7. I hardly- ever mention sellina hosses to e fellow outside
the 1,34 but T've lived y life, in the saddle'. '.hen a
punche
yoa tht, he means that the world is his hose and he's.
ridin7lin the saddle, !:nd.if,the hoss don't like the wey he's being
rode, e ct-n just try end pitch the puncher off and the ,puncher cenr
tell t1e hose to 711umb to hells