The Calgary Stampede

The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth

"We rode down to the Indian encampment near the banks of the Elbow river, and while looking over the Indian horse heard, I experienced a burning desire to" break" a bucking bronco. In my youth and ignorance I had come to the conclusion that it was not hard to stay on a bronco for eight to ten jumps. The Indian led forward a crop-eared pinto Cayuse....and I climbed aboard."

"The last thing I remembered was that as soon as my feet touched the stirrups, there was a violent upheaval. My chin hit the saddle horn, I lost both stirrups, my back seemed to break in about a dozen places, my neck snapped in two, and when I finally came to, the little birdies were chirping and I was rolling on my back on the bald-headed prairie. The Indians held up three fingers to signify that I had stayed three jumps. Right there and then I lost any desire; I had enough of becoming a broncobuster. My body was black and blue for days, and even now, forty-seven years later, I shudder every time I see a bucking horse come out of the chutes at the Stampede.'

"Cappy" Smart- The Calgary Herald

Guy Weadick Beginnings                

Guy Weadick was a tall lean man. He tilted his hat back at a rakish angle as he reached for a pen to sign the hotel register. The tall man loosened his flowing black tie and signed, "Guy Weadick, Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA." "How long will you be staying in the hotel sir," the clerk asked?" "I'm going to stay here long enough to give Calgary the biggest blankety blank frontier day show that the world has ever seen. We will have hundreds of cowboys, thousands of Indians, scores of cowgirls. We will have ropers and riders so good and so many it will make Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show look like a side show."

And so began the dream. Guy Weadick spent his time in those early days haunting the bar and the lobby of the Alberta Hotel. He talked to anyone who would listen. One day he ran into Billy de Graves (later Mayor W. A. de Graves DSO), a reporter on the staff of the Calgary Herald. The flamboyant man was more then ready to listen. He felt that Calgary needed an exhibitioner fair of some sort to shut down the false rumors that there was nothing to be had west of Manitoba, and that the land here could grow nothing. So he sorted Guy Weadick's story out. What Weadick wanted was to make Calgary Alberta the greatest frontier celebration that had ever been seen. It was his aim to bring together all the champion broncobusters, steer ropers, calf ropers, trick and fancy ropers and fancy riders, both male & female, from all parts of Canada and the USA.

There would be cash purses of $50,000.00 in gold and the world championships. With the help of the Dept. Of Indian Affairs, he would bring together the greatest concourse of Indians ever assembled at one point since the No.7 Indian treaty was signed at Blackfoot Crossing in 1877. He would scour the range lands of Canada and the United States for the greatest string of bucking horses the world had ever seen. Calgary would obtain world wide publicity and the financial backers of the project would reap a harvest. He was finally backed by what was to be called, "The Big Four". George Lane, owner of the Bar U at Rekisko, Patrick Burns (Later Senator Patrick Burns,) A. E. Cross, President of the Calgary Brewing Co., and the owner of the A7 Ranch at Nanton, and A. J. Mclean.

It didn't take Weadick long to get into action. With credit assured at the Royal Bank of Canada, Weadick set to work to create the frame work for the big show. Now that the "Big Four" were behind him, his path was easy.

What most people didn't know was that in order to obtain the necessary "open sesame" from the backers of the project, Weadick had to sign away 25% of his anticipated share of the profits to McMullen. The latter was named Director General of The Stampede, and he enjoyed the title, to the full.

Weadick soon revealed that he had both organizing ability and the proper connections. His first move was to name Ad. P. Day of medicine Hat as Arena Director and his brother Tony Day to assist.

Now it just so happened that the Day brothers owned the biggest herd of bucking horses in Canada. They also had previous rodeo experience. Weadick knew enough about the business to know that you had to have bucking horses, so now he was set on three fronts. His next job was to tell the world about the big show and to contact all the top names who had competed in frontier day contests in the United States.

There were some who thought that Weadick had bitten off more then he could chew. What they didn't know was that Weadick had already scouted the whole of Western Canada the previous year. His wife Florence La Due, was a star in a trick roping act in Col. Zack Miller's 101 Wild West show. They had toured the three Western provinces. The top cowboy star of that show was a Cherokee Indian, named Tom Mix. Yes this isn't a typo, Mix and Weadick had done some scouting but the results were far from satisfactory, and Mix bowed out. Mix later became a top movie star in silent pictures and made a fortune.

Guy Weadick chose Calgary for three reasons:

• It was centered in the heart of the horse and cattle ranching industry.
• It was almost completely surrounded by the six tribes of the Plains Indians: Sarcees near the city limits, Blackfoot to the East, Bloods and Peigans to the South, Stoneys to the West and Crees to the North.
• The third and most important point even in those days, was that Calgary possessed a hustling, bustling, progressive spirit which measured to some extent his own way of life. During the early summer The Stampede advertising and publicity campaign was going full blast; Weadick worked from dawn to dusk. He personally contacted all the top bronco riders, trick and fancy riders, steer ropers, calf ropers by letter and invited them to come share in the gold. Two weeks before the entries closed, Weadick was shocked to learn that while there was an abundance of entries from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, there were hardly any from the U.S.A.. He brought Ad Day up from Medicine Hat, gave him a cheque book and sent him to Wyoming by train; they were in the midst of their Frontier Days there. He told Day not to return unless he had signed up at least 50 of the top contestants in the business. Ad Day replied that he would bring them to Calgary if he had to do it at the point of a gun. He was as good as his word. Three days before the big show was scheduled to start, two railway coaches rolled into Calgary crammed with cowboys, and along with them was the Mounted Cowboy Band. It cost the Stampede committee more than $6,000.00 for railway fares and meals, and it cost Weadick another 25% of his share of the anticipated profits. That was the price that Day held out for before undertaking his added duties.

By about this time Weadick started adding up his share, he realized that the Stampede would have to be very successful if he was to make any money. The Stampede committee granted him a meager stipend of $25.00 per week, living allowance to cover him and his wife. Now he had managed to sign away 75% of his share of the profits, even before the big day arrived. This did not seem to worry him overly much at the time. He was ready to stage the big show. All that was needed was for the weather man to smile on him. He asked the Mexican Government to send their best riders and ropers, and when the entry lists closed on the afternoon of August 31, 1912, Calgary was playing host to the greatest aggregation of cowboys ever assembled in one place at that time. So it was in the beginning, and so it always shall be. We were ready to Stampede. Yee...Haw ...let 'er rip.

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