Jack Dempsey and the Last Rays of the Old West

[Brutu]

I seem to remember reading an article shortly after Jack Dempsey had passed that said that when he died
what was left of the Old American West had died with him.
Here is an article from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED January.10.1955
about Dempsey's early days as a prize-fighter in the days when the curtain had not yet completely closed
on the last days of the Old West in America.


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... index.html

[Brutu]

Since the public schools in America no longer seem to want to teach American history anymore.
I thought it would be interesting to learn which famous characters of the Old West
were still alive when Jack Dempsey was still a professional fighter 1914-1927?

Bat Masterson

(died 1921 age 67 years)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Masterson

[Brutu]

William"Buffalo Bill" Cody

(died 1917,age 70 years)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill

[Brutu]

Yep,

Wyatt Earp was still alive and kicking when Dempsey was the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

(died 1929,age 80 years)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp

[Brutu]

Last of the Old West trivia.
The last utility Stagecoach route in America closed in 1928
when the road to Young,Gila County Arizona was paved.
It had delivered the U.S Mail.
The Stagecoach was replaced by the Ford motor vehicle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young,_Arizona

[Brutu]

When Jack Dempsey was the Heavyweight champion of the World,
there still could be found in some parts of the Southwestern USA and California a few of the last wild Grizzly Bears(Ursus arctos horribus).
By that time the last few remaining Grizzly bears had retreated to some of the more remote areas away from man,like the nearest mountain.
Here is the true story of
"Old Ephraim"
the last wild Grizzly bear of the state of Utah.

http://www.onlineutah.com/oldephraimhistory1.shtml

[Brutu]

In the early days of his boxing career,Dempsey took to"Riding the Rods" to get from town to town out West.
Hitching a ride beneath a passenger car on the break beam only a foot off the ground.
Riding the rods was a practice that dates back to the Civil War and was used as a last resort up until the 1930's.
Here is a classic account by Jack London who had tramped via the train in America in the 1890's.
PP.541-544.

http://books.google.com/books?id=_3xLv-WW36oC&pg=541

[Brutu]

The trans-continental railroad was completed in 1869.
The old Oregon Trail was still being used up until the 1890's,
and the first highway across America was the Lincoln Highway.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway

[raylawpc]

When Jack Dempsey was the Heavyweight champion of the World,
there still could be found in some parts of the Southwestern USA and California a few of the last wild Grizzly Bears(Ursus arctos horribus).
By that time the last few remaining Grizzly bears had retreated to some of the more remote areas away from man,like the nearest mountain.
Here is the true story of
"Old Ephraim"
the last wild Grizzly bear of the state of Utah.

http://www.onlineutah.com/oldephraimhistory1.shtml

I've got news for you: There are still wild Grizzly Bears in the American West, including Utah.

[Brutu]

Breaking news-
The status of the Brown(Grizzly) Bear in the state of Utah.


http://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/search/Map.asp?Id=582

[Brutu]

The Miller Bros.101 Ranch near Ponca City Oklahoma once had a show that toured the country and the world that included in it some of the last surviving old Characters of the West.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Brothers_101_Ranch


and here is some information about the history of the Wild West Shows.
The Miller Bros.101 Ranch show was one of the last,Jess Willard owned it from 1916-1918.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_West_Show

[Goodnight, Irene]

I wish theyd made mention of Dempsey (or Johnson/Jeffries) in Red Dead Redemption D

[Brutu]

Annie Oakley was still alive when Dempsey was the champion.

Annie Oakley
(died 1926,age 66 years)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley

[raylawpc]

Breaking New Update: I stand corrected as to Utah. But Grizzlies are alive and well in portions of the northwestern United States including Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. I saw warnings to watch out for Grizzly Bears in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks when I was in Jackson, Wyoming two weeks ago.

[Brutu]

Heavyweight champion Max Baer may have had a bit of the Old West still in his background too.
But he passed away in 1959,24 years before Jack Dempsey did.

http://www.maxbaer.org/earlyyears.html

[Brutu]

In observance of"Red Neck Week",
here is some info about a man named Ben Lilly(1856-1936).
Considered by many to be the last of the true Mountain Men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Lilly

[Caractacus]

America's Western Frontier was officially declared closed by the U.S Goverment in 1890.
But the Old West still unofficially survived up until about November 1903 with the hanging of Tom Horn in Cheyenne Wyoming.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Horn

[Caractacus]

bump

[JohnMcMinn]

Thanks for bumping this thread. Lots of interesting history to take in.

[Contendeh]

I wish theyd made mention of Dempsey (or Johnson/Jeffries) in Red Dead Redemption :DD

The saloon in Blackwater should have a large picture of Sullivan!

[Caractacus]

A film about the "Hobo" life based on a book published in 1924 by Jim Tully or was a Hobo and Pugilist prior to World War I.
( better to watch this without sound tho, the music doesn't suite the picture IMOP)

they instead should have used some music like this here.....

[Caractacus]

[Benny The Kid]

One of the great quotes ever in boxing.....



"Whenever I hear the name, Jack Dempsey, I think of an America that was one big roaring camp of miners, drifters, bunkhouse hands, con men, hard cases, men who lived by their fists and their shooting irons and by the cards they drew. America at high noon.
-- Jim Murray

[Caractacus]

-1971-

[Caractacus]

-1892-