Cattlemen's Days -- Watershed Team Roping & Barrel Racing

On Tuesday evening, we went in to Gunnison to watch Watershed Team Roping and Barrel Racing event, part of the 125th annual Cattlemen's Days. 

From what I had read, I knew that the "Watershed" events were featuring competitors from the ranches in the watershed -- the areas around Gunnison (as opposed to the PRCA rodeo events that were scheduled for later in the week which would have competitors across the rodeo circuit). I thought it would be interesting to see the local folks compete.

However, from the information online, it also indicated...

... "the Auction is at 5pm". What auction?

View of the arena from our seats in the grandstand

Sure enough, there was an auction... for each competitor in the barrel racing (~25) and then for each team in the team roping (104), there was bidding in an auction -- with final bids being from $10 to $500 (maybe more, I didn't listen the whole time). From what we understood, if you were the winning bidder on the racer or team that ended up winning (or maybe getting in the top 5), you got some of the pot raised by the bidding. The auction for the barrel racers went on for 45min-1hour, and then they let the barrel racing start. While it was going on, they proceeded with the bidding on the team roping. There were only about 20-30 people participating in the bidding, so many were bidding on multiple different competitors. 

We still aren't sure what this was used for -- was the money split with the winning competitors? Did some of the money go for other things in the community? A couple of people with whom we chatted said that it was a way to contribute to the community... but it wasn't clear how that was accomplished. Carl was watching more closely and told me that the lady in the dark shirt on the end of the bleacher row had bid several thousands of dollars in total. Carl wondered aloud if there was money laundering going on, and a neighboring audience member assured him that was not the case! I've spent a little time trying to find information online, and cannot find it -- my assumption was that it is a technique for betting on the competition (and gambling is not allowed), but we honestly have no idea!

Since we were sitting there for a long time waiting for the competition to begin (and the auction to complete), we started looking at things around... 

One thing we noticed was the big "W" on the mountain -- we have seen it from many places in town, and have heard locals refer to it as "W Mountain".

It seems that it was originally placed in 1923 by students (and faculty) of Western State College (now Western Colorado University). The "W" is about 2 acres in size, 400-425' high and across. (https://www.fox21news.com/fox21-news-we-are-gunnison-county/celebrating-a-century-of-the-w-on-tenderfoot-mountain-a-local-landmarks-legacy/)

From the Gunnison Times (https://www.gunnisontimes.com/articles/w-mountain/): 

One of the Western faculty members, John C. Johnson, suggested to four students that they outline a big “W” on Tenderfoot Mountain. They stood in the football field (then just west of Taylor Hall) and identified the best location on the mountain. Armed with bed sheets, they climbed the face of the mountain, fording Tomichi Creek, still swollen with melting snow. Arriving at the proposed location they pushed over four dead trees, propped them up with rocks, tied the sheets to them, and went back to campus to view their work. Deciding 300’ x 300’ was too small, they climbed up again and moved the sheets, marking a 400’ x 400’ square. A few days later, they went back with thousands of feet of string and outlined the “W”, creating four arms, each 16’ wide.

On May 23, 1923, President Samuel Quigley decreed a holiday. Most of the students and some of the faculty climbed the mountain to build the “W”, hand-carrying hundreds of rocks to the site. The next step was whitewashing, something that became an annual tradition. Since there was no road to the top, students carried a ton of lime and buckets up the mountain. They gathered snow in the trees, heated it in buckets over fires, and mixed in the lime. The students formed lines to the “W” and the buckets were passed person-to-person to be splashed over the rocks.

Initially, the “W” consisted of four straight lines. In 1932 rectangular blocks were added to the top of each line, making the dimensions 320’ x 420. At the time, it was believed to be twice as large as any letter in the world. According to Wikipedia, the “W” no longer has that distinction. Lassen High School and the University of Redlands, both in California, are larger. Western’s “W” is listed third.

Shortly after being built, the traditional homecoming lighting of the “W” began and continues today. To accomplish this, cotton is pre-soaked in diesel fuel and torches are created by securing cotton to long sticks. The drums of cotton are trucked up the mountain, along with eager students. After the large balls of cotton are placed on each arm of the “W”, the students are lined up along the arms. Starting at the top, the torches are lit and passed from person to person, lighting the cotton on the “W”. It is quite the spectacle!

So, that W is about 4 stories high!  

We had seen the "Y" above Provo, Utah, for Brigham Young University. In Arizona, there are often letters representing the nearby town ("Q" mountain near Quartzsite -- which we hiked up back in January, 2024: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2024/01/wednesday-off-road-trip-part-2.html).

Eventually, the barrel racing started...

It was good, though not as fast as I've seen at the Mesquite Rodeo in Texas.

We stayed through the end of the auction and beginning of the team roping. The team roping did not have many successful catches while we were there. You might wonder how there could be 104 teams -- it seemed that there were about 20-25 riders, and they paired up in different combinations to make 104 teams -- I haven't ever noticed that to be the case before. We neglected to get any pictures of the team roping.

We were glad to get to participate in a local activity, even though we didn't understand a lot of what went on!