Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 2 46 Being a Black man in this post-Civil War world was not al- ways easy. According to research from the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, it was typical of Proc not to eat with the other men. He took his food and sat off by himself. He would al- ways accept company but never initiated it, possibly a habit learned in youth. A more volatile incident occurred after his group finished shipping the cattle and headed for a drink at a nearby saloon, inviting a cowboy from Texas to join them. The courteous in- vitation turned into a tussle when the Texan rudely refused to drink with Proc. The respect Proc earned in the eyes of those who knew him was summed up in his 1938 obituary: "Though of a dif- ferent race, the tolerant, generous-minded folks of the West accorded the late Mr. Proctor every consideration and cour- tesy and kindly disposition and gentlemanly traits of charac- ter served to implant in the minds of who knew him that their confidence in, and esteem for, him were never misplaced." MARIE "MA" GIBSON With a father who owned a livery stable, Marie Gibson worked with horses all of her life but was still an unlikely bronc and trick rider for her time. Launching into adulthood as a bride at 16, and a mother shortly afterwards, Marie's first few years were filled with marital and parental obligations. Yet, after the couple's mar- riage fell apart, she found her calling working with horses once again, winning third place in horse racing at the Great Northern Montana Stampede in 1917, her professional de- but. She earned the World Champion Cowgirl Bronc Rider title at Madison Square Garden a decade later. She amazed audiences on the rodeo circuit traveling throughout the United States, Canada, and the United King- dom. While performing at the Tex Austin's International In- vitational Rodeo in London, the Prince of Wales, eventually crowned King Edward VIII, gifted her with a prize horse as a token of his admiration of her riding skills. Marie described some of her tricks, as documented in the book Cowgirl Up: A History of Rodeo Women by Heidi Thom- as. "Standing up on the saddle, going under (the horse's) belly at full speed, going under its neck, laying across his neck with hands and feet free… The Russian drag, hanging with one foot, your head and hair dragging at full speed." Her life was riddled with severe injuries. Her last ride was a successful run on a bronc. When the pickup man rode in, her bronc was still going at it full speed. The two collided, sending her horse to the ground. The im- pact fractured her skull, and she died within hours at the much-too-young age of 38. LIBBY "CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA" COLLINS Libby Collins was born in 1844 in Illinois. The Collins fam- ily were true pioneers, eventually landing in Colorado be- fore a devastating flood prompted 17-year-old Libby and her brother to work for a cattle outfit that traveled from Denver north to the Missouri River. Working as a cook for a 100-wag- on train between Denver and the Missouri River, she made a dozen trips across the plains, experiencing every hardship this wild land could muster. Arriving in Virginia City in 1863, she moved between min- ing towns. At Canyon Creek, she met Nathanial Collins, a former vigilante and silver miner. They married in 1864 and built their own cattle operation. Moving to the Teton River near Old Agency in 1877, she befriended the local Blackfeet, and with her training in nursing, tended to many of the sick in this remote area. As their cattle operation grew, they moved near the Bell- view area outside of Choteau, and unlike other producers, directly shipped their cattle to the Chicago market. Unfortu- nately, by the second year, her husband could not physically accompany the shipment. Libby stepped up to the task. From a newspaper report noted in her write-up as the 2012 inductee in the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, "Mrs. Nat Collins has earned for herself the distinction of being the first and only lady in Montana to raise, ship, and accompany the train bearing her stock to the Chicago market and per- sonally superintend the unloading of the animals and their sale, and throughout the length and breadth of the land she is known as 'The Cattle Queen of Montana.'" " For Montana, Cowboys have always been diverse." LIBBY COLLINS PHOTO COURTESY COLLINS - SALMOND FAMILY

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