Chris Enss

Contributions

COWGIRL Iconic: Alice Greenough

Spain. September 1932. Alice Greenough, a seasoned cowgirl, sits astride an angry steer.  In the place of a saddle, a surcingle, a sort of plastic girdle, has been fashioned around the animal’s back and cinched to his stomach.  He doesn’t like it.  Alice’s attractive face is focused as she secures a good grip on the flat braided...

Wild Women Of The West: Mildred Douglas

When twenty-four-year-old Mildred Douglas rode a steer in the Garden City, Kansas, rodeo in 1919, it was a big deal. Never before had a woman ever ridden a steer in competition, but Douglas was no ordinary woman. Born in Philadelphia on August 21, 1895, Mildred knew at the age of seven what she wanted to...

Wild Women Of The West: Florence LaDue

Twenty-nine-year-old Florence LaDue laid on her back in the middle of a rodeo arena in Alberta, Canada, twirling a lasso. It was July 1910 and the crowd in the stands watching her work were cheering and whistling. The trick the petite cowgirl was preparing to do was to throw a wide loop over a rider...

Along Came A Cowgirl: Daring And Iconic Women Of The Rodeo & Wild West Shows

“Coming Soon!” read the billboards, “World Championship Rodeo! $10,000 in cash prizes! Biggest, wildest, most thrilling rodeo ever held!” “What’s a rodeo?” inquired the lady in the large, wide-brimmed hat decorated with plumes and flowers. “Darned if I know,” replied the woman in the puffed blouse and fluted skirt.  “Let’s go and find out.” Within...

Wild Women Of The West: Dorothy Morrell

“I rode my first horse on a bet,” admitted World Champion cowgirl Dorothy Morrell in 1917. “That I am champion woman rider of the world today was due to an accident, or rather a dare.” At the age of twenty-four Dorothy attended a wild west exhibition in Fresno and was mesmerized by the women bronc...

Wild Women Of The West: Pearl Biron

The crowd attending the John Robinson’s Circus in Clarksdale, Mississippi, swelled around the rodeo arena where expert equestrian, roper, and whip cracker Pearl Biron was performing. The twenty-six-year-old Pearl was the master of the Australian bullwhip.  She could flick the ashes off the cigarette of a fellow performer or a flag off the head of her...

Wild Women Of The West: Peggy Warren

On Saturday, July 1, 1916, at the Passing of the West rodeo in Butte, Montana, it appeared all the wild, outlaw horses had been saved for the lady riders.  It took cowboys ten minutes to corral and saddle the cantankerous animal cowgirl Peggy Warren was to ride.  The horse reared and bucked, kicked and plunged,...

Wild Women Of The West: Ava Kurth

Boards, automotive parts, and motorboat engines blocked the main entrance of a majestic home in Ogden, Utah, known as the White Mansion. Every inch of the yard surrounding the house was crowded with engines, windshield, tools, and tires. The interior of the house was in the same condition. It was difficult for residents living near...

Wild Women Of The West: The Denton Journal

Among the top stories that made the front page of the June 21, 1873, edition of the Denton Journal in Denton, Maryland, were two articles about the Matrimonial News publication. The unique periodical was so widely read some editors felt it necessary to report on its popularity. Under the headline “Marriage by Advertisement,” journalists noted...
<< >>