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This episode is also available as a blog post: https://wildhorsesthunder.studio/2021/07/countdown-to-the-75th-chief-joseph-days-rodeo-with-pickup-men-matt-twitchell-and-mitch-coleman/

Now in its 75th year the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo is an indelible northeast Oregon tradition. For most of those years a red 19th century stagecoach with bright, yellow wheels has been a big part of that tradition.

This year the horse team of Sadie and Skeeter and their handlers will appear at eleven parades throughout the Northwest promoting Wallowa County’s biggest summertime event.

Built in Concord, New Hampshire Wallowa County founding father Frank McCully bought the stagecoach in1886 and ran a stage line from Elgin to Joseph until 1908 when the Joseph Branch Railroad was completed between the two towns. McCully likely kept the coach in use on a stage line from Joseph to Imnaha for several years after the railroad was built.

In 1966, the year Karen Prout, a member of the stagecoach team, was crowned Chief Joseph Days Rodeo queen the coach was restored and became a permanent fixture at rodeo events and parades.



This episode is also available as a blog post: https://wildhorsesthunder.blog/2021/07/up-close-and-personal-with-chief-joseph-days-stage-coach-2018/

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://wildhorsesthunder.blog/2021/06/wetxuuwiitin%e2%80%8b-returned-home-after-a-period-of-captivity/

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://wildhorsesthunder.blog/2021/06/the-nez-perce-horse/