A tip o’ the hat to Thom Eley for reminding me about one of the greatest rodeo competitors to ever fork a saddle: Jackson Sundown.
In his youth, Jackson Sundown was part of the epic Nez Perce retreat from northeast Oregon across Idaho and into Montana. He escaped the Nez Perce disaster at Bear Paw and crossed into Canada where he found a refuge with Sitting Bull’s Lakota. He eventually returned to the U.S. and turned his expertise with horses into a good living. An ace horse breaker and breeder, Sundown was still entering rodeos into his 50s (a fine example to those of us who have recently crossed that threshold). He was part of a three-man saddle bronc championship final at the Pendleton Round-up in 1911 that featured John Spain, a white cowboy from a pioneering family, George Fletcher, a ridiculously talented black cowboy, and Sundown, the Nez Perce.
The result was intensely controversial.
The go-to book on Jackson Sundown and the legendary 1911 Pendleton Round-up is “Red, White and Black” by Oregon author Rick Steber.
In 1916, Sundown finally won the title many people believed he had already earned — at the age of 53.
Sundown is featured in a documentary titled “American Cowboys.” This teaser has a brief bit of footage of Sundown riding a bucking bronco.
Cowgirl singer-songwriter Juni Fisher pays tribute to Jackson Sundown on her CD memorializing the historic Pendleton Round-up.
deuce says
Cool. I’d never heard of Jackson Sundown (or the other cowboys).
JimC says
I hadn’t either, before moving to Oregon.
Dick says
Isn’t there a Kesey novel based on that historic rodeo contest? Can’t remember the title but bells are ringing in my brain…..
JimC says
“The Last Go Round” with Ken Babbs.
Craig Rullman says
Love this. I keep thinking of Kim Stafford’s excellent essay: A Few Miles Short of Wisdom. Now I want to know if Sundown was at the Big Hole. Seems likely he was.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136072.Having_Everything_Right
KS says
Great story!
JimC says
It is that. So is George Fletcher’s, which I need to take on, too…
Thom Eley says
Ooops, I see you have Juni. The Last Go Around Is Great. Ken Babbs was a Marine Corps Helicopter Pilot and then became involved with the Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. He wrote a recent book (2011) Who Shot the Water Buffalo?: A Novel. The Water Buffalo is a term that Marines know differently than the Asian animal.
JimC says
Juni’s played a few times here in Sisters and in Central Oregon at large.
steve watts says
Thanks for this…A couple of things….I got to visit Pendleton a few years and walking around the Round-up grounds brought to life many of the stories from that place and time.. I loved Kesey’s treatment of the Sundown story…a rollicking good time of a book! He was as good-a-lookin’ Indian cowboy as ever forked a bronc. And, no cowboy, no cowboy had a cooler name than Jackson Sundown!
JimC says