1929
25th Anniversary Round Up

 

 

Native American Involvement in the 101 Ranch

By Al Ritter

It is very likely that without the involvement and cooperation of various local and national Indian tribes, the 101 Ranch which operated from 1893 to 1936, could have been as successful as it once was.

Having been acquainted with the Ponca Tribe prior to its relocation to present day Kay County, Oklahoma, the Miller family developed a long standing relationship with the tribe and its leaders, notably Chief White Eagle ( 1835-1914) and former war chief, Little Standing Buffalo. According to early day Ponca City resident, Corb Sarchet in a published account from 1929, “No Indian ever went hungry; none was ever in want of anything if the Millers knew it. They participated in the Indian powwows, taught them how to plant and harvest, preached their funerals, saw that they had school houses, worked out their business difficulties and were brothers in every sense.”

Colonel George W. Miller and son Joe Miller were instrumental in tribal movement from temporary quarters near Baxter Springs, Kansas in 1879 to near the convergence of the Salt Fork and Arkansas Rivers where they remain today.

Under lease agreements with both the Ponca and the Otoe Tribes, the 101 Ranch began its growth to more than 100,000 acres of agricultural and grazing land. In 1903, the Miller family paid the Ponca and Otoe $32,500 annual rental fees for much of the 50,000 acres then comprising the ranch. Needless to say, that amount of money in 1903 was a significant sum.

Success of the 101 Ranch was directly related to good relationships with the five area tribes, the Ponca, Tonkawa, Otoe, Osage and Kaw. Without Native American cooperation, it is doubtful the ranch would have grown to its international standing as America’s largest diversified farm and ranch.

Long time Chief White Eagle of the Ponca Tribe was a friend to the Miller family and a principle tribal chief after Chief Standing Bear's tenure.

Native Americans played a significant role in the ranch’s entertainment venue. When the Miller Brothers launched their touring 101 Ranch Wild West in 1907, Native Americans were featured members of the performing cast. Native American scholar Rennard Strickland once said, “Oklahoma Indians have historically loved to perform, to play and dance for themselves or crowds, to ‘play Indian’.”

From the time the 101 Ranch Wild West Show began touring in 1907 until it closed in Washington, D.C. in August of 1931, it had toured vast amounts of the United States, Mexico, South America and Europe. Generally cast as defenders of their ancient life styles battling against the white man’s incursion during America’s frontier days, an amazing amount of Native Americans performed in the traveling shows and later 101 Bison film productions. These included Ponca, Otoes, Osage, Kaw, Pawnee, Cheyenne, Winnebago, Kiowas, Comanches, Arapaho, Tonkawa, Apaches and Sioux.

A short list of notable Native Americans once associated with the 101 Ranch must include the likes of the fierce Mescalero Apache Geronimo who appeared during 1905 in the company of Edward Le Clair Sr., a Ponca tribal leader. Former high chief of the Sioux, Lone Bear who was present at General George Custer’s ill fated Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876 was involved in early day movie making by the 101 Ranch Bison Films Company in the early 1900’s.

Another 101 Ranch Bison film player, Luther Standing Bear, a Dakota Sioux who worked as a movie extra and actor in movie production became known as an expert archery marksman. Iron Tail of the Ogallala Sioux toured with the 101 Ranch Wild West Shows and credited by the Millers with having his profile featured on the U.S. minted 1913 Indian Head Buffalo nickel. Ponca Chief Good Boy played an important part in the 1927 tribal wedding of Joe Miller and Mary Verlin.

Like everyone else associated with the ‘Fabulous Empire’ that was once the 101 Ranch, these original Americans have long since passed into the spirit world.

Today, their absence does nothing to diminish their contribution to helping establish a legacy, either real or imagined that was once the 101 Ranch and the frontier days of America.