Lusk, Wyoming’s Legend of Rawhide
- October 11, 2017
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- Savanna Simmons
Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life, Uncategorized
The Legend of Rawhide is unlike anything I have witnessed before. The vivid tale looks back into the time of settlers and indians and implores a person to consider what our ancestors’ lives could have been like. The town rallies so beautifully and plans each year to make the event such a success. The local ranchers and families comprise the cast. If you ever have a chance to attend the Legend of Rawhide the second weekend of July in Lusk, Wyoming, please do so. If you never get the chance, enjoy these photos.
Story by Heather Hamilton Maude, originally printed in Tri-State Livestock News July 2011, Photos by Savanna Simmons July 2017
Screaming Indians on painted ponies race around a wagon train on the Eastern Wyoming plains, dodging bullets, setting fire to one unlucky pioneer’s ride west, and eventually skinning a man alive for killing their princess.
The Legend of Rawhide is a fast-paced, live reenactment of a story that allegedly took place just south of Lusk, WY, near the Rawhide Buttes, and is performed annually the second weekend in July at the Lusk fairgrounds.
“The Legend started in 1946, after the war. The county didn’t have very much money, and they wanted to improve the fairgrounds, so they put on the show and it was a huge success. A lot of the bigger buildings on our fairgrounds today were funded by the Legend,” noted area rancher, long-time Legend participant and past Indian chief Danny Hanson.
“It’s based on an episode that occurred during the settlement of the west. The story is about Clyde Pickett, who falls in love with Kate Farley. Clyde hates Indians, and vows to kill the first one he sees to impress Kate. Most of the members of the wagon train don’t like his attitude, and are simply trying to avoid trouble. It’s a very action-packed performance, and there are mounted calvary, Indians and a wagon train. It’s done very well, especially considering there are over 200 volunteer actors involved, and none of them are professional actors,” said Legend of Rawhide Board President Brett Dockery.
To read the rest of Heather’s story, click here.
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Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life, Uncategorized
About Savanna Simmons
I'm Savanna Simmons and I live north of Lusk, Wyoming, on the Four Three Ranch with my husband Boe and our sons, Brindle and Roan. I grew up evolving my horsemanship with clinicians like Ray Hunt, Joe Wolter, and Jack Brainard, but not within a...