Women of The Wild West, Yee-Haw!

9 February 2011
From: jtills
A unique postcard!
Caption on postcard: "In 1915, Bonnie McCarroll took a bad fall at the Pendleton Round-Up. She died several years later in a similar fall. This accident hastened the demise of cowgirls' competing in rough stock competitions".

From the internet:~"Bonnie McCarroll was one of many professional cowgirls who competed at the Pendleton Round-Up, which had offered separate events for both men and women since its beginnings in 1910. Cowgirl events at the first Round-Up included a bucking contest, a relay race, a pony race, and a standing race, as well as exhibitions of fancy roping and trick riding.

McCarroll began her career in 1915, the year the photo shown here was taken, and continued to travel the rodeo circuit until September 1929. The 1929 Pendleton Round-Up was to be her final competition before she and her husband retired to their home in Boise. However, on the first day of the Round-Up she experienced a tragic accident. The September 20 Oregonian reported that “Bonnie McCarroll, giving an exhibition of broncho riding, was hurled from her mount as it pitched forward, and the animal turned a somersault on her. The girl was tenderly gathered up and hastily removed to a hospital.” She later died from her injuries.

After the death of Bonnie McCarroll, many rodeos, including the Round-Up, discontinued cowgirl bronc riding, which some considered too dangerous for women. Changes in the organizational structure of rodeos and several other factors also resulted in a decline in opportunities for skilled cowgirls during the 1930s and 1940s. Today, women still compete in professional rodeos, but they do not enjoy the status that Bonnie McCarroll, Mabel Strickland, Tad Lucas, and other early professional cowgirls once did."