Read a good book tonight

[Soapweed]

With a little help

From a page turner

I read a good book tonight. It was written in 1973 by Emily H. Lewis, and has a lot of local area history as told by Nile Dunbar.
He says: "Dad homesteaded on LaCreek near the Steer Camp in 1912. For several years he paid more taxes than all the rest
of Bennett County (South Dakota) put together."

Here is one little tale told by Nile Dunbar about a favortie cowhorse that he owned:

"I was in Cody (Nebraska) one time after I'd rode old Brownie awhile and gotten to know him pretty good. We was celebrating something--
I've forgotten what--maybe because we was alive and the world was such a darn good place. Somebody said something about my horse
that was tied to the hitchrail outside. Of course I got all puffed up about old Brownie and offered to bet with Bert Colvin and Pigtail Mogle
that I could ride old Brownie down to the stockyards and pick out a steer and bring him uptown and put him in the door of the White Elephant
Saloon and me riding him without a bridle. I did, too, and I could have put the steer behind the bar with the bartender's soiled white apron
around his middle if I had wanted to. Bert offered me $300 for him when you could buy real good horses for $35."

 

[Shortgrass]

John McMurtrey made a similar bet on a horse he called Darkie. He bet another hand that had a pretty fair horse that he & Darkie could cut a yearling out of the bunch, he would take off the headstall (a bosal), and the other hand could not put it back in. John won the wager. They put the animal through the fence, but not back in the bunch.

 

[jcorbin]

I want to share a story about a wild hay ride I had back in about 1960, I was 8 years old. Nile Dunbar lived in Martin, SD next door to us, above Red's Pool Hall. He owned a farm a few miles east of Martin and as youngsters about my brother Nate and I enjoyed many Saturdays on the farm. Nile was probably about 60 and looked a lot like Burl Ives. He was as kind to us as if we were his own.
One Saturday he and some helpers were putting hay into a horse drawn wagon. I was sitting atop the hay in the front and Nate was in the back. I got the bright idea of throwing something, like a small stick, at one of the horses hooked up to the wagon. Usually my aim was not so good, but on this day, I hit the mare right on the ash. She jumped and spooked the team of horses and they took off across the South Dakota prairie at what seemed like 100 miles an hour.
Nile jumped in his old Ford pickup and began his pursuit of the runaway wagon. All I could do is hold on! From the right side, Nile gradually gained on the wagon and with perfect precision, turned the pickup right in front of the horses, causing them to stop. I was scared, embarrassed, and lucky the wagon didn't spill my brother and me in a deep ravine under a wagonload of hay.
Of course everyone, especially Nile, wanted to know what had happened. Gee, I didn't know! Never owned up to until now.

 

[Soapweed]

I want to share a story about a wild hay ride I had back in about 1960, I was 8 years old. Nile Dunbar lived in Martin, SD next door to us, above Red's Pool Hall. He owned a farm a few miles east of Martin and as youngsters about my brother Nate and I enjoyed many Saturdays on the farm. Nile was probably about 60 and looked a lot like Burl Ives. He was as kind to us as if we were his own.
One Saturday he and some helpers were putting hay into a horse drawn wagon. I was sitting atop the hay in the front and Nate was in the back. I got the bright idea of throwing something, like a small stick, at one of the horses hooked up to the wagon. Usually my aim was not so good, but on this day, I hit the mare right on the ash. She jumped and spooked the team of horses and they took off across the South Dakota prairie at what seemed like 100 miles an hour.
Nile jumped in his old Ford pickup and began his pursuit of the runaway wagon. All I could do is hold on! From the right side, Nile gradually gained on the wagon and with perfect precision, turned the pickup right in front of the horses, causing them to stop. I was scared, embarrassed, and lucky the wagon didn't spill my brother and me in a deep ravine under a wagonload of hay.
Of course everyone, especially Nile, wanted to know what had happened. Gee, I didn't know! Never owned up to until now.

Well, you lucked out on that one, both for not getting hurt and for not having Nile find out what really happened to cause the runaway. :wink: Thanks for the good story, and welcome to Ranchers.Net. Stick around, and tell some more stories. We'd love to hear them.

 

[leanin' H]

Those are both great stories! Welcome jcorbin! Hope to hear more!