CORRAL DUST 



Iowa, he came out to Kansas in '68, farmed, rode and 

 trapped," says Jinks Taylor, leaning over from his sad- 

 dle. Helmick has just come from the John Day 

 country way where the miners struck it rich in the 

 sixties. Today this rough country with its many bluffs 

 south of The Dalles, particularly between the Forks 

 of the John Day and in the Harney River country, pro- 

 duce some of the best buckaroos in the world. They 

 sometimes begin to ride at the age of three and break 

 horses at ten in this country, and only quit when they 

 are stove up old cowpunchers. 



Helmick's probably the oldest living active cowboy 

 in the country and is here to compete. Last year ne 

 won the championship bucking title at the Grant 

 County contests at Canyon City from eleven contest- 

 ants, all young fellows. Helmick insists on riding the 

 same old turtle-back saddle he has ridden for the past 

 twenty-nine years. The bucking board of Canyon City 

 offered him the best Thomas saddle that could be made 

 but he would not take it. His old standby has just been 

 repaired here this week, but despite its long service the 

 committee feel that it's not strong enough for the 

 Round-Up outlaws. How old is Helmick ? Oh ! yes — 

 why sixty-eight and not stove up yet. 



At the tryouts, or the morning contests, one forgets 

 the arena and the all but empty bleachers ; one lives in 

 the spirit of the real life, with its settings of a memo- 

 ried past framing the background. One is just in a big 

 cow-camp, with saddles and blankets lying around; 

 cowboys, cowgirls, horses and Texas longhorns, knock- 

 ing about in a devil-may-care sort of way as though 

 on a range round-up or at a branding. One looks 

 away through the gap between the bleachers to the 

 smoke-tipped lodges of the Umatillas. 



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