04/03/2025
LEE CALDWELL, 1914, on Flying Devil at the Miles City (Montana) Round-Up. Caldwell, a 19 year old lad from Oregon, was Montana State Rodeo Champion that year. Flying Devil was pointed toward the lower left corner of the image at the start of his backward twisting leap! In 1920, Caldwell would ride in the Round-Up with a broken arm, fortifying his reputation as one of the all-time great bronc riders.
During May 1914, photographer M.B. ‘Doc’ Marcell opened a studio in Miles City at the northeast corner of 8th and Main Streets. After capturing stunning captures at the town’s July rodeo, Marcell sold his gallery, a business strategy that he used in at least 20 towns. The photo of Lee Caldwell has my nomination as the greatest rodeo capture to that date, 1914. Text and digital restoration of photo by Gary Coffrin. Click image to enlarge/clarify if using a PC.
- Historical background -
Lee Caldwell described just how bad Flying Devil was in the book “Let’er Buck.” Caldwell pointed to the extreme southwest corner of the photo and said: “You see this is where he was when he started this buck, but facing the other way — you see how he is and how he is facing now. He is the only horse I ever rode that could apparently jump straight backward as far as he could forward.”
“I consider him the hardest horse I ever rode. You see it isn’t the horse that sunfishes or twists that makes it hardest for one to ride, it’s the punishment he gives the rider. Flying Devil was an outlaw and came from a mountain range either in Montana or Idaho and I consider mountain-bred horses the strongest."
"There was practically no direction he would not go. You know a bucking horse’s muscles will indicate his action. If he is going to sunfish to the right, for instance, his muscles will contract accordingly and give you the cue. But he didn’t. He was all pure strength and speed — every move he made was just so sudden, there was no spring, no cue.”
= My favorite Lee Caldwell Story =
The tale, unverified, was from a person who reportedly heard the account from his grandfather.
The five Caldwell brothers staked homesteads on the little Deschutes River in what is now Deschutes County, Oregon. Lee Caldwell was walking down a street in Bend. An Indian was standing with a bullet in his leg. Lee walked into the office and told the doctor a man was standing outside needing help. The doctor said: "I'm not a veterinarian!"
Lee pulled a 45 c**t, shot him in the leg, and said: "Now you know what it feels like."
The doctor retrieved the bullet out from the Native man's leg. Story goes that the doctor carried that bullet to the end of his days. Also, he never turned down another person in need.❤️❤️❤️
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