img03_e.gif (1204 bytes)

but_men2.gif (901 bytes)

Wood Mountain

Biographies


<<= Previous                Index                   Next =>>

bookmark10

img10_01.jpg (15577 bytes)
Najinyapi (Held At Bay / Bill Ferguson) 

1901-1970   

    Bill Ferguson was a young boy when his parents, Nupa KiIkte and Pte Sanwin moved to Wood Mountain in 1911. As a youth his father taught him how to break horses.  Before long he also taught himself how to rope.
    One of Bill's favorite stories was how he won the calf roping at Wood Mountain. All of the other contestants had missed their calves when they came out of the chutes. He borrowed a horse named Dixie from Willie Thomson when it came his turn to rope. Dixie was not a roping horse, but Bill took his time because he knew he would win as long as he caught the calf. The time was well over a minute, but Bill won!
As long as they had the pow-wow at Wood Mountain Bill took part in
the dances. From the elders he learned many of the traditional dances.

       Najinyapi              In later years Bill became the repairman for the Wood Mountain         Rodeo Club.
    Every year he would bring his hammer and a pail of nails and repair the arena wherever a horse happened to hit the wire. Bill Ferguson worked with his father for many years. They built corrals, fences, cut fenceposts and butchered for many different ranchers.
    Bill Ferguson lived on the Wood Mountain First Nations Reserve most of his life and he was buried there.


BIOGRAPHIES

Fort Berthold | Okanagan | Wood Mountain

Introduction | Early Ranching | Ranching Life | Contemporary Ranching Life | Community Stories | Transition to Rodeo

SACRED BEINGS | RANCHING | ENTERTAINMENT | RODEO | ARTS AND INDUSTRIES