Celebrating Independence Day in Lincoln in years gone by

Celebrating in 1868

The residents of Lincoln Gulch were not always focused on mining, water, and the conditions under which they lived, and in 1868 they had a grand July Fourth celebration.

It featured a 100 foot flagpole flying a $100 flag; the flagpole was located in front of the post office. They reportedly had a 100 gun salute as well.

The glee clubs of Lincoln and McClellan gulches sang for the crowds, and a Mr. Freeman read the Declaration of Independence.

Celebrating in the mid 20th century

Lincoln stories are full of Fourth of July celebrations, in which even the very early miners took time to participate.

Those celebrations were wild times in Lincoln, and when someone got too wild he found himself handcuffed to a telephone pole or to a tree. One Fourth of July the sheriff's men put a chain around the inside of a garage, and they handcuffed unruly fellows to the chain. One man who was handcuffed objected to being so and set fire to the garage. At another time when Brian O'Connell was sheriff someone stole his gun and threw it in Spring Creek where Ellen and Betty Lambkin found it while wading several days later.

When the Fourth of July celebrations first started the men and boys rode the bucking horses at a rodeo without fences in the area that is now the Hooper State Park. Men on horse back tried to keep the bucking horses in a certain area. Horse races were held using the county road as a race track. As time went on, an arena and four chutes were built at Hooper Park.

Some of the local boys that rode in those rodeos were Allan and John Routzahn, Sid Hendrix, Bob and Lynn Milliron, Bob Didriksen, Pete Peterson, Ci Gibson, Ed Grantier, and Kenneth "Keggy" Brown.

The Lincoln Rodeo Club, a non-profit club, was formed in 1952 by a group of local men, about twenty in all. They set out to build an arena for their rodeos. The men worked hours cutting fence posts and fence rails on Dalton Mountain. Often it was dark, and they had to use the headlights of their vehicles so they could see to load the last of the evening cuttings. The fences went up on land donated by Gilbert Zimbleman and leased to the Rodeo Club for ninety-nine years.

The first rodeo event in the new arena was a two day Labor Day show in 1952. It was put on entirely by members with stock scrounged up from willing ranchers in the valley. Since then the rodeo has followed the parade down Main Street every Fourth of July. Proceeds from the rodeos still went to support the arena in 1993. A concession stand with hamburgers, hot dogs, steak sandwiches, pop, and a two-day beer permit also supported the club. The first officers and charter members were Bob Didriksen, president; Earl "Pucky" Colvin, vice-president; Ray Tronson, secretary; Shirley Ashby, treasurer; Bob Milliron, Dwight Smith, Pinky Smith; Gene Yonderian; Bill Sandford; Buck Shandy; Keggy Brown; Bob McClure; Eddie Grantier; Gilbert Zimbleman; Pat Mills; Martin "Dad" Calvin; Grant Brown; John Samatore; Abe Grosfield; and Sherman "Bud" Cook.

Being an officer of the rodeo had its funny moments: One morning before the rodeo was to start, Bob Didriksen went to the grounds to make sure that everything was working correctly. He opened a chute gate and there in a sleeping bag was a hungover cowboy. When he woke up, he pulled a bottle out and said "If you don't like Seagram's 7, breakfast is over."