Post by cinemo on Jul 11, 2015 11:04:59 GMT -5
Jackson Sundown's real name was Waaya-Tonah-Toesits-Kahn, which in Nez Perce means "Earth Left by the Setting Sun." He was born about 1863 and he is said to be chief Joseph's nephew. At age 14, he was involved in the Nez Perce war. He was painfully burned when the U.S. Calvary torched the teepee where he was sleeping during the ambush at The Big Hole, August 9, 1877. When Joseph surrendered to General Miles in the Bears Paw of Montana that September, Sundown escaped with rifle wounds and made his way to Sitting Bull's Sioux camp in Canada.
After two years he stealthily rode to Nespelem, Wash., where Joseph and his surviving followers were confined to a small reservation away from their beloved hills of Wallowa. Joseph warned him not to go there so Sundown went to the Flathead Reservation, trained horses, married a Salish woman and raised two daughters.
In 1910 he risked returning to the Nez Perce Reservation established for Chief Lawyer and his followers who where not involved at White Bird. And in 1912 he married Cecelia Wapshela, and they lived on her ranch located at Jacques Spur, six miles east of Lapwai.
On dares during a rodeo at Culdesac, Idaho, Sundown rode a notorious bronc, did a standing dismount and them calmly dusted off his blue serge suit. His rep for riding skill spread like wildfire. White cowboys would not enter rodeos if he was riding and he was cheated from winning at the big shows like Calgary and Pendleton.
In 1914 his regal bearing and presence attracted America's most famous sculptor, Alexander Phimster Proctor, who hired him to pose for many statues including one for Stanford University, the RCA Building in New York, as well as the heroic Colorado Capital piece. He also met a noted British writer, Charles W. Furlong, who wrote that Sundown was, "A sight for the Gods. Long braids of crow-black hair tied in front looped and wafted against cinnamon brown cheeks of the rider: his colored shirt and kerchief flattening and billowing against his muscle-articulated torso to the movements of the wind…."
At age 53, a discouraged Jackson said he was through with competitive riding where he was not judged fairly, but Proctor talked him into "one more" and paid entry fees for the 1916 Pendleton Roundup. His rides there are still called the most exciting and unbelievable in rodeo history. Jackson Sundown became the oldest cowboy ever to win The World Championship. The crowd threw money into the arena, roaring "Sundown-Sundown-Sundown.“ In 1923, Jackson Sundown died of pneumonia, he was buried at Slickpoo Mission Cemetery near Jacques Spur. Later a stone monument was placed there to remember the Nez Perce warrior and horseman Waaya-Tonah-Toesits-Kahn.
Sundown was inducted in the National Cowboys of Color Museum and Hall of Fame in 2006.
Sources, especially :
www.nezperce.org/History/Jacksonsundown.htm
www.flatheadnewsgroup.com/hungryhorsenews/columns/jackson-sundown/article_5b194784-017f-5afd-ab98-34434f247e96.html
cinemo
After two years he stealthily rode to Nespelem, Wash., where Joseph and his surviving followers were confined to a small reservation away from their beloved hills of Wallowa. Joseph warned him not to go there so Sundown went to the Flathead Reservation, trained horses, married a Salish woman and raised two daughters.
In 1910 he risked returning to the Nez Perce Reservation established for Chief Lawyer and his followers who where not involved at White Bird. And in 1912 he married Cecelia Wapshela, and they lived on her ranch located at Jacques Spur, six miles east of Lapwai.
On dares during a rodeo at Culdesac, Idaho, Sundown rode a notorious bronc, did a standing dismount and them calmly dusted off his blue serge suit. His rep for riding skill spread like wildfire. White cowboys would not enter rodeos if he was riding and he was cheated from winning at the big shows like Calgary and Pendleton.
In 1914 his regal bearing and presence attracted America's most famous sculptor, Alexander Phimster Proctor, who hired him to pose for many statues including one for Stanford University, the RCA Building in New York, as well as the heroic Colorado Capital piece. He also met a noted British writer, Charles W. Furlong, who wrote that Sundown was, "A sight for the Gods. Long braids of crow-black hair tied in front looped and wafted against cinnamon brown cheeks of the rider: his colored shirt and kerchief flattening and billowing against his muscle-articulated torso to the movements of the wind…."
At age 53, a discouraged Jackson said he was through with competitive riding where he was not judged fairly, but Proctor talked him into "one more" and paid entry fees for the 1916 Pendleton Roundup. His rides there are still called the most exciting and unbelievable in rodeo history. Jackson Sundown became the oldest cowboy ever to win The World Championship. The crowd threw money into the arena, roaring "Sundown-Sundown-Sundown.“ In 1923, Jackson Sundown died of pneumonia, he was buried at Slickpoo Mission Cemetery near Jacques Spur. Later a stone monument was placed there to remember the Nez Perce warrior and horseman Waaya-Tonah-Toesits-Kahn.
Sundown was inducted in the National Cowboys of Color Museum and Hall of Fame in 2006.
Sources, especially :
www.nezperce.org/History/Jacksonsundown.htm
www.flatheadnewsgroup.com/hungryhorsenews/columns/jackson-sundown/article_5b194784-017f-5afd-ab98-34434f247e96.html
cinemo
