Wild, wild west

Pistols were blazing, stagecoaches were robbed and bandits were shot as Colusa Western Days got under way for the 12th year.

The festivities kicked off Thursday with a sneak peak for children during Colusa County Farm Day, and a cattle drive and western parade Friday.

Colusa Western Days will continue today through Sunday with a trade show, family fair, roping events, cookoffs and western entertainment. The re-enactment group “Law Dawgs and Pistoleros of the Olde West” brings a touch of real history to the event, according to actor Ralph Johnson of Red Bluff.

Johnson said the robbery of the stagecoach and mule train was based on the 1852 robbery in Shasta County along now Highway 3, in which the Rattle Snake Dick Gang allegedly stole $75,000 in gold bullion from Wells Fargo. The gang met up with the sheriff after the robbery and all were shot and killed, Johnson said.

“But not before they buried the loot,” Johnson said. “It’s still out there somewhere. It’s never been found.”

Johnson said children are the most intrigued by the true story.

“They always say, ‘let’s go find it,’” Johnson said.

Johnson and wife Rhonda have been doing the old west re-enactments and Western Days for five years.

“We love doing this for the children,” Rhonda Johnson said.

This is the first year at Western Days for David Freeman of Willows, who portrayed the mule team driver.

Freeman is the great-grandson of Charles Locke, the first almond grower in Colusa County and great-grandson of an early Colusa County clerk.

“I love doing this,” Freeman said. “It’s all about keeping history alive.”

Farm Day prelude

In addition to the Colusa Western Days preview, more than 300 students from Colusa, Maxwell, Williams, Arbuckle and Willows elementary schools participated in the Farm Day event to learn firsthand about life on the farm.

The event was started in Williams by Colusa County’s Future Farmers of America more than 20 years ago, but has been a precursor to Western Days for about eight years, according to organizer Caroline Vann.

Students visited various lecture sites where they heard about farming and ranching, conservation techniques, animal husbandry, wildland management and other topics.

“The purpose it to educated children on agriculture,” Vann said. “It teaches them that farming can be fun. It’s not just work.”

For many children, it was the first time they ate peach cobbler cooked in a Dutch oven, roped a cow or saddled a horse.

“This was the first time I touched a horse,” said Javier Hernandez, 9, of Williams. “It was softer than I thought it was.”

It was also the first year Williams teacher Rachel LaGrande took her students to Farm Day.

“It’s very educational,” she said. “It fits into what we have been studying about the history and let’s the children see how the early settlers lived – how they cooked and what they ate.”

Today’s events include calf branding, Stonyford Rodeo Queen contest, Dutch oven cookoff and big loop ranching. Sunday events include a barbecue rib cookoff and ranch horse class.

The western trade show operates both days.

Contact Susan Meeker at 458-2121 or smeeker@tcnpress.com.