Product Description

A century ago, when Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona outlawed steer roping contests, there was one place a southwestern roper could go to hone his skills: Cowboy Park, the arena established in 1907 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.
During the formative years of rodeo that preceded the first Calgary Stampede in 1912, Cowboy Park promoted the sport of steer roping and provided a ready training ground for up-and-coming champions. From its inception until growing political turmoil in Mexico brought the enterprise to a halt, Cowboy Park kept the sport alive and fostered celebrity--its ''alumni'' swept the first prizes in Calgary and continued to dominate for some years. This unique institution, despite its significant influence on the future of rodeo, has until now received scant attention.
Through the history he has recovered and photographs--many published here for the first time--John Baxter documents and illuminates the era of Cowboy Park and the early champions who won their spurs there.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #861572 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780896726420
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
''Captivating, well written, and fast-paced . . . Baxter, a team roper and calf roper in his younger days, knows the sport of rodeo well and puts the reader right there on the edge of the arena.'' --Barbara Van Cleve

''Rodeo fans will find some familiar names . . . and places here Guy Weadick, Zack and Lucille Mulhall, Bill Pickett, Will Rogers, Fog Horn Clancy, Guy Allen, Dan Patch, and Calgary, Pendleton, and Cheyenne. But most of the names will be unfamiliar, all but forgotten in the annals of early rodeo. [Baxter s] penetrating and original research is underpinned by the use of nearly fifty different newspapers from around the country.'' --Richard W. Slatta, from the foreword

About the Author
John O. Baxter is an expert in water rights and other aspects of the history, culture, and law of the Southwest. A former archivist and historian for the State of New Mexico, Baxter holds the Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico and is the author of Dividing New Mexico's Waters, 1700-1912 and Las Carneradas: Sheep Trade in New Mexico, 1700-1860. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Richard W. Slatta is professor of history at North Carolina State University. He is the author of eight books, including Cowboy: The Illustrated History, and more than 250 articles and reviews. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Steer ropers evading Texas law
A century ago,Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona outlawed steer roping contests because too many cattle and horses (and perhaps cowboys) were injured during practice sessions on the range.

The "Stone and Webster Public Service Journal" for 1907 announced:

"A new amusement enterprise has been started in Juarez, known as Cowboy Park, in which roping contests, bronco busting, etc., take place every two weeks. Roping contests have been prohibited in the state of Texas for the last two years, so that it is necessary to hold such events in Mexico. This helps the earnings of this company, however, as the park is very well patronized by Americans from El Paso."

John Baxter has spent countless hours reading and extracting newspaper accounts from almost 50 periodicals of the period, and has written a fascinating description of the events that took place at Cowboy Park. Many of the pictures are a bit unclear, but taken together they give a wonderful immediacy to the contests.

The first Calgary Stampede took place in 1912; in the preceding five years cowboys honed their roping and other cowboy skills at Cowboy Park. Baxter introduces the reader to stars like Guy Weadick, Zack and Lucille Mulhall, Bill Pickett, Will Rogers, Calgary, Pendleton, Dan Patch, Ben Johnson, Fog Horn Clancy, and Guy Allen. He mentions dozens of others less famous ropers but still important in the early days of rodeo. Alumni of Cowboy Park dominated the sport for many years after it closed.

Political instability in Mexico force the closing of Cowboy Park in 1912. The first Comment contains a link to a photograph in the Library of Congress entitled "Juarez, Insurrectos attack federals in cowboy park."

John O. Baxter is the author of Dividing New Mexico's Waters, 1700-1912 and Las Carneradas: Sheep Trade in New Mexico, 1700-1860.

As a tenderfoot from New Jersey, I found this book an fascinating introduction to something I knew nothing at all about.

Robert C. Ross 2009

great history
this history of rodeo and steer roping is beautifully researched and well written. AS a student of Southwest HIstory and a buff at Rodeos, this is my cup of tea. Yours too.