Sit. Read. Think.

This blog includes information collected from the Laramie County Library’s Special Collections. The Special Collections features items on genealogy, Western history and culture, and Wyoming history. Learn more about Special Collections at https://lclsonline.org/services/specialcollections/

The Outlaw Horse. King of the Hurricane Deck. The Unrideable. These are all nicknames given, with awe and appreciation, to a legendary horse born and raised on the Wyoming prairie. Steamboat’s legend began in the dirt and mud of the rodeo arena, but has since grown to become part of Wyoming’s cultural heritage and central to the state’s identity. His story and silhouette have become synonymous with the fierce independence of the Western Spirit. But you have to wonder…how did one horse become a symbol of an entire state? What made Steamboat so astonishing that thousands of residents identify him as an icon of Wyoming? How did the Steamboat phenomenon come to be?

To understand how Steamboat became Wyoming’s beloved mascot and symbol of Western independence, you must start at his beginnings on the rugged plains near Chugwater, Wyoming. 

The Beginning of Steamboat the Unrideable

The year is 1896, and a beautiful black horse was just born on the Foss Ranch near Chugwater, Wyoming. The horse had no name, but it didn’t take long for him to get one. Steamboat received his name from an accident. While a ranch hand was ‘throwing’ the horse during castration, Steamboat smashed his head into the ground and broke his nose. The broken bone was cut out of the horse’s snout, and ‘after that, every time the horse breathed heavily, it sounded just like the whistle on a steamboat.’ (Papa, 2013) Thus, the legend received his trademark moniker.

Becoming a Legend: Steamboat’s Rodeo Career

Long before Steamboat was a rodeo icon, he practiced his craft by bucking off cowboys during ranch roundups. It’s likely that the first person to ever ride Steamboat was Jimmy Danks, a ranch hand at Two Bar Ranch who introduced Steamboat to the art of bucking while trying to break the young horse. Horses weren’t ‘broken’ until they were comfortable with a bit and saddle. Surprisingly, Steamboat took to a bridle easily enough. But riding him was a whole other story. When Danks first mounted Steamboat, he discovered the horse had a skill for bucking. “I guess he thought bucking was his business,” (It Happened 58) said Danks of Steamboat. 

Steamboat’s rodeo career began in 1901 in Denver, Colorado. The horse performed at the Festival of Mountain and Plain, unseating many riders and starting his path to notoriety. By 1903, Steamboat had garnered a reputation for brutal rides – a cowboy’s ultimate challenge. 

The horse’s career took off in earnest under the management of Charles Irwin, a wild west show promoter and contemporary of Buffalo Bill Cody. Irwin himself lived and breathed horses, earning fame via his ‘Irwin Brothers Wild West Show.’

Steamboat had an impressive fifteen-year run in the bucking business. As part of Irwin’s show, Steamboat traveled from New York City to San Francisco. (Moulton & Moulton, 1992) He performed for famous politicians, including Theodore Roosevelt and Senator Francis E. Warren (another iconic name in Wyoming history.) He threw cowboys in the dirt from coast to coast, starring on the great stages of Calgary and Madison Square Garden, thrilling crowds with his dramatic flair for bucking. But the brightest chapter of Steamboat’s life began and ended at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Steamboat & Cheyenne Frontier Days

Cheyenne Frontier Days began on a sunny, warm September day in 1897. It was a festival embodying the western lifestyle, featuring bucking contests, a ‘mock attack on the Deadwood Stagecoach,’ (Moulton & Moulton, 1992) and other cowboy-worthy entertainment. 

The celebration was still in its infancy when Steamboat came along in 1901, ready to buck his way across the arena. His career would grow alongside Cheyenne Frontier Days, becoming part of the rich history of the world’s largest outdoor rodeo and catapulting him to international fame.

In 1907 and 1908 at Cheyenne Frontier Days, he earned the coveted ‘Worst Bucking Horse of the Year’ award, an equivalent to an Oscar in the rodeo circuit. The award proved what many a cowboy had learned in the arena, Steamboat was a ride like no other. Few cowboys earned a World Championship while riding Steamboat.. He was so successful at dumping riders ‘that the best riders often were disqualified on Steamboat.’ That’s not to say that no cowboy managed to ride Steamboat to a standstill, in fact, several did successfully conquer Steamboat the Unrideable.

The Bold Cowboys That Rode Steamboat

The rules of bronco riding were simple back in the early days of rodeo – a rider must ride the horse to a complete standstill without grabbing any portion of the saddle during the ride. There was no such thing as an eight second ride; it was up to the horse and its rider as to how long a ride lasted. 

Many a cowboy approached riding Steamboat with some dread. Few would bet against the horse, so consistent was he at throwing his riders. But some riders, like Sam Scoville and Dick Stanley, successfully subdued the King of Buckers.

Among the slew of cowboys who can lay claim to having ridden Steamboat, one has passed into legend alongside the horse. Guy Holt, a Wyoming native who grew up near Cheyenne, began his rodeo career around the same time as Steamboat. His wife once wrote that he had ridden Steamboat seven times (Moulton & Moulton, 1992), but there was one encounter with the horse that has left a permanent impact on Wyoming history.

It was September of 1903 when Holt mounted Steamboat’s back, unknowingly starting the ride of his life. The horse ‘bucked the hardest that anyone had ever seen him buck with a rider aboard,’ said one contemporary writer of the event, and it was said that after the rough ride, Holt’s nose was left bleeding from the force of Steamboat’s jumps. (Papa, 2013) That ride was immortalized in a photo taken by University of Wyoming Professor BC Buffman.

The End of Steamboat: 

It was a dark day in the rodeo world when Steamboat was laid to rest. The King of the Hurricane Deck had his last bucking contest in Salt Lake City, Utah, after an unfortunate accident in the pen, Steamboat was injured by barbed wire. The injuries were too severe, leading to blood poisoning. The horse could not be saved.

Steamboat was returned to the place where his story became legend, the arena at Cheyenne Frontier Days. It was there his life ended with a single shot from a rifle. Chronicles of the time honored the horse with obituaries espousing praise for the great bucking horse. The Cheyenne Daily Leader bid him a fond farewell, saying, ‘The horse that has nipped in the bud the fondest hopes of many a broncho [sic] buster, the horse that has sent fear into the ranks of the veteran busters is no more.’ (Moulton & Moulton, 1992)

Steamboat’s Legacy: License Plates, Logos, and Football

Steamboat’s legacy lives on in Wyoming culture. His famous ride with Guy Holt is the inspiration for the University of Wyoming logo and there is a grand statue commemorating that ride on the university’s campus. 

Some believe that Steamboat is the horse on the Wyoming license plate…and perhaps he is. In 1936, an artist by the name of Allen True (Papa, 2013) created the symbol of a bucking horse and cowboy that graces the Wyoming license plate today. Rumor has it that the inspiration for the logo was Steamboat and one of his past riders, but that story remains exactly that: a rumor. No one knows what horse and rider inspired True; the artist never said. But, common belief in Wyoming says that it is Steamboat, and so, by the rules of public opinion, the symbol has evolved to become Steamboat, regardless of its true origins.

Steamboat has become the most recognizable symbol of the Equality State. In an article honoring the 100 year anniversary of Steamboat’s passing, it was said that ‘Steamboat helps remind everyone…that in Wyoming, the Code of the West isn’t dead.’ (Hecox, 2014)  Today, the horse remains an icon of the Old West, a representation of the Western Way of Life, and a story Wyomingites are proud to claim as part of their heritage.

References & Citations

Hecox, D. (2014). A century of life after steamboat. UWYO Magazine. https://www.uwyo.edu/uwyo/2014/16-1/features/century-after-steamboat.html

Hein, R. (2017). Wyoming’s long-lived Bucking horse. Wyoming’s Long-lived Bucking Horse. https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/wyomings-long-lived-bucking-horse

Moulton, C. V., & Moulton, F. (1992). Steamboat, legendary bucking horse: His Life & Times, and the Cowboys who tried to tame him. High Plains Press.

Papa, P. W. (2013). It happened in Wyoming: Remarkable events that shaped history. Globe Pequot Press.

Steamboat: Wyoming’s wildest resident. American Heritage Center . (2024, March 11). https://ahcwyo.org/2022/07/25/steamboat-wyomings-wildest-resident/#:~:text=Steamboat%E2%80%99s%20last%20performance%20was%20in%20the%20fall%20of,He%20had%20a%20nearly%20fifteen-year%20long%20rodeo%20career. 

Unknown. (Undated). KID MOORE RIDING “OLD STEAMBOAT” TOWARD THE CROWD AT CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS. [Photo]. Wyoming State Archives. http://spcrphotocollection.wyo.gov/luna/servlet/detail/SPCRACV~3~3~919724~113130:Cheyenne-Frontier-Days—Rodeo—Br?sort=title_or_file%2Cidentifier%2Cimage_title%2Ccoverage_or_location&qvq=q:steamboat;sort:title_or_file%2Cidentifier%2Cimage_title%2Ccoverage_or_location;lc:SPCRACV~3~3&mi=0&trs=26

Stimson, Joseph Elam. (1909). CLAYTON DANKS ON “STEAMBOAT”, SADDLE BRONC RIDE AT RODEO. [Photo]. Wyoming State Archives. http://spcrphotocollection.wyo.gov/luna/servlet/detail/SPCRACV~3~3~1353734~190935:Stimson-Collection?sort=title_or_file%2Cidentifier%2Cimage_title%2Ccoverage_or_location&qvq=q:steamboat;sort:title_or_file%2Cidentifier%2Cimage_title%2Ccoverage_or_location;lc:SPCRACV~3~3&mi=24&trs=26

Stimson, Joseph Elam. (1908). CARTER ON OLD STEAMBOAT, CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS. [Photo]. Wyoming State Archives. http://spcrphotocollection.wyo.gov/luna/servlet/detail/SPCRACV~3~3~1353734~190935:Stimson-Collection?sort=title_or_file%2Cidentifier%2Cimage_title%2Ccoverage_or_location&qvq=q:steamboat;sort:title_or_file%2Cidentifier%2Cimage_title%2Ccoverage_or_location;lc:SPCRACV~3~3&mi=24&trs=26

Highsmith, Carol M. (2016). Fanning a Twister by Peter Fillerup. [Photo]. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.39099/?r=-0.079,-0.042,1.196,1.04,0