The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-08-17

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lake twenty-five miles long. nesting
in the great mountain valley, the
mountain ranges decked with pines,
the crystal sky, the great meadows
fringed with woodlands, with
myriads of wild ducks, curlews and
other water fowls floating on the
bosom of the lake as II to share In
the social spirit of the day, the wild
cattle and horses alert in the corrals
awaiting a possible rider or rope or
branding iron, the soft meadows
under foot and an azure sky over
head and the scent of fresh waters,
peppermint and jointed toulies
waited on the breeze, all combined
to round out the spirit of the oc-
casion 1t was intended to be.
1t Is not our purpose to write up
the list of events that followed the
opening, but merely to give pen
picture Of the scene as 1t differed
from the prosy events of the annual
fair that Is intended to stand fol-
progress, while this event was in
tended to stage the things of old
that are passing and disappearing
The speaker was a polished gentle
man, and he began by saying
Ladies and gentlemen" and then
remembering the horsemen banked
behind him, he turned and saluted
and added, land cowboys" A flush
shot thru the throng and some OF
the horsemen moved slightly In
their saddles. 1t was an awkward
moment, but was soon lost in the Joy
of the occasion and the events that
followed.
When a riding stunt was an
nounced, gate would open and q
horse and rider would emerge like a
shot out of a gun. When the rider
was thrown or the horse gave up un-
seating him, the "pick-ups" riding
after him would dash forward and
take control of the horse and allow
the rider to dismount. Immediately
another stunt would be announced,
perhaps bucking steer, a gate
would open and a steer with man
on his back would charge into the
open and do their best. When the
rider was thrown or when the steer
quit bucking and started to run
away across the greenesward, the
pick-ups would dash forward to lasso
the steer and relieve the rider.
Then the announcer would call the
bucking bull stunt, and a gate would
open and man and bull would do the
heroic parts as did the man and
steer, and then announcement of q
man and mule might follow quickly,
and there would shoot from a gate
bucking mule with tail whipping
up and down, ears tanning and all
vigOr and quick motions till the end
of the stunt. Thus did these masters
Of the range entertain three or four
thousand people with bucking con-
tests interspersed with races Of
every kind known to the frontier,
and keep one following another in
rapid succession with no tedious
jockying, but merely line them up
quickly and shout, "Go!" and go
they would and the foremost take
the money.
When the wild west stunts were
at their height, when the thousands
sat immersed as it were in the
events of past century, the an
nouncer galloped down the line
shouting that the airplane would
come over the range in a few
Yninufoc Donn1o <houuhf a. n iolyo
but right away speck appeared on
the horizon marking the summit of
a low range to the southwark and
enlarged till a great bird and a
purring sound held the attention of
the throng and there cricled over the
race track an airship, while the
cattle trotted about cycling it
askance and the band of wild horses
that had been lettering on the green,
swayed to and fro, puzzled at this
giant, and when it had completed
its circling and its descent and
lighted running like monster cur
lew, the horses all swung round
facing it, and stood at attention,
ears pointed forward, dilated nos
trils and tails finely curved in the
air, plainly indicating their surprise
and pleasure at this new and unex-
pected turn Of the reunion. In all
the ninety-nine years that the white
men had been annual visitors to
these valleys and in all the 10
years since the coming of the first
white man thru that locality, no
such monster bird as that had ever
Joined them in the air or on the
ground. All the horsemen galloped
toward it and the crowd poured out