FIFTY YEARS IN THE SADDLE

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Title

FIFTY YEARS IN THE SADDLE

Creator

Bea Peterson

Text

FIFTY YEARS IN THE SADDLE
By Bea Peterson

As the Dakota Territory became states and the area became more and more fenced in and restricted for the cowboys, the opportunity to roam about at will was gone. Now and then a cowboy or two would put a pack behind his saddle and take off for a visit with friends down the line or across the river. For the most part, civilization with its fences, gates and road-lines, discouraged many a footloose and fancy free puncher from roaming.

The oldtime cowboys sorely missed the good old get-togethers of the bygone days so much that they decided to organize a club. Only those who had spent at least 50 years of their lives around horses, more or less “in the saddle” were eligible to join. On May 26, 1957 the first meeting of the Fifty Years in the Saddle Club was held, with Fred LaRocque and Angus Kennedy as hosts. The first officers were Fred LaRocgue, president; Angus Kennedy, vice president; Andrew Johnston, secretary and Bryant Kellogg, treasurer. It was decided that to be eligible for membership one must have been a working cowboy since 1907 or earlier.

Honorary memberships at that charter meeting were given to the following oldtimers, who had been outstanding cowpunchers of the earlier era. Those so honored were Sam Rhoades of Killdeer; Clint Randall, Williston; Ben Bird, Medora; Martin Knudtson, Grassy Butte; Christ Lee, Killdeer; William Timmons, Waco, Tex.; Richard Moore, Sentinel Butte; Goob Saunders, California; John Leakey, Texas; Dr. H. Anderson, Dickinson; Usher L. Burdick, Washington; E. H. O’Cain, White Earth; Mert Buckley, Mobridge; Alfred Haugen, Taylor; Charlie Davis, Newtown; Bill Taylor, Dickinson; and Shy Osterhaut, Medora.