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As far back as the early 1890's there were bucking bovines with awesome reputations, whose owners were willing to take on all challengers for large bets. One of these was the legendary Montana Holstein known simply as "the Belgrade bull."

Property of Belgrade, Montana, saloon owner and former prize-fighter "Kid" Johnson, the black and white bucking star had helped him accumulate a shed full of saddles and riding gear from punchers who bet their all they could ride anything with four good legs. Trail-toughened cowboys still poured up the "Bloody Bozeman" with southern cattle, and loved nothing better than a challenge. Johnson was an entrepreneur, and would consider no bet under $50.

He was so confident in the prowess of his bull that he placed no restrictions on the riders, so long as the bull was not hampered in his movement.

According to R. H. Imes, whose father arrived in Bozeman in 1877 and was a close friend of Johnson's, Johnson had a large corral behind his saloon, where the bull met would-be riders, and there was plenty of room for spectators . For over two years, the Belgrade bull was unrideable and king of all he surveyed. It seemed that he was quite capable of going on forever, and the world's best riders admitted freely that he couldn't be ridden. One startled cowboy claimed that he saw a black spot that normally was on top of the bull's withers under his belly, when he loosed all holds.

As the story goes, a Mexican cowboy was stranded in this northern burg, having lost his poke in a Keno game. He found employment doing chores at a nearby farm, and managed to be in the audience when the Belgrade bull unseated a number of top cowboys.

Summer was waning and the yen to return to the sunny clime of Mexico before snowfall was strong. The cowboy was cunning, and he studied this potential foe with an eye to earning train fare and recovering both the pride and pesos Keno had robbed him of. When his observations were complete, he announced that he would ride the bull; betting his saddle, spurs, bridle, silver-mounted bit, rawhide riata and all the money he could borrow.

As R. H. Imes heard the story from his father, ". . . this Mexican knew about all there was to know about bulls. He explained to a friend that no bullfighter in the world would fight a Holstein bull because he is the only bull that keeps his eyes open at all times when he charges or is bucking.

The fatal day that the Belgrade bull was to go down in glorious defeat, was a warm, late fall day and, from the bets that were being put down on the bull, the Mexican didn't have a chance. He seemed to be unconcerned as he walked up to the bull, looking very handsome in a pair of new bell-bottom pants with a sash for a belt. With no equipment except his big-rowelled spurs, he made a flying leap after grabbing a handful of hide and hair, landing behind the bull's hip bones. Taking two turns around his right leg with the bull's tail, he lit a cigarette, poked the glowing match head in the animal's hide, took another reef of the tail, and was ready to go.

The bull was ready to go too, and if Kid Johnson had been inclined to post an alibi, by saying that the bull had an off-day, it wouldn't have held water. In the midst of one spinning session, both rider and bull were obscured by a cloud of dust and someone yelled that the bull had rolled over. But the Mexican was still on top, though he had lost his cigarette, when they could be seen again. A friend was holding his hat (which cost $50 in Mexico). There were no horns or whistles to save the Mexican's bets and dignity as there is today, but he didn't need them.

The Belgrade bull never bucked again and spent the rest of his life in the lush pastures of the beautiful Gallatin Valley around Belgrade.

There were several bucking Holstein bulls later that were billed as the original Belgrade bull, but they never fooled anyone who lived around Belgrade or Bozeman at the time the real one was confounding the world's best riders. - R. Sedgwick Stearns

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