Bill Pickett Link   HBTO

Bill Pickett—Bulldogger Champ

©2010 North Fort Worth Historical Society

Last Update: 12/30/2011

Pictured left is Bill Pickett, above top is Nat Love, then  Stagecoach Mary Fields and Bose Ikard on the right.

After Emancipation and the Civil War, thousands of Blacks went to work on the ranches throughout south and west Texas, and subsequently rode the cattle trails northward. It is estimated that 1/3 of all cowboys were either of Hispanic or African-American heritage.  Following the Civil War, freed slaves left their masters and plantations to make a new life for themselves. Many African Americans moved out west in hopes of buying land and settling down, and some even set up all-black communities.

However difficult and financially unrewarding it was to be a cowhand, for the former slaves it meant something entirely different.  There, men could build up a sense of self, earn wages to support their families, and realize their full potential as free men.  As one would imagine, some of the ranchers who employed African-Americans did not pay them as much as they paid white workers, and it is also obvious who the worst chores went to.  However, no amount of racial discrimination could discourage these men from earning the respect they deserved, whether it be because of their skills, or their courage.

One of the most impressive displays of skill and courage, and part of what gave cowboys their mystique, was their use of a lasso for roping calves and horses, and their talent at “breaking” these wild animals so they could be herded and put into the service of man.  In the late 1800s, black cowboys such as Nat Love would gain much respect and admiration for displaying such skills. Sometimes their talent would even spare them from those who “disagreed” with emancipation. 

William (Will, Bill) Pickett was a legendary cowboy from Taylor, Texas of black and Indian descent. He was born
December 5, 1870, at the Jenks-Branch community on the Travis County line. He died April 2, 1932, near Ponca City,
Oklahoma.

From 1905 to 1931, the Miller brothers’ 101 Ranch Wild West Show was one of the great shows in the tradition
begun by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody in 1883. The 101 Ranch Show introduced bulldogging (steer wrestling), an
exciting rodeo event invented by Bill Pickett, one of the show’s stars. Pickett performed at the Southwestern
Exposition and Fat Stock Show in North Fort Worth many times.

Known by the nicknames “The Dusky Demon” and “The Bull-Dogger,” Pickett gave exhibitions in Texas and
throughout the West. His performance in 1904 at the Cheyenne Frontier Days (America’s best-known rodeo)
was considered extraordinary and spectacular. He signed on with the 101 Ranch show in 1905, becoming a full-time
ranch employee in 1907. The next year, he moved his wife and children to Oklahoma.

Nat Love was born a slave in 1854, only 7 years before the beginning of the Civil War.  When his family was freed
from bondage, Nat Love was still a very young man, ready to start living a new life out west, where he heard he
could find work as a cowhand.

Love found work in Dodge City, Kansas, as part of a group of cowboys called the Duval outfit. It wasn’t long until
he began to show his talent as a cowboy, roping and herding cattle and learning to shoot his Colt .45 revolver. 
Love later reluctantly left his companions,  joining another outfit called the Pete Gallinger company, which
offered better pay.

At the age of 22, the now experienced Love showed off his skills at the 4th of July Roping contest in the town of
Deadwood, South Dakota. There, Nat Love impressed the crowds with his roping technique, setting the 9 minute
record, and earning the moniker “Deadwood Dick”.   One interesting detail here is that many others also shared that name,  which was taken from a popular series of adventure novels.  Love was proclaimed “Champion Roper of the Western Cattle Country”, and he would become the most famous Deadwood Dick in history, a name which he was proud of to the extent of defending it with his own life.

One of the most famous trail herders was Bose Ikard. Born a slave in Mississippi in 1847, Bose was brought to Texas when he was five years old by the Ikard family. Growing up on the frontier, he learned to ride, rope and fight. These skills made him a valuable cowhand. He rode with such cattlemen as Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving, John Chisum and John Slaughter as they went north from Texas with thousands of cattle over deserts, through Apache, Sioux and Comanche Indian territory, to army posts in the Wyoming ranges.

Other famous Black Cowboys during the late 19th century and early 20th century include Bass Reeves,  Jesse Stahl, Bob Lemmons, Daniel Wallace, Britton Johnson, Matthew Bones Hooks and Stagecoach Mary Fields to name a few.

The Bill Picket Bronze statue located in front of the Northside Coliseum located in the Historic Stockyards, Fort Worth, Texas