The Active Historian

Lorena Trickey was born in 1893 near Palmer, Oregon. In 1917, she joined the Clarence Adams Wild West Show as a trick and Roman rider. One of the stockmen recommended she try rodeo and the rest is history.

Lorena began competing in 1918 in Ladies Relay Racing and Saddle Bronc Riding. She quickly became a rodeo sensation winning many awards! For example, she won the Saddle Bronc title at Pendleton in 1919.

She won the Hotel McAlpin Trophy for the Cowgirl’s Relay Race in 1920 at Cheyenne and again as the Champion Woman Rider of the Year in 1921. You can actually see these awards in the American Rodeo Gallery at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Some of her other awards include winning the Denver Post’s Ladies’ Relay Race Cup in 1921, 1924 and 1926 at Cheyenne; the Girl’s Relay Race in 1923 at Pendleton; and the Bronc-Riding title at Chicago in 1925.

She worked for a time in Hollywood as a stunt double. Notably, she doubled for Mary Pickford and rode with Tom Mix. 

She married Magnus “Pete” Peterson in 1928 and they worked quicksilver claims around Nevada for several years. Lorena passed away in 1961 at Tonopah, Nevada. 

Lorena Trickey was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 2000. Additionally, she was inducted in to the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2004.

Newspaper Clippings

Y’all know how much I love doing research in the contemporary newspapers of the time. Check out some photos of Lorena Trickey below!

Concluding Thoughts

Lorena Trickey Peterson had an impressive career in the rodeo arena and her awards attest to her talents. I hope you enjoyed this post and will join me next time as we continue to uncover the stories of the American West.

I’ll talk to ya soon!

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Sources

“Arena Legacy: The Heritage of American Rodeo” by Richard C. Rattenbury. [Pages – 57-58]

Websites

“Lorena Trickey.” National Rodeo Hall of Fame. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

“Doubleday’s Cowgirls: Women in the Rodeo, Part 2.” National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

“Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame Inductees.” Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Newspapers

“Woman Champ Rider at Rodeo.” Los Angeles Evening Express (Los Angeles, California) December 17, 1920.

“Defends Her Title Against All Comers in Cheyenne Meet.” The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana) September 6, 1921.

“Girl Jockey, 23, From the West, Seeks More Worlds to Conquer, Asks Racing License in East.” The Evening World (New York, New York) June 20, 1922.

“News Events of the Day Seen Through the Eye of the Camera.” Palladium-Item (Richmond, Indiana) June 23, 1922.

“Scra-a-atch ‘im Cowboy! Its Frontier Days.” Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, Nebraska) July 2, 1922.

“Atta Girl.” The Enid Daily News (Enid, Oklahoma) July 7, 1922.

“Miss Lorena Trickey.” Nashville Banner (Nashville, Tennessee) July 30, 1922.

*All newspaper clippings in this blog post were pulled from newspapers.com. I am not affiliated with this website. I just wanted to let you know where I found my digitized sources.