Clayton Danks
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Clarence Clayton Danks (July 21, 1879 – June 23, 1970) was a three-time winner of Cheyenne Frontier Days, an outdoor
rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...
and
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celebration held each July in the
Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
capital city of
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. He is believed to be the
cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
of the widely-recognized Wyoming state
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, the
Bucking Horse and Rider The Bucking Horse and Rider (BH&R) is a registered trademark of the U.S. state of Wyoming. In 1936, Wyoming trademarked the image for the state's license plates. However, the state's usage of the logo can be traced back to as early as 1918. Wyom ...
.


Background

The son of John Danks (1844–1922) and the former Sarah Gregg (1845–1921), Danks was born in
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in Holt County in northern
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
, His ancestry is of English, Welsh, Scottish, German and Spanish. Clayton and his brother, James T. "Jimmie" Danks, were reared in Long Pine Canyon in Cherry County, also in northern Nebraska, where their father operated a
stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
station. Clayton and Jimmie subsequently worked on the Two Bar Ranch in Chugwater in Platte County, Wyoming, near Cheyenne. Clayton worked on the Iron Mountain Ranch, the Dumbell, the Chapman Ranch on the Sweetwater and the Reverse 4 Cattle Company before homesteading in Valentine in Cherry County. He later became a lawman serving 7 years as Chief of Police in Parco (now Sinclair) and sheriff of Fremont County for 16 years. He and his wife, the former Marie L. Fitger (1883–1980), had one child, whose name is not revealed in cemetery and birth records. Jimmie Danks and another brother, Harry, settled in
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
. A fourth brother made his home in Niobrara County in eastern Wyoming.


Rodeo career

In 1899, Danks began competing in rodeo. In 1904, at the age of twenty-five, he won the Cheyenne Frontier Days competition in
steer roping Steer roping, also known as steer tripping or steer jerking, is a rodeo event that features a Cattle#Terminology, steer and one mounted cowboy. Technique The steer roper starts behind a "barrier" - a taut rope fastened with an easily broken string ...
. In 1907, he tried to reclaim the title but failed. First, the steer rose before he could rope it, and on the second attempt, his rope broke. Danks hence entered the saddle bronc competition, and after a few setbacks he made it to the finals, where two horses Millbrook and Steamboat, were waiting for their riders. By a draw, Danks rode Millbrook, considered an easier horse than Steamboat, "the most ferocious bucker Frontier Days had ever seen." At the time the riders tried to stay on the horses until they stopped bucking and started to run. To Danks, the saddle that he won in 1907 was not a trophy, but a necessity of practical use. In 2008, Danks was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame, and a search was undertaken for his prize-winning saddle. Family members finally located the saddle at King's Saddlery and Museum in Sheridan, Wyoming, where it was obtained after much negotiation. In 2013, the saddle was donated to the
Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum The Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum is located in Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States. The museum was founded in 1978. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to interpreting, conserving and exhibiting the history and material cu ...
. The soon to be famous Steamboat of the Wyoming State logo was first ridden by Danks at Frontier Days in 1909. Danks was then working as a ranch hand on the 2-Bar Ranch in the Chugwater area, where Steamboat had been foaled in 1896. As of 2013, Ed Danks of Dunn Center in Dunn County in western
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is the only living family member who ever met Clayton Danks. "We know
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a law enforcement officer, and that he was a fair and honest competitor. It's nice to have a hero," said Ed Danks, in an interview with the ''
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''. Meanwhile, Danks family members have begun searching for another saddle which Clayton won when he rode Steamboat at the CFD in 1909. Foaled at Chugwater, where Danks had lived early in the 20th century, the black
gelding A gelding (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɛldɪŋ/) is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. The term is also used with certain other animals and livestock, such as domesticated Camelidae, camels. By compa ...
named Steamboat sustained a nose injury, which required removing a bone fragment from a nostril. As a result, the horse developed a sound which resembled the whistling of a steamboat whenever he bucked. The riders who could remain on Steamboat were certain to finish in the money. After Steamboat's death in 1914, Danks rued, "I think a part of the rodeo ended for me, too." Steamboat was inducted in 1975 into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in
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, and in 1979 into the
Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy was opened in August 1979 as a museum designed to "preserve the legacy of the cowboy contests, the heritage and culture of those original competitions, and the champions of the past, p ...
in
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. Danks died in 1970 shortly before his 91st birthday in
Thermopolis Thermopolis is the county seat and most populous town in Hot Springs County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town population was 2,725. Thermopolis, Greek for "hot city", is home to numerous natural hot springs, in which ...
in Hot Springs County in north central Wyoming. Clayton and Marie Danks are interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander in Fremont County in central Wyoming.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danks, Clayton 1879 births 1970 deaths Law enforcement officials from Nebraska People from O'Neill, Nebraska People from Platte County, Wyoming People from Valentine, Nebraska People from Thermopolis, Wyoming Ranchers from Wyoming American police officers Roping (rodeo) Saddle bronc riders