Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 59 BIG SPREADS AND NOBILITY Wallace David Coburn was born on May 31, 1872 in North- east Montana, amongst one of the last and widest mixed-grass prairie landscapes in North America. His father, Robert Coburn Sr., founded the Coburn Circle C Ranch in 1886, raising Wallace on one of the three "big spreads" that owned or controlled most of the range in southern Philips County. One account described the Coburn ranch "spread larger than many a European principality." Some of the earliest references to Wallace are several old news- paper ads selling farm machinery and implements, including two placed in the June, 1899, issue of Choteau's e Montanian (spelled with an i)," encouraging readers to head down to the "big store of Wallace D. Coburn, successor to McLean Bros. & Coburn." An article in Fort Benton's e River Press newspaper on April 2, 1902 refers to an inquest into a murder on the Coburn ranch on Big Warm Springs Creek, where Wm. J. Allen was killed the previ- ous Sunday afternoon by Chas. Perry." e dilemma with Allen arose out of the fact that he and his father-in-law and another man named "Nosey" Clark were "tarred and feathered some eight or ten years ago by unknown parties while living on Big Warm Springs Creek, on the reservation, five miles above the Coburn ranch." ey always suspected that the Coburn boys (Wallace and his brother, Will) had some role in that. Allen proposed to Perry "that he should exercise his great influence with the Indians to get up a party in revenge, raid the Coburn ranches, massacre their owners and employees, and burn the buildings." Perry declined, and he educated Wallace and Will Coburn of Allen's vengeful proposition. During and prior to the inquest "about 150 Indians camped near the Coburn ranch, and it was found out later that they were there to protect Perry, who, they feared, would be killed by certain squaw men and their half-breed sons, who were incensed at the death of Allen." "RHYMES FROM A ROUND-UP CAMP" Coburn maintained a fine friendship with an equally highly romantic character, artist Charles Marion Russell. Russell and Coburn co-wrote the 1903 book Rhymes from a Round-up Camp, a cheery, lively, nostalgic collection of jingles, and odes of the "Wild West" which sold by thousands. In addition to his co-authorship, Russell illustrated the collection. An issue of Western American magazine published in the 1940s featured a photo of the pair and Charles Russell said: "Wallace D. Coburn is a blue-eyed, stalwart, laughter- loving lad with a face like a Galway Blazer and a smile that is worth going miles to see. Horseman of the plains, mighty hunter, ranchman, cowpuncher, scholar, wit and poet, he rounds out his career as a Westerner by being the only White Chief of the Assiniboine-Sioux, his tribal name being Peta-kooa-honga, which means Cowboy Chief." BISON MOTION PICTURE SHOW AT MALTA Coburn is said to have gone into the movie business for two reasons: because, like roping horses, it was exciting, and to preserve the proceedings and clothing and deportment of the West for generations to come. In the mid-1910s, Wallace opened the Bison Motion Picture Show at Malta. Co-owned with his wife, its walls were covered with many Indian relics and trophies, for Coburn from time to time was the grateful recipient of many rare and costly relics as an appreciation of "his kindness and sympathetic judgment toward the different tribes." In 1916, e Anaconda Standard described the Malta theater as "unique in that it is the only motion picture house in the United States whose walls, entrances, and lobbies are adorned with Indian replicas and trophies of the hunt of such antiquity and rarity." One was "a buffalo skin pouch carried by an Indian in the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805." Sacajawea, the noted scout, "may have fashioned it with her own hands." When Wallace Coburn's son, Robert, was born in 1902, the Indians remained in council three days debating upon a name that should be good enough for the son of their friend. ey decided upon Taton-ga-nosh, which interpreted is Standing Buffalo Bull. CONTINUED

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