Young Chief Joseph was born in 1840, probably in the Wallowa Valley. He grew up to become a chief. In his manhood, he came to be known to the white men as “Young Joseph”. When “Old Joseph” died, leadership became his burden.

Young Joseph was not a war chief. He was a statesman and an orator, and according to record, he counseled his people to keep peace with the newly arrived settlers. His wisdom held for five years, from 1871 to 1876. After the death of a Nez Perce brave, at the hands of a couple of white men, Joseph and his band sought justice, but found none. The two men were tried for the killing and acquitted. In May of 1877, Young Joseph did what he vowed he would never do – he led his people away from the Wallowas toward Idaho and the Lapwai Reservation, which was to be their new home. This was the beginning of the infamous trek to Canada and the military chase.

Young Chief Joseph died in exile at the age of 64 on September 21, 1904. Today, he is well remembered throughout Wallowa County. The town is named after him, as is a hotel, a rodeo, and a mountain. His picture is displayed in businesses, the post office, restaurants, vacation rentals, and may other places to honor a man who wanted nothing but peace for his people. Thousands of faces and names have faded into the past, but his endures, and will continue to endure as long as we honor factual history and remember the suffering of Native Americans.

Often called “rodeo’s Walter Cronkite,” James C. Cy Taillon was the first announcer to make his entire living behind a rodeo microphone. Born in 1907 in North Dakota. Taillon was a law student, a professional musician, a bareback rider, a trick rider and roper, and a radio personality in his early years. He also worked as a Hollywood stand in for actor Robert Taylor in “Billy the Kid”. Taillon announced his first rodeo in Butte, Montana, 1939.

For 40 years, Cy Taillon’s rich voice called the action at every major rodeo on the national circuit. His personal goal was to present the rodeo cowboy as a professional athlete. Taillon’s superb delivery was distinguished by precise grammar and clear description. His career included 33 consecutive years at Denver, 30 years at the San Francisco Cow Palace, and 9 years at the National Finals Rodeo. He is a member of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and earned their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Cy announced Chief Joseph Days in 1961, 62, 63, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75; totaling 11 years. “The golden voice of rodeo,” Cy Taillon retired from the arena in the 1970’s and died in 1980.

Source National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Dallas Gene Williamson was born in Jim Town, Oregon on January 30, 1929. He graduated in 1947 from Joseph High School in a class of five. He spent his summers as a guide packing in campers to the High Lakes. He started working in the milk business in 1953 becoming part owner of the Wallowa-Union Dairy.

He was active as a volunteer fireman and a member of the American Legion. His love of horses permeated every aspect of Dalla’s life, but it was especially apparent through his involvement with Chief Joseph Days.

Just out of high school, Dallas dug postholes for the first Chief Joseph Days Rodeo on the Wallowa Lake moraine in 1947. He was elected to the Joseph Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in 1967 where he served until 1970. He served on the rodeo board from 1970 until 1981; and as arena director between 1973 to 1981.

In those days, the arena director was responsible for getting everything done at the rodeo grounds before rodeo week. They worked for weeks every night, after work and weekends, to make Chief Joseph Days happen.

Dallas spent many hours helping with maintenance and improvements to the rodeo grounds. He helped to build the new rodeo stands in 1967-1968. He assisted in the development and construction of the new community center in Joseph. It was Dallas who suggested in 1977 to pay the Chief Joseph Days rodeo court a commission for selling rodeo tickets. Dallas was Chief Joseph Days parade grand marshal in 1987. Dallas died on February 13, 2016, at the age of 85. goes here

Frank McCully

Frank McCully was born in 1914 in the building that is known as the Wallowa County Museum. He attended school in Joseph and college at Oregon State Agricultural College, now Oregon State University.

Frank became very active in the Joseph Chamber of Commerce as he sought to promote the City of Joseph. He became the President of the Chamber in 1946 when the first rodeo was held on the East Moraine. That same year he worked tirelessly to help promote the building of the Joseph Airport. In 1947, he was elected mayor for the City of Joseph. Frank was presented Joseph’s Outstanding Citizen award in 1949. During McCully’s years working for the Joseph Chamber, the membership grew from 30 to 130 and was known as the “biggest little chamber in the world.” They were also known as the “Flying Chamber” because its members traveled in planes around the northwest promoting their rodeo. When the Joseph Chamber was trying to pick the weekend for the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo, he asked his father and grandfather (pioneers of Wallowa County) to research past weather patterns to pick the best time of year to hold the celebration. Which turned out to be the last weekend in July.

Frank’s family owned a stagecoach, an Ole Concord-Made Mudder, which made many trips hauling passengers and mail from Elgin to Joseph and back until the first rail line made its way to the county. The stage was given to the Chamber in the early 1970’s and is the same stagecoach used today to promote the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo.

Frank was named the parade grand marshal of the 40 th Chief Joseph Days Rodeo in 1985. It seems appropriate that this man who, contributed to the betterment of the City of Joseph and helped to establish and promote the rodeo be inducted into the Chief Joseph Days Hall of Fame.

Ross Dollarhide Jr. was born at Burns, Oregon, in 1921 and grew up on a nearby ranch. Perhaps symbolically, his father was riding saddle broncs on the day of his birth. After service in World War II, the younger Dollarhide worked with his father on the famed MC Ranch and commenced rodeo competition as a saddle bronc rider and steer wrestler.

Dollarhide rodeoed all over the far West, winning 17 event titles in saddle bronc riding, 18 event titles in steer wrestling, 8 in team roping and 4 in calf roping between 1947 and 1955. He took the saddle bronc title three consecutive years at the San Francisco Cow Palace (1948-1950) and parlayed his consistent steer-wrestling talents into both the CRA and IRA national titles in 1953. Over the years, his versatility resulted in more than 20 all-around cowboy venue awards. At Chief Joseph Days, he won the all-around titles in 1950, 1951, and 1952. He won the calf roping in 1950, the saddle bronc riding 1951 and back- to-back titles in the steer wresting event in 1950 and 1951.

During the late 1950s, Ross Dollarhide, Jr. followed fellow rodeo competitors like Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, and Casey Tibbs to Hollywood, where he worked as a riding double and stuntman. He died in 1977 at Flagstaff, Arizona, from injuries received while on location with a television western series.

Source National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

In 1954, Harley Tucker searched the country over for white horses for his grand entries and parades and came up with six. These horses would open the rodeo and be the pivots for the rodeo serpentine. The horses were outfitted with hand tooled saddles, matching saddle blankets, headstalls, and breast collars. The riders wore Wrangler red jackets with matching leather chaps, white, yellow, green and red sporting Tucker’s brand (T with an overlay L). The riders carried colorful flags for a grand display of pageantry.

Tucker’s trademark was his fast and colorful grand entries. At one time Tucker had 10 of these white horses and rode one as his personal mount during the shows. The white horses were quite an attraction but required a lot of care before each rodeo performance and parade to look their best. Harley had to add a tack truck to his fleet to haul all the gear!