Product Description

Pendleton Round-Up At 100 is a full-color celebration of the first one hundred years of this classic rodeo. Over five years were spent in researching and writing Pendleton Round-Up At 100, to give full justice to its rich and uniquely American history; its importance to cowboys and Indians; and its enduring appeal in Oregon, the West, and the world of rodeo. Illustrated with over 900 photos and illustrations that are drawn from historic collections and family archives, most previously unpublished.

The book's 24 chapters tell the stories of the Round-Up's founding and early years, its discovery by Hollywood, Indian participation from the Round-Up's establishment, the cowgirls' era, legendary performers, the families and volunteer spirit that sustain the annual event and much more. Appendices include complete listings of Round-up winners, Round-Up and Happy Canyon courts, Round-Up presidents, Round-Up Indian chiefs and Round-Up Hall of Fame honorees.

Unique among all rodeos, Pendleton included participants from surrounding Native American tribes--Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla--in its first year, and every year since. Roberta Conner, head of the Tamastslikt cultural institute, contributes to this volume an important summary of the changing relationship between the tribes and the event.

The 1911 Round-Up was the setting for the legendary showdown between black cowboy, George Fletcher; Indian cowboy Jackson Sundown; and white cowboy John Spain, all competing for the prize saddle. Known as "The Last Go Round" and still controversial, it was the subject of Ken Kesey's final 1994 novel. Hollywood discovered champions such as Yakima Canutt and Mabel Strickland and made them stunt-riders and even stars of silent films. In fact, cowgirls were as important as cowboys in the early years, despite the dangers; it took the tragic death of champion Bonnie McCarroll in Pendleton's ring in 1929 to end the era of female competitors. However, horsewomen continue to participate as champion riders.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #508596 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 300 pages

Review
It's only fitting that a rodeo as storied as the Pendleton Round -up should have its story told so well as it is in this superb book. Michael Bales and Ann Terry Hill have combed the archives, including those of the (Pendleton) East Oregonian,and persuaded family members to unearth a treasure trove of photographs -- 900 of them -- to bring the "Let`er Buck" experience straight to the reader. There's plenty of story as well. Not only is the book lavishly illustrated, it is lovingly written in a style that is both accessible to the casual reader and satisfying to the historian.

And what a story they have to tell. For the Round-Up's first 20 years, women competed in more than barrel racing. They rode bucking broncs, rode "Roman," (standing with one foot each on two horses), roped steers and included at least one bulldogger.

...All this makes for fascinating reading in this thorough and thoroughly delightful book. --Rodger Nichols, The Dalles Chronicle, August 2009

The recently released chronicle of a great Western tradition, "Pendleton Round-Up at 100, Oregon's Legendary Rodeo," written by Ann Terry Hill and Michael Bales, soars beyond historical non-fiction and engages the reader like a novel.

A lavish work by Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company of Portland, the book is a visual and literary smorgasbord for the fans of rodeo or Western history. Beautifully designed and produced, its pages open to a breadth of photographic images that illustrate the rodeo story as never before, many unpublished until now. But more than a summary, the combination of image, text and commentary reveals much about our national character, about the temperance and passion of a state and its leaders, and about the evolution of an indigenous sport that challenges man, woman and animal and especially, the cowboy, that rugged individual with nerves of steel but a tender heart. --Corinne Brown, The East Oregonian, July 12, 2009

[Pendleton Round-Up at 100]'s fascinating voluminous, well-written text balances wonderfully with a superabundance of photographs -- trick riders, members of the host Umatilla Nation in full regalia, harrowing rides on massive bulls and wild-eyed broncos, rodeo clowns, and the royal rodeo courts.

All together it is a jam-packed tale of the rodeo's century of celebration of the "cowboys and Indians" that remain today a subject of mystique worldwide as well as a mainstay of child's play. --Randi Bjornstad, The Eugene Register-Guard, August 23, 2009

From the Back Cover
"The Round-Up is an epitome of the end of the Great Migration on this continent, and stands not only as typical of Pendleton, but of Oregon, of the West, of America."
-Charles Wellington Furlong, Let `er Buck, 1921

About the Author
*Mike Bales has been a newspaper writer, reporter, and editor for over twenty-five years, most recently for the Portland Oregonian.

*Roberta Conner is the executive director of the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute and a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

*Ann Terry Hill, contributes regularly to American Cowboy, True West, and Cowboys & Indians magazines, and is also a former Round-Up princess and queen.

*Gordon Smith, former U.S. Senator, is originally from Pendleton.

*Historian and writer William S. Willingham is the author of the Starting Over: Community Building on the Eastern Oregon Frontier (2005) and co-author of The Classic Houses of Portland, OR, 1850-1950. He also has written numerous scholarly articles, reviews, in the fields of Pacific Northwest history, historic preservation, and historic architecture consultant reports, and professional papers.

Customer Reviews

A must read for rodeo fans
With all the intensity of a bronc bustng out of a chute, this remarkable archive of 100 years of the Pendleton rodeo reads like a history of the West itself--cowboys, Indians, showmen, politicans, cowgirls, and legendary celebrities. Beautifully conceived and well designed, it's pleasurable reading chock-full of some of the most amazing photographs ever combined, many never before seen in rodeo annals. Text by Bales and Hill is smooth and easy to read. In all, this is a book for any Westerner's library and the perfect place to start for anyone who loves rodeo anywhere.

Let 'er buck!
Pendleton Round-Up at 100: Oregon's Legendary Rodeo

This is far and away the most comprehensive rodeo book I've ever seen -- one that will be on my coffee table or in my library for years to come.
No rock along the Oregon trail side is left unturned as the researchers tirelessly uncover facts, figures, quotes, and at times a few hilarious tidbits -- such as information about one crusty cowgirl that wore diamonds in her front teeth that she'd hock if she needed entry fees. The historic photographs are priceless, showing the times before bucking chutes when cowboys mounted the broncs in center of the arena, and when women competed in split skirts. The tightly braided nature of the Pendleton Round Up is also illustrated in prose and photo, with considerable space given to the Native American participation from the very beginning, as well as black and white.
A lot can happen in a nation and in the world of rodeo in 100 years. I enjoyed the ride with Bales and Hill as they compiled a century of rodeo into one delightful book that kept me spellbound from beginning to end.

Wonderful rodeo coverage
As someone who grew up in Pendleton watching and experiencing the Round Up, the Pendleton Round Up at 100 captures its essence. The photographs and narrative are tops! A great trip down memory lane for me but a wealth of information for anyone who has never attended the Round Up.