Yesterday we went up to the 101 Ranch in 
Ponca City, OK. We met Jerry Koch from Redmond, OR. He was in Tulsa for a gun show. While he was at the gun show he met the president of the Old Timers Assoc for the 101 Ranch and arranged for him to meet us and give us a tour of the museum and what’s left of the ranch. Ansel had told Jerry a few stories about the 101 Ranch, so he made the connection for us to meet him.
Back in the 20’s and 30’s the 101 Ranch was a booming enterprise, sporting it’s own General Store and Dairy. They put on Wild West Shows, traveling all around the country and had a variety of exotic animals there on the ranch.
Ansel’s connection to the ranch was mostly through Harry Walters, his brother in law. Harry was married to Vivian, Ansel’s older sister. Harry was a world champion bronc rider and he worked for the 101 starting colts and training race horses for them. Bill Picket, world champion bull dogger also worked on the ranch and is buried there also.
What Ansel described, reminded me of the opening scene in the movie The Virginian… He said that when they were starting a horse, they would snub him to a post, hobble him and put a saddle on, take the hobbles off, and Harry would step on as the horse was jumping away from him beginning to buck.
Ansel remembered Bill Picket, the first black cowboy to win a worlds championship. While he was working for the 101, the ranch owners matched him for competition in Mexico to bull dog a Mexican steer. During the exposition, the Mexican fighting bull gored Bill Pickett’s horse. He took the horse back to stall and cleaned the wound, feed the horse for the night. The next morning the horse was down with a raging infection in the wound. Pickett contemplated putting the horse down, but the Mexican stable had said, “no sir, I fix senor’s horse. He left and came back with a bunch of over ripe bananas. Everyone watched in disbelief as the Mexican stuffed the hole in the horse’s chest with raw over ripe bananas… The next morning the infection was gone, the horse was on his feet and good as new.
Ponca City, OK. We met Jerry Koch from Redmond, OR. He was in Tulsa for a gun show. While he was at the gun show he met the president of the Old Timers Assoc for the 101 Ranch and arranged for him to meet us and give us a tour of the museum and what’s left of the ranch. Ansel had told Jerry a few stories about the 101 Ranch, so he made the connection for us to meet him.Back in the 20’s and 30’s the 101 Ranch was a booming enterprise, sporting it’s own General Store and Dairy. They put on Wild West Shows, traveling all around the country and had a variety of exotic animals there on the ranch.
Ansel’s connection to the ranch was mostly through Harry Walters, his brother in law. Harry was married to Vivian, Ansel’s older sister. Harry was a world champion bronc rider and he worked for the 101 starting colts and training race horses for them. Bill Picket, world champion bull dogger also worked on the ranch and is buried there also.What Ansel described, reminded me of the opening scene in the movie The Virginian… He said that when they were starting a horse, they would snub him to a post, hobble him and put a saddle on, take the hobbles off, and Harry would step on as the horse was jumping away from him beginning to buck.
Ansel remembered Bill Picket, the first black cowboy to win a worlds championship. While he was working for the 101, the ranch owners matched him for competition in Mexico to bull dog a Mexican steer. During the exposition, the Mexican fighting bull gored Bill Pickett’s horse. He took the horse back to stall and cleaned the wound, feed the horse for the night. The next morning the horse was down with a raging infection in the wound. Pickett contemplated putting the horse down, but the Mexican stable had said, “no sir, I fix senor’s horse. He left and came back with a bunch of over ripe bananas. Everyone watched in disbelief as the Mexican stuffed the hole in the horse’s chest with raw over ripe bananas… The next morning the infection was gone, the horse was on his feet and good as new.
Sadly all that's left of this glorious ranch are piles of cement rubble. Except for the silos, and cement foundationis, you really can't see very he did that.
April 7, 2008: Sorry no words for tonight, all is well, we are in Lyons, KS and having a severe, I mean severe thunder and lightning storm and don't want to chance messing up my computer.
April 7, 2008: Sorry no words for tonight, all is well, we are in Lyons, KS and having a severe, I mean severe thunder and lightning storm and don't want to chance messing up my computer.
