Lucille Mulhall was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1885 to Colonel Zack and Agnes Mulhall. Four years later the family moved to the Oklahoma territory on a 160-acre ranch.
The family grew to include 4 boys and 4 girls and the ranch expanded to 80,000 acres.
Lucille wasn’t interested in dolls, sewing or piano lessons. Instead, she preferred being outdoors riding horses and working on the ranch.
Colonel Zack claimed that when his daughter was only thirteen he told her she could keep as many of his steers as she could rope in one day.
He bragged, “Lucille didn’t quit until catching more than three-hundred head!”
When Lucille was 13, Colonel Zack presented a Wild West Show.
Mulhall’s five children rode in the Grand Entry. After 1900, Lucille and her brother Charley were featured performers.
For 15 years American and European audiences raved about the beautiful girl who could out-rope and outride the men.
Lucille travelled the world entertaining crowds with her roping skills and natural talents riding horses.
“Slight of figure, refined and neat in appearance, attired in a becoming riding habit for hard riding, holding in one hand a lariat of the finest cowhide, Lucille Mulhall comes forward to show what an eighteen-year-old girl can do in roping steers. In three minutes and thirty-six seconds, she lassoed and tied three steers. The cowboys and plainsmen who were gathered in large numbers to witness the contest broke into tremendous applause when the championship gold medal was awarded to the slight, pale-faced girl.” A New York reporter.
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. President, referred to Lucille as “The Golden Girl of the West.”
Lucille quit performing in 1915 when her father, Colonel Zack, retired.
An unfortunate car accident took her life in 1940.
Writing of her retirement, Lucille’s childhood friend Will Rogers said that she was “the direct start of what has come to be known as the cowgirl. There was no such thing or no such word up to then.”
We dedicate this Sunday Edition to
the courage, resilience and independence of
all the maverick women…
and their horses…
who are a part of the American West history.
See you next Sunday!
Maverick Fine Western Wear, Fort Worth, Texas ©2021