b'By Jim and Bobbi Jeen Olson,WesternTradingPost.comA together, they bought a ranch outside of few years back I wrote about one of rodeos greatest men, EverettSafford, Arizona. Skeet chose to run the Bowman (mycowboyheroes. ranch instead of rodeoing. However, he blogspot.com/2012/06/everett-bowman- was still a winner at calf roping contests cowboy-leader.html). However, therearound the Southwest for years to come were five Bowman brothers in the familyafter becoming a full-time rancher.He (actually sixone died young) and theconsistently turned in very fast times for five made headlines in the sport of rodeothe day. Some say he, raised the bar, in in one way or another.Besides Everett,the calf roping event. He also became Ed, Walter, Dick, and the youngest, Skeetthe sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, were each great hands in their own righta position held for many years. He later and made great contributions to the sportbought Everetts portion of the ranch of rodeo during its infancy. Althoughand was an important member of his Everett received more publicity and iscommunity for the rest of his days.obviously the best-known, the other brothers are credited with things likeBrother Walter (Walt) Bowman was owning and training the first calf ropingsaid to be the rounder of the bunch. horse to back up and work rope, the firstHe left for California and a cowboying horse trailer on the rodeo circuit, the firstjob out west while still young. He was a to get off a calf horse on the right side andcowhand around California most of his many other things. These men startedlife and rodeoed locally. He was a tough their rodeo careers during the 1920s.hand, however, and could win just about Here are their stories. anywhere he showed up. At Prescotts 4th of July rodeo one year, Walt decided Ed Bowman, oldest of the brothers, made several innovations to the sport of calfto make an appearance because he knew the rest of the family would be there. It was a roping. For starters, he was the first to show up with a horse that backed up and tooktradition among the Bowmans to make certain rodeos such as Prescott, even though slack out of the rope. His famous horse, Back up Pete, learned to work rope by pureEverett was the only one who followed the rodeo trail full time. So Walt made his accident. One day, while working cattle on the ranch, Ed roped a wild steer in a brushyway to Prescott this particular year, arriving without any money. According to nephew area. When he got off Pete to run down the rope and tie the steer, a mesquite branchLouis Bowman, Older brother Ed always kind of took a shining to Waltkind of took hung on his chaps and, upon coming loose, it swung back and whacked Pete on thecare of him when need be. So even though Walt had no money, no horse, and was nose. Well, Ol Pete ran backward taking slack out of the rope quite rapidly. Ed realizedwearing brogan shoes, Ed sponsored his entry fee in the bulldogging and loaned him a this was a much easier way to flank and tie cattle with Petes help! Back at the practicehorse. Walt wound up winning about $300! A fortune at the time. pen, he taught Pete to do this on queue. The command was, Back up Pete. At the first rodeo Ed entered after teaching Pete to back up on cue, folks were impressed with theThe middle of the five brothers was really not much of a cowboy at all. Sure, he grew ease with which Ed was able to flank his cattle. He won the event. Soon other guys hadup on a ranch and knew all about cowboying from the time he was knee-high to a trained their horses to back up as well. Within a year, most of the top ropers in thegrasshopper, but Dick Bowman used to say that he and the automobile were born country had trained their horses to back up and times were now much quicker thantogether in 1896 and he was more inclined mechanically than a-horseback. Dick before. Ed Bowman was the first to do this, however, and folks around the countryserved in WWI and was introduced to all kinds of machinery that excited him. came to know the famous horse simply by the command Ed would bellow as he ranWhen he returned, he became an engineer, hydrologist, driver, electrician, carpenter, down the rope, Back up Pete. plumber, and mechanic of all sortsall self-taught. Even though Dick did not rodeo and cowboy like his other brothers, he made a contribution to rodeo which Another thing Ed did to help revolutionize the sport of calf roping was to get off eitherrevolutionized the sporthe built the first horse trailer used on the rodeo trail. While the right or left side of his horse, depending upon how big the cattle were. If the cattlenot officially credited with inventing the horse trailer, because other contraptions had were smaller, Ed would get off the right side of the horse, run down the rope, flank thebeen used to haul horses around before this, Dicks trailer was definitely the first rodeo calf and then tie him (a feat unheard of at the time). If the cattle were bigger, he wouldtrailer ever recorded as being used by cowboys. It came about like this:get off the traditional way (for the time), on the left side of the horse, run down the rope, and leg the calf before tying it. Ed was a natural-born athlete who also did thingsBrothers Everett and Skeet were trying to get from Safford, Arizona to Cheyenne, such as wear tennis shoes instead of boots so he ran faster to the cattle. He also tied hisWyoming in 1926 for their first shot at a big-time rodeo outside of the Southwest. They ropes shorter than usual so the distance from horse to calf was quicker. Ed was knownwere in a crux over their horse situation. Back then, folks either hauled horses in the as a coach to the Bowman brothers because he was always figuring out better ways toback of trucks or most of the time, rode them where they were going. But they knew do things. He helped younger brothers Everett and Skeet learn the ways of rodeo andit was too far to Cheyenneand getting there on time would be almost impossible. winning. Although Ed did not follow rodeo as vigorously as younger brother Everett,They could only haul one horse in the truckso what to do? Dick told them, Why or even baby brother Skeet, he was just as handy. Ed had a passion for good horses anddont you load one in the truck and haul one? They liked the idea, so Dick fashioned spent most of his life raising and training them. He won several champions in botha hand-made trailer for his brothers to use. He did it in one afternoon! It took the cutting and rodeo circles throughout his life. brothers over a week to travel to Cheyenne on primitive roads but having two horses there instead of one enabled Everett and Skeet to clean house. They won more money Skeet Bowman, the baby of the bunch, is probably the second-best known Bowmanat that rodeo than either had ever seen at one timeand this helped to launch their after brother Everett. Louis Bowman, author and nephew of the bunch (Dicks son),rodeo careers! Using that trailer, they competed at many more rodeos around the said Skeet was the best roper of the whole crew. Skeet won many calf roping titles atcountry where you probably would have only seen locals in the past. As stated major rodeos and probably would have won a world championship or two, but he hadabove, the two won enough money during the 1920s to buy a ranch back in Arizona. pretty much quit full-time rodeo by the early 1930s (before 1929, records were sketchyAlthough folks gawked and laughed at those country bumpkins when they first and not kept to determine who the world champion was. Championships were oftenshowed up with that contraption hooked to their vehicle and a horse in it, they didnt determined by who won a certain rodeo in those days). It wasnt until the early 1930slaugh long. It caught on quickly and soon others were copying the Bowman Trailer. that championship races were a thing and by then, Skeet was mostly done rodeoing.But Dick Bowman built the first rodeo trailer.Skeet rodeoed full-time with brother Everett throughout the mid and late 1920s as a way to make a living, saying, It sure beats cowboy wages. However, he injured hisSo while Everett Bowman receives most of the press, and rightfully so because he did back while steer wrestling and this slowed him down some. Back then, it was notmore for the sport of modern rodeo than most any other man in history, now we know uncommon for bulldogging steers to weigh a thousand pounds or more. This favoredthe stories of his brothers. Tough hands and good men, all of them. This author would stouter contestants such as brother Everett who was, as they said, strong as a mule. Thelike to thank Lewis Bowman for the hours spent giving history lessons on the Bowman back injury bothered Skeet off and on, so once he and Everett had put a little moneyfamily and the first-hand experiences passed down about the early days of rodeo. ArizonaRealCountry.com August 2021 41'