OklahomaHorses Magazine November 2022

Lucille Mulhall shows off her powerful roping skills. I n 1901, 15-year-old Lucille Mulhall roped five horses simultaneously during a horse show. For the lovely Oklaho- ma Territory gal with golden curls framing her sweet face, that jaw-dropping moment was a normal part of her extraordinary life. Lucille’s home was the amazing Mulhall Ranch of more than 80,000 acres near Guthrie, established by her father, Zack Mulhall. He owned more than 100 horses and ran thousands of head of cattle. Area residents renamed their town Mulhall in his honor. Mulhall Ranch welcomed guests such as Theodore Roo- sevelt, with whom Lucille became friends. And Lucille’s mentor and close friend was a young ranch hand, Will Rogers. With a bigger-than-life personality and lifestyle, Lucille adored her ranch and entertainment worlds. Her father consid- ered the very young Lucille to be his best ranch hand. She rode bucking horses and roped everything. And although thousands of adoring international fans revered her as a feminine, glamor- ous entertainer, Lucille roped eight running range horses at one time, threw steers, busted broncs, and branded cattle. She was also an accomplished horse trainer who broke and trained her horses to become top ranch horses and well-trained performers. Fans went crazy over Lucille’s horse Governor Ferguson, affectionately known as Governor and the Wonder Horse. Naming him after Oklahoma Territorial Governor Thompson Benton Ferguson, Lucille worked daily with Governor. He picked up a wooden-handled dinner bell and swung his head to make the bell ring. He sank onto his back legs to sit upright like a dog. Governor also played lame, bowed to audiences, danced to music, and walked on his knees. Champion Rodeo Performer Lucille Mulhall, born October 21, 1885 (some sources say 1886), likely in Saint Louis, Missouri, to Mary Agnes and Zack Mul- hall, arrived in Oklahoma Territory by age four. Her father, aka Colonel Mulhall, was a very colorful character with an unorthodox lifestyle. Regardless, he raced thoroughbred horses, operated his mushrooming ranch, and organized his popular traveling Wild West show — Mulhall’s Congress of Rough Riders and Ropers. Stories tell that Mulhall plopped Lucille onto a saddle before she walked. That doesn’t seem far-fetched, considering that she was a superb roper by age eight. In his 1999 book The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West, author Michael Wallis writes, “Schooled by stern nuns in two convents, Lucille, as described in 1900 by a New York journalist, could ‘play Chopin, quote Brown- ing, construe Virgil, and make mayonnaise dressing’.... When it came to rodeoing, Lucille had no equal. Elegantly clad in boots, Best Horsewoman in America Lucille Mulhall Drew Crowds to Oklahoma by Carol Mowdy Bond Photos courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society 20 OklahomaHorses • November / December 2022