CORVALLIS – If you want to know about the cowboy that lives inside Frank R. Mason Jr., you need to take a step inside his barn.
That whole story is hanging right there.
In
the tack room, you’ll find his mother’s well-broke saddle, weathered
chaps and headstall that still shines from countless hours of use. She
was one of the original members of the Bitterroot Mountettes.
“When I grew up, we always had a horse around,” Mason said. “Horses were always part of our lives.”
Just across the way, there are saddle blankets made from elk hides – a trick he learned from the Martinell family of Dell.
“Those will never gall a horse,” he said.
Buried
under other saddles, far back in the room’s corner, is the first saddle
that he ever owned. He proudly purchased it while still in high school
and had it shipped all the way from Texas to his Bitterroot Valley home.
Just on the other side of the wall, a set of elk antlers serves as a hat rack for three well-used, tan cowboy hats.
It
was his senior year when one of his family members shot that elk. He
can remember that it happened on a Saturday morning because he had
football game to play that day and couldn’t help them get it out.
Mason will never forget that they used his brand new saddle to pack out half the meat.
“They got blood all over my brand new saddle,” he said. “I wasn’t too happy, but they thought it was funny.”
Higher
up on the wall are his first pair of bat-wing chaps. In the other
corner, there’s a pair of rawhide Indian hobbles that his family had
picked up when they lived in Lodgegrass.
Right next to them is a
string of rusty cans attached together by a rounded piece of wire that
he’d found one day moving cows in the Centennial Valley. He learned that
sheep herders used the cans as a noisemaker to keep their animals
moving.
And then there’s the first gold poly lariat hanging on the wall that an old cowboy named Vernon Roe had given him.
“I was using nylon ropes back then,” Mason said. “Vernon told me that these gold polys seem to be able to catch stuff.”
There are so many memories here.
Mason will celebrate his 70th birthday this year.
He will also officially join 240 men and women who have been inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Mason was selected for this year’s living award from Ravalli, Missoula and Mineral counties.
This
year’s legacy award for the three counties was shared between Vernon
Woolsey of Stevensville and Clarence Barron “C.B” Rich of Seeley Lake.
“The
board of trustees, our volunteer network from around the state, has
reviewed this year’s nominations and completed the voting process,” said
Bill Galt, a rancher from White Sulphur Springs who serves as president
of both the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Western Heritage
Center.
“This process gives local communities a strong voice in
who will represent them in the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame,” Galt said.
“The Hall of Fame exists to honor those – famous cowboy or not – who
have made an impact in their community and serve as a symbol of
Montana’s authentic heritage for future generations.”
When people first approached Mason as the possibility of adding his name those already honored, he said no.
At first, he thought the hall of fame’s focus was on the men and women who had made a name for themselves in the rodeo arena.
He’d
tried his hand at that sport. The first calf he rode at the county fair
used its right hind foot to open a gash above his eye. Later on, they
carried him off on a stretcher more than once after he climbed on the
back of a bull.
“I never was very good at the rough stock, but I
could rope pretty well,” he said. “I’d tell my nephews – who have done
pretty well with rodeo – that they should put some sagebrush, badger
holes and barbwire in the arena when they go to catching calves. It
makes a difference.”
Mason grew up on a small ranch east of Corvallis.
In
high school, he had a chance to attend a clinic hosted by one of the
original horse whisperers, Charles O. Williamson. He was so excited
about what he’d just seen that his father managed to convince Williamson
to come out to their home for a private session.
