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By Al Camp
Chronicle staff

     Those celebrating the 75th Omak Stampede Aug. 7-10 likely will arrive in air conditioned vehicles and may well stay in refreshing motels with swimming pools and nearby restaurants.
     Cowboys and cowgirls will drive many hours and miles to reach Omak this year, hoping to cash in and move up in the world rankings.
     That wasn’t so in 1934 for the first Stampede performance, nor for other rodeos of the times.
     Many of the early competitors worked on nearby ranches, and often were related. They would take a day or so off to get together and compete over a weekend.
     “It was something they did and made money doing it,” said Omak resident Jan Smith of the need to survive during the Depression.
     Her family can trace its regional heritage well into the 1800s, with a family ranch being established on a bench above Monse around 1900.
     The first Smiths to enter a rodeo arena were brothers Sam and Johnny Smith, as early as 1930. They were among the first competitors at the Omak Stampede.
     “It helped them out,” she said of the times. “They had the skills and athleticism.”
     Sam and Johnny both entered calf roping and wild cow milking. Johnny Smith also entered bulldogging.
     “Of course, they did not travel like cowboys now,” Smith said. “In the 1930s it was pretty primitive. They would camp at rodeos because there were no motels or fancy motor homes.
     “They would camp out together,” she said. “It was a wonderful way of life. Many of them made life-long friendships.”
     The long line of Smiths competing in rodeo started in the 1800s with the birth of Minnie Freer to Franklin Freer and Quihnmeetsa (eldest daughter of the chief of the Entiat tribe) April 29, 1877.
     Franklin and his brother, David, along with Samuel C. Miller, established a trading post in what is now Wenatchee.
     Minnie Freer married Jack Anderson Comer Smith (better known as J.A.C. Smith) in 1898. He was a drover from Texas who entered into the Miller and Freer Brothers business in Wenatchee. The couple initially lived on North Miller Road.
     Around 1900, they moved to the present location of the Smith Ranch near Monse to raise horses and cattle. Minnie had received a land allotment following the opening of the Colville Indian Reservation.
     The ranch also was called the M-plus Ranch after its brand (M over plus sign).
     “She (Minnie) must have been one of the original women who were independent,” said Jan Smith.
     Minnie Smith sent in a brand request — M for her first name — when the state first asked for them. She was told — via letter — that the letter “M” had already been registered. So she wrote back and had the plus sign added.
     “That was over 100 years ago, quite a bit over a hundred years ago,” said Smith.
     The couple had Sam and Johnny Smith, another boy and two girls.
     “They started it all for the family in rodeo,” said Jan Smith.
     Sam married May Evans, and their only child was Dave S. Smith, who married Jan (Watson) Smith in 1955.
     Her family came to the area from western Washington. She graduated from Omak High School while living in town on the Okanogan River.
     Dave S. and Jan Smith had twins, Dale and Dave P. Smith, and Julie Smith, a horsewoman herself.
     All three generations were top ropers of their times.
     Dave S. Smith would ride a pinto horse two or three miles to a one-room school house, said Jan Smith. He’d tie up the horse at Sam’s parents’ barn, walk over to the school and later retrieve his horse to go home.
     Sam and Johnny Smith would rodeo with many friends, including Hank and Bert Evans, who were brothers of May Evans. They lived a ways east across the Okanogan River at Timentwa Flats.
     Bert Evans entered (out of six events) in the 1934 Stampede in horse bucking, calf roping, wild ride (horses did not have halter or buck rein) and wild cow milking.
     The Smiths — Sam and Johnny — also were friends with Arnie Will, who was entered in wild cow milking and calf roping, and Leo Moomaw, who with Tim Bernard directed the first rodeos and provided stock.
     Moomaw lived a short distance from Franklin and Minnie Smith’s ranch.
     “In the early days, there were a lot of the young ranchers” who competed in rodeos, said Jan Smith, who said the friends often did a lot of things together. “They all grew up the cowboy way.”
     Assisting the young guys in learning how to rodeo was Johnny Smith, who established an arena on a flat area across from the now-closed Monse store.
     “All the young kids who were wannabes and learning and what not would all go down there to rope and bulldog,” Smith said.
     “He was a wonderful horseman,” said Jan Smith of Sam Smith. “I’m sure they (Sam and Johnny) won at different rodeos. I’m not sure if they won at the Stampede. The guys did not talk all that much.”
     Johnny Smith was associated with rodeos into the 1960s, working with Joe Kelsey (a longtime competitor and later stock contractor) along the way.
     When Dave S. Smith started competing in PRCA rodeos in the late 1950s, Johnny Smith came out of retirement and competed again, often winning money.
     Dave S. Smith died in 1989 in a ranching accident. He’d expanded the ranch and was cutting back on rodeo at the time.
     Edie Longfellow, a longtime friend, encouraged Jan Smith to stay involved in rodeo. For several decades, Longfellow has been secretary for the Columbia River Circuit. Smith continues to do the timed events at PRCA rodeos (she will be timing at Omak this year).
     Dave P. Smith garnered many PRCA accolades, and was considered a challenger for the national title.
     He finished fourth in the NFR final standings in 1988, won $50,000 at Calgary Stampede and was nationally ranked when he died in 1990.
     Dale Smith and his wife, Renee, continue to operate the family ranch.