Legendary Kalispell cowboy rides again

C.R. Williams was a champion bronc rider during the golden age of rodeo in the 1920s.

He was an industrious young man who formed his own CRW Wild West Show by the age of 15 and traveled from town to town in a fancy purple Buick convertible, dressed in such style that many dubbed him the best dressed cowboy of his day.

C.R., as he was widely known, made his mark in Hollywood as a double for Tom Mix and other actors. He went on to become a skilled silversmith and songwriter.

The debonair dude with the leather chaps and showy 10-gallon hat apparently was quite the ladies man, too.

And here’s the clincher: C.R. Williams was from Kalispell, yet local historians are puzzled why there seems to be no mention of him anywhere.

His story may have been lost forever if not for retired inner-city history teacher Ross Kapstein of Marietta, Georgia, who scours yard sales and estate sales for Old West memorabilia, among other things.

Kapstein got wind of a trunk full of old scrapbooks through a friend who saw it advertised on Craigslist. It was a treasure trove of Williams’ scrapbooks and rodeo keepsakes that had languished in that trunk for nearly a century.

He made arrangements to meet Williams’ great-great-grandson and bought the entire collection, which includes belt buckles Williams won and all kinds of cowboy memorabilia such as original rodeo posters and unusually long, narrow photographs about 40 inches wide showing rows of cowboys in various cities — including New York City.

It was like unleashing a genie in a bottle, Kapstein recalled, when he realized the importance of this collection.

“C.R.’s greatest contribution lies in the fact that he maintained records consisting of original documents from this time period,” Kapstein said.

Williams almost always wrote down the names of the cowboys in the photographs, leaving behind a “who’s who” of that rodeo era.

About five years ago Kapstein vowed to write a book about Williams that also featured the photographs in the scrapbooks. He recently completed the book “A Rodeo Cowboy’s Scrapbook” and is keeping the story alive as he travels to shows and gatherings that showcase Western history. This weekend he’s in Lewistown for the annual Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Western Music Rendezvous.

Kapstein nominated Williams for the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, and Williams was inducted into the prestigious hall of fame last year in Great Falls.

What Kapstein learned through the aging scrapbooks is that Williams was a major player on the rodeo circuit. He missed receiving the prestigious Roosevelt Trophy by two points and finished fourth at Yankee Stadium in 1923.

“This accomplishment alone would make him worthy of the highest accolades,” Kapstein wrote in the introduction to his book.

There are few details in the collection about Williams’ ties to Kalispell. A postcard sent by Williams from Texas to his mother in Kalispell shows her name as Miss Lelia Williams. A photograph of Williams and his own bride in the collection indicates a rather short-lived marriage. Williams married Nellie Curtsingri of Fort Worth, Texas, on March 23, 1922, and Williams’ own handwriting notes: “Divorced, Oct. 7, 1922.

Williams participated in the Shelby rodeo that followed the famous July 4, 1923, heavyweight boxing championship fight between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons, an event that put Shelby on the map. Williams won the bronc riding championship that evening. A fire later at the Shelby Promoter newspaper office destroyed many of the only records of the historic fight.

“C.R. Williams’ meticulous scrapbooks may be some of the only recorded evidence of this event,” Kapstein said. His book shows panoramic photos of Shelby and the arena built for the fight.

“A Rodeo Cowboy’s Scrapbook” became a canvas for Kapstein to showcase his finesse for American history. He tells how the closing of the American frontier in the 1890s had a direct effect on the cowboy. Railroads could haul cattle to Eastern markets and private land holdings, and the invention of barbed wire put a stop to cattle drives.

Yet entrepreneurs like Buffalo Bill Cody and others were determined to keep the spirit of the West alive through their Wild West shows, Kapstein said. Hollywood helped extend the cowboy era, too, with silent movies that showed cowboys in their element and then with big-name stars playing the part of Western legends.

In a way, Kapstein himself is as much a renaissance man as Williams was. Aside from his career as a history teacher, he is a singer, songwriter, bass player and manager of the late Georgia blues great Willie Guy Rainey. Since his retirement he has become an antique and art dealer.

Kapstein calls himself an “eclectologist” specializing in old photographs of historical significance.

“A Rodeo Cowboy’s Scrapbook” is sold through Kapstein’s website at rodeoscrapbook.com. He also wrote a song about Williams, “Rodeo Cowboy Star,” which can be downloaded from the website via iTunes.

“I’m determined to help this cowboy ride again,” he said. “He finally got out of that traveling rodeo trunk and is able to tell his story.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.