Category: Western History
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Breaking Trail: Jesse Stahl
“He sat on the back of a bucking horse as easy as you’d sit on a straight back chair.” Jesse Stahl was one of California’s best rodeo stars in the early twentieth century. He was a talented saddle bronc rider and steer wrestler. Stahl placed at or near the top…
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Breaking Trail: Nettie Hawn
Viola Janet “Nettie” Schiel was born around 1883 in Ohio. Her mother, Rachel Sprague was from Ohio and her father, Wendall Schiel was from Germany. She moved to Los Angeles at some point and married her first husband, Ralph Walter Long on November 22, 1900. She was 18 years old…
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Breaking Trail: Nan J. Aspinwall
Nan Jeanne Aspinwall was born in New York on February 2, 1880 to Oliver and Lena Aspinwall. Her family moved to Nebraska and she grew up in Liberty. Her parents were shopkeepers in town. She began working in vaudeville in her late teens to support herself. In 1899, she appeared…
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Breaking Trail: Bonnie Gray
Born in 1891, Verna Smith grew up loving horses. Her family lived in Kettle Fells, Washington on a ranch. Later in her life Verna would go by the name, “Bonnie Gray.” Bonnie went on to attend Moscow Idaho University completing her degree in music. She was a natural athlete and…
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