Marie Gibson

Sixteen-year-old Marie Gibson’s marriage was on the rocks, so she joined her parents on their homestead near Havre in 1914. With the encouragement of neighbors, including legendary cowboy Long George Francis, Gibson began trick riding in local fairs and rodeos for prize money to help support her children. Her professional debut came in 1917 at Havre’s Great Stampede. She married for a second time in 1919. Her husband, rodeo veteran Tom Gibson, retired to the family homestead and Marie went on to travel widely, busting broncs overseas and back East.

Marie Gibson (center) gambles with fellow rodeo riders. Date unknown.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 2002-32.17

During a performance in England she so charmed the Prince of Wales that he presented her with a prize horse. Gibson earned many titles including World Champion Cowgirl Bronc Rider in 1924 and 1927. In 1933, Gibson made a successful ride on a wild bronc in Idaho. The horse was still bucking as the pickup man approached to take her off. The two horses collided, and Gibson’s horse lost his balance and fell on her, fatally fracturing her skull. Her hobbled stirrups prevented her from kicking free. Her son Lucien, then twenty-three, rushed to her aid, but it was too late. Gibson is buried in Havre where locals rightfully claim her as one of their own.

Fannie Sperry Steele

On a homestead beneath the picturesque Sleeping Giant in the Prickly Pear Valley, Fannie Sperry’s mother taught her to ride almost before she could walk. As a teenager, Fannie rode the roughest horses with the best of the men. At a time when most women still rode sidesaddle, and riding astride was considered coarse and unladylike, Fannie earned a reputation for courage and sticking power on the backs of the wildest broncos wearing a scandalous divided skirt. In the summer of 1903, sixteen-year-old Fannie so awed spectators on a bucking white stallion that onlookers passed the hat. She made her first professional ride as a relay racer at the Montana State Fair in Lewis and Clark County in 1904. Inspired by Buffalo Bill’s “Pony Express Race,” the Montana relay featured only women riders who changed horses and saddles at top speed. Fannie and the popular Montana Girls—wearing bloomers that shocked the crowds—rode the very first relays at Helena, Butte and Anaconda and across the Midwest in 1905.

Relay racers in their shocking bloomers at the North Dakota State Fair in Bismarck, 1907.  L-R Anna Pauls, Christine Synness, Violet Keagle, Fannie Sperry. Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives

Fannie rode in women’s bucking horse competitions and earned a gold medal in 1907 at Helena. At the Calgary Stampede in 1912, her ride on the killer bronc Red Wing went down in rodeo history earning her the title “Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the World.” Artist C. M. Russell commemorated that event with a sketch of Fannie’s prowess.

Rodeo Cowgirl on a Bucking Bronc, Charles M. Russell

She earned the title again in 1913. Unlike most bronc-busting women of the time, Fannie Sperry rode “slick” instead of hobbled. Hobbling, tying the stirrups together beneath the horse’s belly for stability in the saddle, was a concession allowed women contestants. Slick riding, however, demanded precision, balance, courage, and unusual strength. Fannie was the only woman rider among her contemporaries to ride her entire career slick, just like her male counterparts.  She was one of the first women inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.

P.S. Read more about Fannie here.

Ben Greenough

The life of Red Lodge pioneer Ben Greenough was one adventure after another. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and arrived in Billings penniless and hungry in the winter of 1886. He courageously walked into the Headquarters Hotel, asked for a job, and was hired as the hotel’s yard man and porter. In this capacity, he met Martha Jane Canary, otherwise known as Calamity Jane. One of Greenough’s jobs was to build fires in the hotel rooms before the guests arose in the morning. He bought the cordwood from Calamity Jane who cut the wood and sold it for eight dollars a cord. Greenough would pay her, and Calamity would then give half of it back to Greenough for safekeeping. She would hit the saloon and drink up the four dollars, and when it was gone, Greenough would give her back the other half.

Library of Congress, LC-USF34-058658-E

Greenough later went to work for cattleman Nelson Story and then worked at a sawmill on Willow Creek. Here Greenough learned one of his trademarks—how to swear. This came about when he had to drive two stubborn bulls into the timber for several months. Greenough drove the mail stage from Billings to Red Lodge, worked on the railroad, ran cattle on the Crow reservation and learned to speak the Crow language fluently. He was good friends with Plenty Coups and knew Sitting Bull. In 1900, Greenough married and settled down, more or less, on a ranch on Rock Creek near Red Lodge. His seven children learned to ride by breaking horses. There were so many rocks in the corral, the kids didn’t dare fall off and all became exceptional riders. His son Turk and daughters Margaret and Alice were rodeo champions.

Long George Francis

One of the most colorful characters of the High Line was an old time cowboy who came to a hideous end. Long George Francis was well known on the rodeo circuit. He lived along the Milk River west of Havre on a small ranch.

This photo of Long George Francis was taken at the Great Northern Montana Stampede in Havre
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 952-167

But Francis lived by the old range rules, believing unbranded stock was fair game. Times were changing, range laws evolving, and opinions about Francis were divided. Some were outraged when the court convicted Francis of grand larceny for the theft of a bay mare. Others saw Francis as a cattle rustler and approved of his conviction. But after sentencing in 1918, Francis went into hiding. He was on the lam for two years until he finally grew tired of running. On Christmas Eve, 1920, he prepared to give himself up to serve his sentence. But first he determined to make one last trip to visit his schoolteacher girlfriend near the Canadian border. He loaded his car with apples and gifts for her and the children and started out on the journey. It was snowing and cold. Thirty miles northwest of Havre in the middle of nowhere, he wrecked his car and broke his leg in the accident. Fashioning a splint from an apple box, he tried to crawl for help. Exhausted and in pain with little hope of rescue, Francis slit his own throat and bled to death in the snow.

Marie Gibson

In honor of the Olympics, let's look back at sports and champions in Montana history...

Sixteen-year-old Marie Gibson’s marriage was on the rocks, so she joined her parents on their homestead near Havre in 1914. With the encouragement of neighbors, including legendary cowboy Long George Francis, Gibson began trick riding in local fairs and rodeos for prize money to help support her children. Her professional debut came in 1917 at Havre’s Great Stampede. She married for a second time in 1919. Her husband, rodeo veteran Tom Gibson, retired to the family homestead and Marie went on to travel widely, busting broncs overseas and back East. During a performance in England she so charmed the Prince of Wales that he presented her with a prize horse. Gibson earned many titles including World Champion Cowgirl Bronc Rider in 1924 and 1927.



Image from University of Wyoming

In 1933, Gibson made a successful ride on a wild bronc in Idaho. The horse was still bucking as the pickup man approached to take her off. The two horses collided, and Gibson’s horse lost his balance and fell on her, fatally fracturing her skull. Her hobbled stirrups prevented her from kicking free. Her son Lucien, then twenty-three, rushed to her aid, but it was too late. Gibson is buried in Havre where locals rightfully claim her as one of their own.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go
P.S. Remember this lady bronc rider?

Friday the 13th Photo: Rodeo

Some days just don't go well.


From Montana Views. Original in Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives PAc 76-82 3-C-206

Location, photographer, and date unknown, though the clothing of the boy on the fence points to the 1950s or 60s. Maybe someone can identify the rodeo arena or the cowboys?

Friday Photo: Fannie Sperry Steele



Fannie Sperry Steele rides a steer at the Gilman Stampede, September 1919.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 947-603

Famed bronc buster Fannie Sperry Steele competed in rodeos until 1925. Then she and her husband bought a dude ranch near Lincoln. After her husband died in 1940, Steele ran the ranch by herself for another twenty-five years. She was one of the first women to receive a packer’s license and well into her sixties spent long days in the saddle guiding hunters into rough country. She stocked Meadow Creek before environmental concerns were fashionable, packing six horses with cans of fish over treacherous terrain, stopping at every stream to keep the water cool. She broke her own horses and at the end of the season trailed her twenty-five pintos seventy miles across the Continental Divide to winter pasture. In 1974 at eighty-seven, Steele could no longer live alone and had to move from the ranch. The worst part for her was leaving her beloved string of pintos behind. In 1975, Steele was honored as was one of the first of three women inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame. A few years later at ninety, Steele summed up her life: “To the yesterdays that are gone, to the cowboys I used to know, to the bronc busters that rode beside me, to the horses beneath me (sometimes), I take off my hat. I wouldn’t have missed one minute of it.” Steele died in 1983. She was the quintessential Montana woman: determined, gritty, and independent of spirit.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

P.S. Remember these rodeo-champion sisters?