Chris Enss

(1894-1986) The stylish lobby of the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth was a bustle of activity on Saturday, March 11, 1922.  Well-dressed patrons were arriving and departing.  A string quartet in the corner of the massive entryway serenaded white-haired, prosperous looking gentlemen and their stocky, bejeweled wives being escorted to their rooms by attentive bellboys. ...

1898-1948 Cowboy Bill Pickett is credited with introducing the sport of bulldogging to rodeos in 1907.  In bulldogging the rider dashes after a mad fleeing steer, leans out from the saddle and throws himself onto its horns, bringing the beast to the ground in a swirling scramble of dust and a half a pound of...

On March 1, 1933, four men left Casper, Wyoming, to search for a woman that had been missing since mid-February.  Mrs. Rose Coleman was reported missing by her husband, the reputed cattle rustler Charles W. Coleman.  Charles wrote his brother-in-law Ernest Gale from jail informing him that he’d not heard from his wife for more...

In June 1911, high-spirited Goldie St. Clair, Champion Lady Bucking Horse Rider of the World, rode with several other cowgirls in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, street parade to the rodeo grounds where the 101 Ranch Wild West Show was going to perform.  A year prior, Goldie had captured the bronco riding title at the Frontier Days...

Hundreds of cheering fans flocked to the train depot in Caney, Kansas, on Sunday, October 24, 1920, to welcome the Yankee Robinson Circus to town.  When the coast and crew alighted from the multiple cars, the men, women, and children on hand to greet them applauded excitedly.  Most of the townspeople followed after the performers...

A strong gust of wind blew a pair of tumbleweeds into the path of a team of horses hitched to a wagon.  It spooked the animals, and they reared and bucked and then bolted.  The gray-haired women holding the reins of the team screamed.  The wagon pitched and swayed as the horses jerked it around. ...

The mesmerized onlookers lining the streets in Denver, Colorado, in 1913 were treated to a grand wild west show entourage.  The crowd cheered as showman Buffalo Bill Cody proudly led his cast and crew down the thoroughfare toward the parade field where they would be performing.  The lengthy caravan consisted of 181 horses, eighteen buffalo...

Between 1954 and 1957, actress Gail Davis portrayed famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley in the television series of the same name.  Known as the “Queen of the Wild Frontier,” Davis was only five foot two and the pigtails she wore in the show were her own.  Her father was a surgeon in McGehee, Arkansas, which was...

Mrs. Frank “Tobey” Riddle, better known as Winema, was a mediator for the Modoc people, other Indian tribes in the area of Klamath Lake, Oregon, and the United States Army in early 1878.  With her skills she was able to negotiate treaties that kept the land of her ancestors in peace.  Whenever that peace was...