Winnemucca, NV; Two Oregon buckaroos, Dallas "Dally" Givan and Terry Cahill along with Ervin Thompson from northern Nevada will be inducted into the Buckaroo Hall of Fame over Labor Day Weekend. In conjunction with the annual Buckaroo Heritage Art Roundup. Friday, September 1, a social gathering for the honorees, family and friends at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2, induction ceremony at noon, including speakers, stories and reception. All events held at the Buckaroo Hall of Fame located at the East Hall Convention Center.
Terry Cahill Biography
Terry Cahill
Terry Cahill was born in Lakeview, Oregon on November 15, 1928 to William and Ellen McManus Cahill. His father William was an immigrant from Brosna, County Kerry Ireland who came to New York in 1900 at the age of 17 and worked his way across the United States.
In 1912, William arrived in Fort Bidwell California He became a gold prospector, seeking employment and a possible stake in the High Grade mines, high above Ft. Bidwell in the Warner mountains.
In early 1913, William left the High Grade mines and went to work on the ranch of Hugh and Margeret McManus , immigrants from County Lietrim, Ireland, and pioneer settlers in Fort Bidwell. While at the McManus Ranch, he courted their daughter Ellen and married her in Alturas, California on December 2, 1913.
In 1914, William and Ellen Cahill took over the portion of the McManus ranch in Adel, Oregon that would become the Cahill Ranch. Eight children were born to them: Hugh, James, Maurice, Margaret, George, Bob, Anna and Terry, the youngest.
Terry grew up on the ranch in Adel and learned all the aspects of ranching-- horses, cattle and buckarooing. He developed his skills as a rancher and his abilities as a good hand with a horse under the influence of his brother Hugh and his uncle, Jay McManus.
There were three family tragedies during Terry’s boyhood. His brother Maurice died in 1935 and his father died in 1937, when Terry was 8 years old. The third tragedy came when, his brother James, a lieutenant serving on a B-24 bomber in the South Pacific, was shot down and killed during World WarTwo.
In Lee Juillerat’s book, “Ranchers and Ranching”, Terry remembered that when he was a young boy the family traveled to Fort Bidwell or Lakeview once every six months, There, the family stocked up on flour, sugar and other staples and “set up for the winter, because you may not get to town for a long spell.”
Terry graduated the eighth grade from the Adel School and did not move on to high school. He said: “I didn’t want to go to school. I wanted to go buckarooing, get a ‘horeseback.” He returned to the family ranch where he worked for his mother, Ellen, and with his brothers Hugh, Bob, and George throughout the 1940’s.
In 1948, he left the ranch for two or three years to work on the neighboring MC Ranch as a buckaroo for Ross Dolarhide Sr. He had a great amount of respect for Ross Dollarhide and saw him as a major influence in his development as a buckaroo.Terry often talked about the good times he had as a desert buckarro.
Beginning in March each year, the MC took around 12,000 cows and calves to the desert. The summer was filled with gathering and moving the cattle along, and branding thousands of calves. During the time on the desert, the MC buckaroos had a broad expanse of land to cover, up to 850,000 acres.
In order to manage the cattle, the MC Ranch had a chuck wagon and a cavietta of horses that would move with them from location to location. There were some nights sleeping under the stars when they were on their way to the cattle camps-- Beatys Butte, Sagehen, Gooch Camp, and Acty Camp where they stayed most of the time.
Beginning in September, the buckaroos would begin gathering and herding the cattle back to Adel where they would sort, process and sell calves. At that time, cattle trucks weren’t available, so cattle were moved 35 miles to Lakeview and shipped by rail. This required a four day cattle drive, setting up overnight camps along the way.
During the winter months, Terry, Clevon Dixon and the other buckaroos spent their time breaking colts to restock the MC cavietta. This continued after Terry returned to the family ranch. He would feed Cahill cattle in the morning, and assist Clevon Dixon with breaking colts in the afternoon.
Terry remembered his experiences at the MC Ranch with great pride and joy, and developed lifelong friendships with the buckaroos he worked with side by side. Many of his closest buckaroo friends are inductees of the Buckaroo Hall of Fame, including Merv Takacs, Ross Dollarhide, Clyde Reborse, Clevon Dixon, Ernie Messner, and his brother, Hugh Cahill.
Terry returned to the home ranch in 1951, and partnered with his brothers until his Mother’s passing in 1955. In 1956, Terry married Martha Fee from Fort Bidwell. Martha was from a long standing cattle ranching family. Over the course of seven years Martha and Terry had four sons; Will, Hugh, Joe and Frank.
His years as a buckaro never diminished on the Cahill Ranch. The ranch encompassed three separate grazing permits that kept him constantly horesback. The yearly routine would include turning out during March and April, at some point moving cattle to adjacent allotments during the summer, and then gathering and returning to Adel in late September.
In addition to the cattle aspect of the Cahill Ranch, Terry and Martha raised registered Quarter Horses. Usually in March of each year the mares would foal. The colts were weaned in January, brought to the ranch and halter broke.
Terry was an accomplished hand with a horse, breaking horses, riding them in the snaffle bit, hackamore, and then bridle. He was also known to be able to ride and stay on bucking horses, in addition to being an excellent roper, catching any calf or horse.
The buckaroo cow camp experience was a twice yearly event with the Cahill Ranch.The Cahill’s ran in common with the Schadler, Carey, and Fee ranches on the Fremont National Forest. During the spring and fall cattle gatherings, the ranchers would camp in a large cabin on the forest called Barley Camp, five nights in the spring, seven nights in the fall. It was always an enjoyable experience for Terry and all the other buckaroos.
As a rancher, Terry did all the expected chores that make up ranching, fencing, haying, irrigating and feeding. His wife Martha partnered with him in the general operations and business decisions of the ranch, and she was the main force behind the financial aspects.
The family engaged with sixteen other ranchers in 1992 to purchase the MC Ranch from George Gillette.The purchase was a very historical time for Adel and the ranching families. It enabled all ranchers involved to significantly enlarge their operations by purchasing pieces of the MC ranch that also included the desert property and BLM permits. It was a bold experiment that succeeded and benefited the family ranches and the community itself.
Terry was always known for saying: It doesn’t cost anything to say hello to someone.” This was a motto he truly believed in. No matter who the person was or their station in life, he always had a hearty hello and friendly conversation to go with it. Terry and Martha were always welcoming hosts at their home, with coffee, a meal or other beverages. Terry loved to visit, especially when former MC buckaroos would come around, or friends he grew up with in Adel. Many times his opening line was: “Come on in and we’ll some trade lies.”
In addition to his pride in his abilities as a rancher and buckaroo, he was especially proud of his Irish heritage. It was his goal throughout his life to go Ireland to return to the family farm that his father came from. With coaxing from his wife Martha, he accomplished his goal in 1992 of returning to the family farm in Brosna, County Kerry. He had the time of his life, he saw the places that he had heard of most of his life from the Irish immigrants in Lake County. He also had great fun with his Irish cousins who showed him a wonderful time.
In his last years, he was interviewed by Lee Juillerat of the Herald and News in Klamath Falls. He told Lee: “I kinda of like the cowboying end of it. Just like to ride, break horses.” The hard riding he left to his sons. “Too damn old to wriggle around on them anymore. They got quicker than me.” he laughed. He then told Lee: You might write, “He doesn’t do anything now. The boys do it.”
Terry passed away on November 24, 2000 at the age of 72.
Dallas Gordon Givan
1899 – 1982
“Dally”
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Dallas Givan
His given name was Dallas Gordon Givan, but he was called “Dally” by those who knew him, and by those who simply knew about him. Dally Givan was born September 4, 1899 in Lakeview, Oregon. His parents were James Newton Givan and Dora Ellen Rambo Givan. Dally was born a cowboy and he left the world a cowboy. His skill for riding and roping was hard to beat. He became known at rodeos and round-ups throughout the country as “the greatest pickup man that ever was.”
His older brother was Ernest Truman Givan and his sister’s name was Hazel Olive Givan. Dally called his brother, “Ern.” It is clear in reviewing Dally’s life that he and his brother shared a close bond. According to stories written and told by Dally, Ern could ride any bronc around. When he was ready to come off, he would holler to Dally, “come and get me.” Dally became expert at crowding his horse close for Ern to grab hold. Later, at the rodeos, Dally would give bronc riders a turn around the arena, in front of the grandstand, while crowds clapped, whooped, and whistled. For many years Dally rode a horse he named “Stinger;” he and Stinger became local favorites with rodeo crowds.
Ern Givan, Hazel Givan, Dally Givan, and his half-sister, Daisy Overton, were partially raised in the Warner Valley, near Adel, in the far eastern section of Lake County, Oregon. They attended school in a “little house on the hill ...” Dally wrote fondly of his school days in Adel and about Warner Valley dances. One person would get on the telephone line to announce a dance on Saturday night and everyone in the community showed up. The telephone line, according to Dally, was the top barbwire on the fence. They pulled out the staples and wrapped rubber around the wire before replacing the staples.
Dally and Ernie grew up working cattle, riding, and breaking horses. Their half-brother, Plummer Overton, did likewise and rode broncs with the best. As Dally approached the latter part of his life, he took pencil in hand and wrote his story in a spiral-bound notebook. His story included every person who played a significant role in his life: father, mother, brothers, sisters, wives, and children. Weaving throughout his relationship with each one of those individuals is a theme of cattle and horses intermixed with adventures and ranch schemes that make fictional novels pale in comparison.
During Dally’s youth the Givan family leased a ranch north of Beatty, Klamath County, Oregon, near Gearhart Mountain. Dally wrote that land in the Warner Valley area used by the Givan family was overgrazed by sheep and drove them out. Moving cattle and horses from the desert country of Warner Valley to timbered mountains was a different experience. He wrote about moving seven hundred head of strung-out cattle, how the track over mountains and through steep canyons was too rough for the chuckwagon filled with their bedrolls and groceries, and so they sent it around by road. When the cattle arrived at Finley Corrals on Gearhart Mountain the chuckwagon was there with the cook waiting and ready for them.
In 1915 the Givan family took turns going to San Francisco as they attended the World’s Fair. The wonders of city life were quite exciting for desert cowboys. He told how they spent most of the first night trying to blow out an electric light. When they failed, they went to sleep and left the darned thing burning! Dally and Ern never ceased to relate the wonder of being in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve.
While they were living in the Bly area of Klamath County, Oregon, Dally rode hell bent for leather one day to save a man who was falsely accused of horse stealing. Dally’s father, Jim Givan, got word that the fellow was about to be hung by a high-strung group who decided to take the law in their own hands. Dally arrived close behind the lynch party to cut the man down and managed to keep him alive. It was a good thing, because the sheriff rode into the Givan ranch the next day and told them, “I am glad you cut him down and saved his life, if he had of died, I would of sent the whole bunch to the penitentiary.”
Dally was part of a group of ranchers and cowboys near Bly who organized a Round-Up over the Fourth of July in 1920. He wrote about the open-air dance hall they hastily constructed, how they charged ten cents a dance and cleared the floor with ropes between dances. He wrote, “they danced all night for three nights and drank moonshine whiskey.” Dally, along with other members of the newly organized Bly Round-up Association, trailed eighty-five head of their good bucking stock over the mountain to Lakeview, Oregon’s first round-up held on Labor Day Weekend of that same year.
Over the years Dally became a constant at Lakeview Round-Up. Later, in 1940, that event officially became Lake County Round-Up. In 1969, on his seventieth birthday, Dally Givan and Everett Bell won the old-time riata roping contest for cowboys over the age of sixty-five. They received a trophy and certificate commemorating the golden anniversary of Lake County Round-up. Dally once took second place in single-steer roping at Pendleton Round-Up. During his rodeo years Dally drove and took first place in those once colorful and wild chariot races. For most of his life Dally Givan’s name was synonymous with rodeo.
Later in his youth Dally returned to Adel and rode for the MC Ranch. It did not last long, however, as Dally and another rider came upon a young Irish sheepherder who had made an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide. Although they were able to save the young man the thought and picture of the incident remained with young Dally so vividly that he quit the MC and returned to his family at Bly. He resumed school at Bly for a short time.
Dally Givan was married several times. After his second failed marriage, he remained working for ranches in the Bly, Oregon area for a few years. It was hard going, however, because he was financially ruined by the divorce decree, left with only a horse and saddle. For a short time, he worked for the ZX Ranch. Later he was employed by the Klamath Indian Agency. He issued cattle to Klamath Indians on the reservation through a system called the “Relieving Cattle Fund.” He worked for the Agency seventeen years. Eventually Dally married a woman who was a member of the Klamath Tribe. When the Klamath Indian Reservation was liquidated by the federal government his wife’s failing health caused them to move to a lower elevation found in western Oregon, near Springfield, until her death.
Dally returned to eastern Oregon where he ranched near Beatty and then Bonanza, Oregon. It was during this time that he remarried. Dally’s last child, a son named Ernest James Givan, was born on Dally’s sixty-seventh birthday.
Dally wrote that he missed Lakeview Round-Up only twice in his life. Once was late in his life, caused by a conflict with another event. The first time he missed Lakeview Round-up happened in 1924 when he worked for the ZX Ranch. They were moving 10,000 head of cattle to Tulelake, California. As their outfit moved down well-traveled roads Dally, knowing the route better than others because he had lived in the vicinity for many years, rode in the lead to slow traffic. A cook-wagon was pulled by six mules. Behind the cook-wagon came a bed-wagon loaded with beds, tents, and suitcases. The bed-wagon was pulled by four mules. Behind the bed-wagon came the wrangler, or in the vernacular of cowboys, the “rango” boy with seventy-five head of horses.
To be able to read Dally Givan’s story written in his own hand, and owned by his son, is to read a treasure of western cowboy life. Without any attempt to do so on his part his story becomes that of a long-gone western breed of men who were true to themselves, their families, and a way of life that most likely will never return.
Dally Givan lived out the last few years of his life in Cedarville, California. He passed away in June of 1982 and was laid to rest in the IOOF Cemetery in Lakeview, Oregon.
Ervin Dale Thompson
Ervin Dale Thompson
Ervin Dale Thompson was born on June 20, 1931 in Amelia, Nebraska. He was the second of five children and from the start he knew something certain, he loved horses and wanted to be a cowboy. His grandfather Charles Thomas had a farm and Ervin spent his earliest days caring for the horses there and learning to ride. He revered his Uncle Leon and Leon’s “using” horse Darkie. An early picture shows Ervin and his cousins on Darkie in 1934. He noted that those were the days when a horse had to do anything it took to get the job done, and he was impressed that Darkie was an old pro under saddle or harness.
His folks were forced to leave Nebraska for Washington State during the depression in search of work. His dad felt lucky to land a job with a paper mill in Sedro Woolley, WA, that is where Ervin and his siblings grew up and went to high school. Ervin’s passion remained horses and as he grew up, he worked at farms and ranches in the area. After graduating he hired on at the Maggie Creek Ranch in Northern Nevada under cow boss Tom Price. Ervin loved the style and tradition of the buckaroo and made it his own, quickly becoming a top ranch hand. Unlike most men who were nominated for induction to the Buckaroo Hall of Fame, Ervin was not born to the life of a buckaroo or Great Basin ranching. It was a tradition that he saw, admired and made his own.
Just as Ervin seemed to be hitting his stride as a buckaroo, the Korean War broke out and he was drafted. He spent the war as a medic and saw so much bloody action that he described having many issues (most likely PTSD) to overcome, after the fighting ended. His wife Helen later noted that he slept outside in a tent for a time after his return.
He hired on with Stanley Ellison Ranching Company in 1955. He worked between the Spanish Ranch and Squaw Valley Ranch for about one year. There, he spent his time, polishing his skills, enjoying the Great Basin and recovering from his traumatic experiences in Korea.
Ervin also took time to visit his family in Washington State and met Helen McLaughlin, a beautiful and vivacious, blue eyed nursing student who would become his wife in 1956. To make ends meet while she was finishing her nurses’ training, Ervin hired on at a large mink ranch outside of Spokane. He spent two years herding the furry weasels instead of cattle, but when Helen finished her training they wasted no time in loading up and moving to Northern Nevada where Ervin took a job at Ellison’s White House Ranch. There, Ervin was in his element, raising and training young horses, riding, and eventually managing the operation for over 25 years. It was no small job, and at its peak, the White House Ranch had 6000 -7000 head of cattle to take care of for Ellison Ranches. The people he looked up to and respected during those days included the Stanley Ellison family, Elmer Nunes, Mark Cowley, Tom Price, Al Patterson, Lyle Ellison, Tom Marvel.
Never giving up on his dream of being a buckaroo in the Great Basin, he saved his money and in the mid 1960's he ordered himself a custom saddle from renowned builder, Ray Holes from Grangeville, Idaho. The saddle was a classic 3B, 3/4 flat plate single rigging 4 inch cantle with a 15 1/2 inch seat and it also had acorn and oak leaf deeply carved. He had tapaderos for riding outside in tall brush and bucking rolls for riding colts. His saddle was admired for its beautiful acorn and oak leaf carving and style. According to Buckaroo Hall of Fame founder Carl Hammond, other area men went on to order Ray Holes saddles after seeing Ervin's.
He and Helen had four sons and three daughters (Stanley, Cheryl, Mike, Danny, Kathleen, Nancy and Ted) all in close succession. Helen recalled the challenges of raising the large family on their salary of $225 a month. It took Ervin, Helen and most of the kids to get the job done. The boys and Kathleen were known to put in over twenty miles rides along with their dad to bring in cattle from the desert, Squaw Valley and the Clover Ranches. They sorted and exchanged stock each fall with outfits like Hammond Ranches Inc., 25 Ranch, Buckingham's, Circle A and the Ninety-Six Ranch from Paradise Valley as well as big Elko& Humboldt County operations like the YP, CS Ranches, IL Ranch and Allied Land & Cattle. Helen recalls that the whole family kept warm with hand me down jackets, as Ervin got one winter coat a year at Christmas from Ellison Ranching. She was one happy ranch wife as his responsibility and salary increased.
Ervin was a superior horseman who took all his young horses through to bridle by way of a hackamore and two rein training. His favorite horses were geldings named Cocoa, Scottie, Shadow and Chubby. He spent many a year gathering, parting, and branding on them.
Ervin started some horses for Ellison, whose breeding program was based at the Spanish Ranch. He was also allowed to breed and build horses for himself. Ervin bought an outstanding Morgan stud out of Utah, who produced many fine ranch horses out of him. Carl Hammond recalled that when 500 - 1,000 head would be gathered at Hammond's Red House Ranch each fall, Ervin would always show up to represent Ellison Ranches well mounted on his good snaffle-bit horses. He generally did all of Ellison's sorting out the Pitchfork (brand) cattle himself. According to his wife Helen and son Danny, Ervin’s favorite part of riding was close work and rodear sorting, he later told Helen that he wished he could have done more cutting horse type events.
Ervin not only led all the outside riding for the 6000 - 7000 head of cattle on the White House Ranch, but he oversaw the entire operation including, irrigating and haying the meadows, spring and fall brandings, calving out 1500 head of heifers and turn out. The outfit had older equipment and Ervin did most of the mechanic work as well. He ran a crew of 6 full time buckaroos, supplemented with at least five of his seven kids, and a cavvy of at least fifty plus horses. He went out with the Ellison buckaroo wagon working for Claude Barkdull on the Spanish Ranch side and Paul Sweeney on the Squaw Valley Ranch side. In the winter time all the cattle feeding was done with several teams of horses and wagons.
In the late fall each year, one of the major chores was gathering and trailing 700 to 1200 head of cattle from the Guard Corral or the Lower Clover Ranch to the White House Ranch on the weekends. (Usually always bad weather.) They would trail on Saturday and start classing cattle on Sunday. The classing of the cattle was some of the buckaroo work that Ervin enjoyed while using his favorite horses to work the cattle. This would take place five or six times during the fall months.
For some years Ervin and Helen had to drive their kids more than 24 miles over rough dirt roads to attend school in Battle Mountain. When Humboldt County decided it could no longer pay Lander County to let the children attend school locally in Battle Mountain, the family had to begin taking the kids to Red House Ranch where Cedric Hammond’s wife Barbara would pick them up in the school bus and drive them into Winnemucca. According to Helen, it made for very long days over the worst roads imaginable. During that time, Helen doubled up on her workload, nursing at the Battle Mountain hospital and then becoming the County’s health nurse.
Ervin was a good mechanic and a great cowboy/foreman, so along with Helen’s nursing job it allowed them to get ahead and put something away for the next chapter of their lives.
Ervin retired from the White House and Ellison Ranching in 1984 and bought a small farm off Allen Rd in Battle Mountain where he grew alfalfa and pastured cattle. He also did a lot of pencil sketches of his favorite horses and days as a buckaroo. He attributed his early love of horses and ranching to his father Ivel, Uncle Leon and grandfather Seid. He enjoyed going down to Gallagher’s sale yard in Fallon and buying pasture calves and visiting.
He retired in earnest in 2013, and had a custom shop built at his new home off Kayce Rd, heading out of Battle Mountain. He was a talented woodworker and enjoyed building models of homes, bridges and tinkering with projects. He also loved the wide-open views of the Nevada desert country.
Ervin passed away in 2018.