| Every July the sleek skyscrapers of Calgary look | | | | States. Skeptics had prophesied a flop, saying that |
| down on a colorfully chaotic scene as business | | | | the great days of ranching and cowboys were |
| suits give way to western outfits - Stetsons, blue | | | | over, and that the future belonged to the |
| jeans, bolo ties, and hand heeled boots - and | | | | sodbusters and their wheat crop. "All the more |
| citizens join genuine cowboys in a ten-day | | | | reason to stage a show," was Weadick's retort. |
| celebration of the city's cowtown heritage. Billed | | | | In fact, ranching survived while many |
| as the greatest outdoor show on earth, the | | | | homesteaders failed in the dry years of the Dirty |
| Calgary Stampede offers thrills galore: bronco | | | | Thirties. This first stampede was a great success, |
| busting, bull riding, steer wrestling, calf roping, and, | | | | with an estimated 40,000 spectators at a time |
| most heart-stopping of all, chuck-wagon racing. | | | | when Calgary counted only 60,000 inhabitants. A |
| Organized by American rodeo cowboy Guy | | | | special thrill was the subjugation of the legendary |
| Weadick, the very first stampede opened on | | | | black bronco Cyclone by the little-known rodeo |
| September 2, 1912, with a spectacular parade of | | | | rider Tom Three Persons, who outperformed |
| 1,0000 cowboys and 3,000 Indians in full | | | | established stars to win a purse of one thousand |
| ceremonial dress, as well as veterans of the early | | | | dollars. |
| days of the North West Mounted Police and even | | | | This was a great start for what has become the |
| survivors of the Riel Rebellion. Rodeo stars | | | | "greatest outdoor show on earth". |
| flocked in from all over Canada and the united | | | | |