Pate Tour
East Oregoatan Round-Up Scuver.ir Edition
Pendleton, Oreo: Thurrdcy. September 11, 1913
Twenty-four Pages
How the Round-Up Grew From Modest Beginning to Show of World Proportions
Originated in 1910 by Local Young Men; First Performance Staged Under Difficulties; Beautiful Park will be Round-Up's Legacy to Pendleton
The Round-up Is hardly more than
an Infant In are. but so healthy and
robust l It, that It haa long since
cut off Its swaddling clothes. Like
Hercules of old. Jt was born with
strength and vigor In Its sinews and
never required nursing. (Endowed
with such elements from the start.
It has grown at an alarming rate and
row, only four years old. has attained
almost colossal proportions.
The Initial exhibition of the Round
up was staged In September, 1910.
after but two months of preparation.
quaintance among stockmen fitted
him. Roy Bishop had a personal ac
quaintance with the Indians through
his business as manufacturer of the
Pendleton Indian blanket and he was
assigned the duty of Inducing the
Tmatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas
to participate. The arrangement of
the competitive events was parceled
out to Frederick Steiwer while Charles
Ferguson was relied upon to get a
few feature performers. Ben Hill
made It his business to secure music
for the occasion and Lawrence Fra-
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J. Roy Raley, First President of The Round-Up
but from the time that the first or
ganization was made, the goddess of
success has smiled upon it and crown
ed the work of the little bunch of di
rectors with gratifying results.
To J. Roy Raley, a young attorney
and a native of Pendleton, goes the
credit of the inception of the Round
up idea. Impressed with the fact that
the city of his birth had no distinctive
celebration such as many cities had,
he broached the suggestion of a fron
tier show to a number of friends and
they were prompt to encourage him
and co-operate with him in giving the
idea its primal impetus. Soon fifteen
of the younger business and profes
sional men of the city had perfected
an organization and announced their
intention. It was received with en
thusiasm from the outset. Every man,
woman and child became ft booster
and that In itself was enough to in
jure success.
The First Round-up.
It was in July that the organization
of the association was formed and
thus the men in charge had but a
couple of months in which to prepare
for the txhibition. Their first move
was to raise enough money to begin
oriraticn and the manner in which it
was rai.fd indicates the support which
the. citizenship of the town and coun
ty stood ready to give. Stock was sold
:tt $10 a sh?re and no one man was
permitted to purchase more than a
single share. In the course of a week,
evral thousand dollars had been se
circd ti'd the directors forthwith be
gan their work, each on a different
department.
Raley was made president and
James H. Gwinn was chosen secre
tary, and upon them fell the burden
of the direction of affairs. Sheriff
T. D. Taylor was commissioned with
the task of collecting outlaw horses
and steers, one of the hardest jobs
of the lot but for which his wide ac-
zier was instructed to get the grounds
in shape, a monumental Job, for
there was then only an excuse for a
grandstand, no bleachers and no track
at the little enclosure In the western
part of the city where the ball team
had been playing. To Lee Drake was
assigned the task of letting the public
Know of the show and the crowd that
assembled for the initial exhibition
testified to his ability as a publcity
agent. Harry Gray's business was to
negotiate with the railroad companies
for transportation accommodations
for visitors and livestock. To Paul
Sperry was parceled out the job of
putting on the big Westward Ho pa
rade which, from the first, ras been
a spectacular part of the three day
show. Roy Rltner was made treas
urer of the association and W. E.
Brock director of finance, and be
tween the two the money problems of
the show were well taken care of.
Will Ingram was made business man
ager and It became his duty to attend
to everything that nobody else did.
And when all of these men had per
formed the tasks assigned to them,
had prepared grounds, attracted a
crowd and assembled horses, steers,
riders and Indians. Mark Moorhouse
was told to put the show on.
It was phenomenal the way the
Round-up spirit had traveled. The
little grandstand would not hold more
than 250 or 300 people and the
bleachers, which had been built in
advance, would furnish seats for Just
about that many more. But so great
waa the crowd which came Into the
city that a force of carpenters was
kept at work night and day during the
progress of the show building more
seats. Even then hundreds had to
stand at each of the three exhibitions.
When the first Round-up was a
matter of history and its success and
permanency had been assured, the di
rectors hardly allowed themselves
time to recuperate from the strenuous
efforts before commencing prepar
ations for the bigger show which they
saw must be forthcoming. A good
track and stadium was the first es
sential and to construct this a whirl
wind campaign was made among the
business men to secure' funds. The
result was $12,000 and, so, by the time
the next September rolled around, the
association had a commodious grand
stand with long rows of bleacher seats
on either side, a splendid quarter-mile
track and barns and puddocks for
the stock. Willi all of these addition
a" seats, there were not enough to ac
commodate the increased crowd and
again the carpenters were put to
work.
Park lVodod to City.
The second Round-up was another
great success and netted the associ
ation enough to pay off the $5000 in
debtedness on the park grounds and to
meet all bills, besides leaving a neat
little sum In the treasury- The first
action of the association was to deed
the park, free from all encumbr
ances, to the city of Pendleton.
Before the third exhibition had ar
rived, the grandstand had been ex
tended at either end and the bleach
ers had been run higher into the air
and new one's built. And yet the
final day of the Round-up found a
thousand or more people standing and
others turned from the gate. With
the remembrance of this in their
minds, the directors have this year
constructed several thousand more
bleacher seats until the park can now
seat more than three times the popu
lation of the city, a boast that few
cities In the world can make.
Peer of All Shows'.
The Round-up as an entertainment
has Improved year by year until now
it Is unquestionably the peer of all
outdoor entertainments in the world.
It has taken more than performers to
give It this distinction for there are
other similar shows that can secure
as many and more performers.- But
they lack the twothings which have
made the Round-up such an unrival
led success, the organization and the
spirit that Is behind the organization.
By Its organization, the Round-up
Is made a clean, wholesome expositi
on of frontier life and by the organi
zation too, the show Is put on without
any delays or hitches to mar the en
tertainment of the spectators. Such
an organization is possible because
there Is a community spirit behind It.
The Round-up is really a municipal
institution, for, while the stock is
owned by private individuals. It Is non
dlvidt nd bearing and no man or set of
men can profit financially from the
revenues of the exhibitions. There is
not a paid officer or director In con
nexion with the lnsttution and this
policy of unselfishness is carried to
thp extent that the directors are re
quired to pay for the seats which their
paid into the treasury, it takes many
thousands to put on a show of the size
and character of the Round-up. The
total cost of the show each year would
be amazing to the average person and
this cost results despite a practice of
rigid economy. But for an Improved
show, the directors figure they must
pay the price and are quite willing
to do so.
Heritage of the Round-up.
Such surplus as is left Is put back
Into the park, for the ultimate and
final purpose behind the Round-up.
the one for which the directors are
so willing to sacrifice time and money
and contribute hard labor, Is the mak
ing of a city park for Pendleton, the
like of which no city of 10,000 in
habitants in the United States can
boast. This will be the heritage of
the Round-up to Pendleton when, as
an institution of entertainment, it
ceases to exist.
The park as It now stands has
cost the association In rough figures
$40,000 and only a beginning has been
made. Each year the association will
set aside all of the surplus from the
lust show, not necessary for the next
annual production, as a park Im
provement fund. A landscape artist
has already been retained and the
plans for the ultimate park made.
Each year an installment of this
work will be done and when com
pleted, the city will own a park that
would do credit to a city many times
her size. An irrigation system has
already been installed and this will
be used to grow lawns, trees .and
shrubbery. Cinder foot paths and
driveways will wind In and about the
grounds; an artificial lake construct
ed in the open area between the back
stretch of the track and the grove
of trees and a large swimming pool
will also be made. Connecting the
lake and the pool will be a little riv
ulet which will be spanned by rustic
bridges. All of the low, rocky pluces
will be filled with loam and will even
tually deveop Into swards of green.
This, In a general way, Is what the
Round-up will bequeath to Pendleton.
It Will Kiulure.
How long the Round-up will endure
Is a matter of conjecture only. Some,
who contributed the Initial success ot
the, exhibition to Its novelty, predict
ed that two or three years would see
it commence to wane. How far these
guessed wrong Is shown by the thous
ands of new people who pome each
year and the thousands of others who
have seen previous Rounds-ups but
to whom the thrilling sights never
grow old.
The Round-up has an almost uni
versal appeal. It seems to fill a want
here In the northwest and It Is safe to
prophesy that so long as the associ
ation continues to be governed by Its
present policy and sp long as the west
ern range continues to develop bad
horses and daring riders. Just so long
will the Round-up of Pendleton con
tinue as an attraction to pleasure
lovers.
Tales From the
Round-up Corral
"I'm the original hard luck kid,"
said Art Acord, champion bulldogger
after he had been sent to the hospital
with a sprained ankle secured when
Snake fell with him during a tryout
buck. "In Suit Luke, I was horned by
a steer and laid up for a few weeks
and here I am down again Just as 1
was getting on my feet. But I came
here last year in worse shape than I
am now and managed to get away with
about $400 so I still have a chance if
I cun get by Ihe 1013 hoodoo."
"Beer always did go to my feet,
said Iawrenco 3. Frazler, director of
grounds, after some playful Elks had
filled his new pair of cowboy boots
with hop Juice.
' Earl Simpson Is a pretty hard buck
aroo to shake from the saddle and he
might have landed first money at a
recent bucking contest held at Winni
peg had the judges not been admiring
his riding In the finals so thoroughly
that they forgot to tell the pick-up
men to "take him up." They let his
mount buck with him so long that his
wind and endurance would not hold
out and thereby was he disqualified.
"That horse Just plumb bucked me
out," said Simpson In speaking of the
incident a few days prior to the Bhow
I was riding In a good style but I tired
out first. It seemed to me he kept
bucking for an hour and that the.
Judges never would stop him. I lost
the halter at the first jump and was
riding him with both hunds In the air
but finally I had to double rein him
and that counted me out of the run
ning. One of the judges told me af
terwards that he was mighty sorry
that he didn't give the word to pick
me up sooner but lie said I was rid
ing the brute so well that he thought
he would let me go to the finish."
Lee Caldwell, Pendleton's well
known boy bucknroo who can ride
with the best of them, had the tem
erity to appear at the park during on
of the tryouts In a new dlqcr. Ono
of the cowboys tossed it into the air
and Art Acord speared It with one of
his crutches from the back of th
horse. The crutch knocked a hole In
the top of the sky-pleco. Acord re
turned It to Caldwell with the re
mark that It was a "pretty bum lid."
Caldwell only grinned but next tlmo
he came on to the field he looked
less like a city dude and more like
real citizen of the cow camp.
Sour of Sullivan.
S U Double L I V A N, spells Sullivan,
Proud of every buckaroo I've tumbled,
Many'a the one whose spirit I have
humbled.
S TJ double LIVAN, you see
I'm a bear In the air, so take care
If you straddle mo,
Sullivan, that's me.
HARD
W
A
L.t-.
Everu pari is
.JU6T perectioiv:
ine-d and -re tod :
past correction" g
If ennks uour (and
To suU purmond
James H. Gwinn
First Round-Up Secretary
families occupy In the grandstand.
Their only privilege is a choice ot
seats, but for them they must deposit
a cash value.
Where then, does all the surplus
Income go? Is a question often asked.
In the first place, the Round-up Is
not a mint as many seem to believe.
While many thousands of dollars are
' Don't you think it's worth, while to have a range
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We carry everything
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If you can't find it
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PENDLETON,
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Don't think of sending elsewhere for your stock and poultry supplies when you can save
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