From the rodeo news archives …

When the Gallup Ceremonial was started in 1922, it was seen as a program of traditional Indian dances as well as a showcase for Native arts and crafts.  But the Fourth of July celebrations held in town since Mr. Gallup went on down the tracks, had also featured a variety of races and a few rodeo events.

The sport of rodeo was just getting national attention at the time and few towns had arenas with permanent bucking chutes, regular rules, and profession riders and ropers.  In fact, they didn’t have ropers at all.  Who wanted to chase a frightened calf through the sagebrush?

For the most part the horses and steers—they hadn’t discovered the...

Mention the name, Clarence Peterson, and Rodeo Fans across this great nation will either know him or of his famous “Horse of the Year”, Blackie, with his perfect white diamond on his forehead. The story always was, Clarence Peterson is the toughest competitive cowboy hero of his time.

Clarence Begay was born in the month of the “Great Wind” on December 20, 1937 and blessed to Rose Myers-Peterson and Bigboy Begay of Steamboat, Ariz.  In time, he changed his namesake to Clarence Peterson, is a rodeo performance name.

Clarence was always a wrangler. He broke and tamed wild horses and roped cattle in his adolescence years near the coal mine where his father had mined coal within...

The Arviso clan from the Crownpoint, New Mexico area has a long and interesting history. For example, Jesus Arviso, whose family came from Spain and then settled in Sonora, Mexico, was once traded for a horse.

In the mid-1800s, young Jesus’s family was raided by a band of Apaches; he was taken. Years later the Apache who had Jesus traded him to a Navajo man for a beautiful black stallion. Jesus finished growing up as a Navajo and eventually married into the tribe. As a result of his unique experiences, he now spoke fluent Spanish, Apache and Navajo. Those talents came in handy, as he became a key translator, and important figure, in treaty negotiations between the U.S. Government...

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the El Rancho Hotel is the embodiment of America’s Old West.

According to author Russell A. Olsen, “As you enter the historic El Rancho through the stately front entry, you immediately realize this was and still is a special place. During its heyday, the El Rancho Hotel was one of the premier hotels in the entire Southwest and became the place for the Hollywood set to stay when filming in the area.

During its glory years, the El Rancho was the definition of luxury and included many amenities that were lacking in other typical tourist hotels of the day.

For 50 years, the El Rancho Hotel greeted guests along Route 66 with class...