Powers & Sons saddle, with silver trim adorning its fork, cantle, jockeys, skirts, and long tapaderos. Not surprisingly, there were so many viable contestants signed up for the saddle-bronc event that an even dozen made it to the semifinals and a chance to win the year’s top prize. The most popular was the Saddle Bronc Championship of the Northwest, with a $250 silver-mounted Hamley saddle going to the winner.īy the following year, word had spread, and dozens of the region’s most skillful cowboys and cowgirls added their names to the lists. The Indian participants performed ceremonial dances and staged horse races, and the cowboys competed for cash prizes in a series of events. The show opened in late September and was an unqualified success, drawing scores of enthusiastic competitors and some 7,000 attendees. They then sold shares in an event designed to showcase the skills of the cowboys as well as the customs and traditions of the Native American tribes of the Northwest. They formed a nonprofit organization ambitiously dubbed the Northwestern Frontier Exhibition Association and built a large arena.

“Buffalo Bill” Cody and Gordon “Pawnee Bill” Lilley, laid out the plans for a local show of their own.

The city fathers of Pendleton, Oregon, drawing their inspiration from the Wild West extravaganzas of such showmen as William F. It had been established just a year before, in 1910, at a time when the historic West was fast fading into a wistful, romantic memory. The Pendleton Round-Up was a new attraction. Now they were going to do something about it. The roar swelled until it filled the new Pendleton arena, as thousands of angry voices thundered in unison, “People’s Champion! People’s Champion! People’s Champion!” The judges had already announced the winner of the saddle-bronc event, the most prestigious competition of the entire roundup, but the crowd did not agree with their choice. It came down to three very different riders vying for the saddle-bronc championship title and the silver saddle when the official decision clashed with the people’s pick.

Hamley saddles pendleton