History of the CRR

The Crooked River Roundup is the heritage of Prineville, the Cowboy Capitol of Oregon that will be celebrated during the 2011 66th Anniversary show. Every person who has served on the board of directors, every person in the community that has volunteered time to help develop the facilities or sell tickets, or assist in any way is a big part of this celebration. The accomplishments of the Roundup have been remarkable. Over the 65 years we have donated much to our community. The Fairgrounds, as they now exist, were deeded over to the Citizens of Crook County by the Roundup in 1972, paving the way for what has become a very major part of our community. Many local groups have been able to generate income from the Roundup either through concession booths, just having a store in town selling to visitors, or through contracted service’s with the Roundup.

Bucking horses, roping steers, and racing were popular very early in Crook County. The corrals at Pringle Flat near Camp Creek and ranches near Paulina and Post were the early scenes of many early day roundups as the area’s ranchers and cowhands pooled their efforts to gather their cattle and separate them before winter.

Horse racing can be traced in Prineville as far back as 1880. At that time a 1/2 mile track was laid out south of town near where the Stewart dam is located. Carey Foster said that races were sometimes held directly down 3rd Street. About 1900, a mile track was built where Crook County High School now stands, and in 1903 another track was built on the ground where the current Fairgrounds are located and a Fair association was formed. In 1915 the Fair sold half of the ground and the track was reduced to the current 1/2 mile oval. In 1945, when the Crooked River Roundup and Fair Association was formed, they purchased the ground from the current owners at the time.

During the war years there had not been any Rodeo’s and in 1944 with $320, a lot of energy and ambition, a group of local ranchers decided that Prineville needed a top notch Rodeo and decided to put one on. Jess Cain lent them $1000 and Max Barber was contracted to provide stock. Lew Lynn, a local auctioneer was the clown. Lance Smith took charge of repairing and remodeling, Cain Hall was remodeled and when the Rodeo was over it had been a financial success and $850 was the profit. After such a grand show the founders decided to make it a yearly event and to sell 120 shares of stock at $100. Jess Cain sold all of the shares in 6 weeks. Since they needed a permanent site for the Roundup, they purchased the present grounds from the Raymond’s for $11,000 cash.

On September 2 and 3, 1945 the First Crooked River Roundup and 4-H Club Fair was held. Jerry Breese was elected Secretary, and the last original member to pass away in 2004. The original directors were Orville Yancey, Howard Mayfield, Jerry Breese, Ray Graffenberger, Brick Hagadorn, Alvin Grimes, Buck McKinnon, Herm Meder, Remey Cox, Otto Hopper, Cecil Stearns, Emery Carlin, Lance Smith, Sumner Houston, and Jess Cain. At the same time, the Roundup and the School Board entered into an agreement for use of the grounds for football games. Better lights were added for the arena, and turf grass was planted. For the rodeo contestants, the grass was slick for horses and many different surface coverings were tried to correct this. Sand was tried and removed before football season. This did not work well, so Pine Products offered to furnish enough sawdust to cover the turf. This proved to be dirty and slick, so in the later years of the turf, it was worked slightly and proved to be a satisfactory surface, although not the same as the dirt that is common in most arenas. In the fall of 1973, the Crook County Cowboy’s played the last football in the “Cow Palace” and moved to the new Ward Rhoden Stadium in the fall of 1975.

Ronnie Raymond made his debut as a saddle bronc rider at the Roundup in 1956. He drew “War Paint”, one of the greatest bucking horses ever and the one featured on the logo of the Roundup with Manuel Enos. Manuel had ridden War Paint earlier in 1956 at the rodeo in Redmond and won the event there. The picture that is used as a logo was taken in 1957 here in Prineville. Shortly after the picture, War Paint won and Manuel Enos ended up in some of Crook County’s fine soil.

1966 was a big year for the Roundup. Horse Racing, “The Sport of Kings” made its official debut to the Roundup. Pari-mutuel wagering was offered. Tickets were sold through windows cut into the back of the Grandstand. The tickets sold in those days were pre printed. After the race started, sales had to be hand calculated by the volunteers that manned the windows. The “totalizator board” amounted to a volunteer with a large chalkboard that would write the “odds” on the chalkboard.Let’s rodeo for the 65th time this year and celebrate the success of years past!