P'Burg Once Had Rodeo's

 

                        Picture from the Tex Crawley Collection of 1932 Rodeo at the school grounds

                                                          Rider believed to be Hank Warren

It is hard for anyone currently looking at the Philipsburg Grade and High school property to visualize that there was a rodeo arena in the southwest corner. I am not certain when the first Rodeo was held there as the earliest newspaper article I have found was in the Philipsburg Mail on June 30, 1929. The article covered three full columns in the paper and discussed both the upcoming rodeo and Fourth of July parade. "The stage is all set for the fourth of July celebration in Granite County. The Rodeo field has been completely fenced and is ready for Hollopeter’s herd of wild steers and Smokey Sutherland’s bucking horses. Bleachers with a seating capacity of 2,000 have been completed and when the riders are doing their stuff Philipsburg people will see some of the best entertainment in the rodeo line that has ever been pulled off on western Montana” 

Hollopeter’s lived on the property immediately north of where the Fred Burr bridge is now and Smokey had a ranch on the West Fork of Rock Creek, west of Beaver Creek. I remember attending rodeos there and my father participating in the saddle bronc and bareback events, in the early forties. I have pictures from the Tex Crawley collection of one of the events where the grade school is visible. It does not have the fire escapes and because I am able to identify participants I believe these pictures are of the 1932 event. 

Edward Bohrnsen detailed to me his attendance at the 1930 Rodeo. He was only four years-old and his mother told him he was too young to attend, but being Edward, begged until she finally agreed to let him go with the sapphire miners off work that day and his older half-brother Raymond Rau. (His mother Ruth was the Cook and Father Hans was the supervisor of the American Gem Sapphire Mines located on the Skalkaho.) 

Fairly early in the rodeo “Whiskey Bill” Terkla began his ride on a bucking horse and was bucked off with the horse kicking him in the head as he fell. The shod hoof caused an open skull fracture as it hit Bills head. With blood gushing and the crowd gasping young Edward covered his face and became very upset. The fright continued after the accident and he sobbed during every ride with his face covered so he had to be taken home to his mother for comfort. 

“Whiskey Bill” was a fifteen year old high school student and I would love to know how he earned that nickname. Sadly, the young man was mortally injured. Mrs. Ralph Williams, Mrs. H.A. Murphy, Mrs. Rosella Glover and Mrs. Wasa Rail gave emergency care to the youth and he was transported to the hospital in Butte. Due to the conditions in a rodeo arena, the open wound contaminated the brain and Bill died of meningitis secondary to the skull fracture, on July 14th. 

Bill’s father Gabriel “Gabo” Terkla had died in 1922 leaving his mother Annie, Bill and his five sisters: Olga, Diane, Doris, Bessie and Mary as survivors. Gabo immigrated to the United States from Bosnia/Herzegovnia in 1893 at the age of 15 but I do not know where the family lived prior to arriving in Philipsburg in October 1914. Ancestry records show a Donna born in 1913 but I have failed to find any history of that name. There is a headstone for Baby Michael July 22,1918 in the Philipsburg Cemetery, I assume was the child of Gabo and Annie. 

All of the daughters lived a large part of their lives around Philipsburg. Olga (Rogan, Carey, Minster) born in 1910 died in 1985. Diane (Rice) born in 1912 died in 2014. Doris (Kempfer) born in 1914 died in 1975. Mary (Davis) born in 1920 died in 2006. Bessie (Munis) born in 1921 died 2002.