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Ray Knight (rodeo organizer)

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Oscar Raymond Knight (8 April 1872 – 7 February 1947) was a gold and silver miner, cattle rancher, large scale farmer, bank executive, industrialist, railroad executive, rodeo producer, rodeo stock contractor and rodeo champion. He was one of the Canadian Cattle Barons and considered one of the wealthiest cattlemen in the world.[1]

Ray Knight
Born
Oscar Raymond Knight

8 April 1872
Payson, Utah Territory
Died7 February 1947(1947-02-07) (aged 74)
Raymond, Alberta, Canada
OccupationRancher
Spouses
Hannah Isabelle Smith
​
​
(m. 1894; died 1906)​
Charlotte Maud Heninger
​
​
(m. 1907)​
ChildrenUarda, Raymond, Kenneth, LeRoy and Lalla (first marriage); Owen, Wayne, Jesse, Charlotte, Miles, Chance and Mary (second marriage)
RelativesInez Knight Allen (sister)

He went by his middle name of Raymond and was known by most informally as Ray.

The first son and second child of six children of Utah mining magnate Jesse Knight and his wife Amanda McEwan, Ray Knight was born in Payson, Utah Territory and raised there on the family ranch as well as at their winter home in Provo.

Ray Knight attended school at the Brigham Young Academy,[2] now Brigham Young University, in Provo.[3]

In 1894, he married Provo school teacher Isabelle Smith.[4] Five children, three sons and two daughters, came from this marriage: Uarda, Raymond, Kenneth, LeRoy and Lalla. The first three children lived to adulthood.

Born and raised a cowboy,[5] Ray Knight was considered a top hand. Jim Meeks, who cowboyed with Ray Knight in Southern Utah, said, "Ray was...the best all-around cowboy on the roundup on Boulder Mountain."[6]

Ray Knight was a rodeo producer and rodeo champion steer roper in Utah,[7][8][9] winning his first roping championship in Salt Lake City in 1897[10] creating "The Cowboy Challenge"[11] competing for the Interstate Championship and vying for the world's championship.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

Ray worked in partnership with his younger brother, Jesse William "Will" Knight, and their father in his various business undertakings, including ranching, cattle buying[20][21] and mining.

In 1896, their mining operations paid off as their Humbug Mine[22] became one of the richest producers of silver and lead ores in the Tintic Mining District in Juab County. The location of the rich ore deposits of the Humbug Mine was discovered after Jesse Knight followed the promptings of a dream.

The Knight family business and ranching operations quickly expanded to some 80 corporations, including the Knight Investment Company[23] and the Knight Bank,[24] on all of which Ray Knight served as a board member.

From 1897 to 1899, Ray lived in England serving a full-time proselytizing mission[25][26] for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[27] where his sister Inez was also serving.[28][29]

1900, Ray Knight chosen as a delegate by Utah County Commissioners to attend the National livestock in Salt Lake City.[30]

In 1900, Ray Knight entered the world of politics as a regional[31] and state delegate[32] for the Democratic Party.[33]

In 1901, a year after returning from England, Ray and his brother Will were sent by their father to southern Alberta, Canada to survey the possibility of buying land to expand their ranching operations.[34]

Knight instituted the Raymond Stampede, the oldest and longest-running rodeo in Canada and is considered the first rodeo stock contractor.

Ray Knight and Ad Day formed the Knight and Day Stampede Company.[35][36]

Notably, Knight was closely involved in the establishment and settlement of Raymond, Alberta, a town named in his honor by his father.[37]

While living in Raymond, Knight managed his father's ranch, which consisted of approximately 400,000 acres (1,600 km2) of land stocked with over 15,000 head of cattle and 40,000 head of sheep. Knight held many honours and trophies for his skill in calf[38] and steer roping. In 1902, Knight organized the first Raymond Stampede, the first organized rodeo to be held in Canada.[39] At the inaugural event, Knight himself took first prize in the steer roping competition.

In 1904, Ray won the steer roping championship at the Cardston Stampede.[40]

Being innovative, Ray Knight had a 40 mile telephone line installed to the ranch headquarters, following the top wire of the ranch fence line.[41]

In September 1906, Ray's wife Isabelle, having been sick for sometime, died in Provo, Utah [42][43][44][45][46]

October 1906, Ray purchased a house in Salt Lake City at 627 S. 700 E.[47][48]

In 1907, Ray Knight married school teacher Charlotte Maud Heninger of Raymond, Alberta, and had five children: Owen, Wayne, Jesse, Charlotte, and Mary.

1920, furnished rodeo stock to the Browning Stampede and place second in the day money for the calf roping event.[49]

1921, Ray Knight was made president of the Knight Investment Corporation, replacing his father who officially retired, overseeing its many ranching and industrial concerns, including operating gold, silver and coal mines in Utah and Nevada, sheep ranches and woolen mills, wheat and sugar beet farms, grain elevators, sugar factories, railroad lines of the Utah Pacific Railway Company and cattle ranching operations in southern and northern Alberta, Utah, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and Columbia, South American.[50][51]

1947, Ray Knight died in Magrath, Alberta[52] having suffered for some years from a stroke he had in 1943.[53][54]

Ray, Jesse, Will honored for their contributions to the development of Canada.[55]

Honors

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Legacy

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Knight has been called the "Father of Canadian Stampedes", the "Father of Canadian Professional Rodeo" and the "Father of Canadian Calf Roping."

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Salt Lake Telegram | 1923-05-24 | Page 3 | Shelby Erects Huge Tent City".
  2. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-09-10 | Page 1 | Wants to Meet Knight".
  3. ^ "Salt Lake Telegram | 1947-02-18 | Page 18 | Obituaries".
  4. ^ "Provo Daily Enquirer | 1894-01-22 | Page 4 | City and County Jottings".
  5. ^ "Logan Journal | 1897-03-18 | Page 1 | Local News".
  6. ^ "The Farm and Ranch Review, January 1, 1956, Page 10, Item Ar01001".
  7. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1897-07-25 | Page 8 | Great Day at Beck's".
  8. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1897-05-10 | Page 7 | over the State".
  9. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-09-10 | Page 1 | Wants to Meet Knight".
  10. ^ "Recorder, April 19, 1940, Page 1, Item Ar00102".
  11. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-08-07 | Page 5 | the Cowboy Challenge".
  12. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-07-29 | Page 8 | Cowboy Challenge".
  13. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1897-07-25 | Page 8 | Great Day at Beck's".
  14. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1897-05-10 | Page 7 | over the State".
  15. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-07-25 | Page 5 | Idaho Cowboys Won".
  16. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1897-07-25 | Page 8 | Great Day at Beck's".
  17. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-07-25 | Page 5 | Idaho Cowboys Won".
  18. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-08-07 | Page 5 | the Cowboy Challenge".
  19. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-09-10 | Page 1 | Wants to Meet Knight".
  20. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-04-21 | Page 7 | off for the Agency".
  21. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-01-15 | Page 6 | [Untitled]".
  22. ^ "Provo Daily Enquirer | 1896-12-16 | Page 4 | City and County Jottings".
  23. ^ "Salt Lake Telegram | 1919-02-27 | Page 16 | [Untitled]".
  24. ^ "Provo Sunday Herald | 1924-06-08 | Page 42".
  25. ^ "Deseret Weekly | 1897-12-25 | Page 14 | in the European Mission".
  26. ^ "Deseret Weekly | 1897-12-25 | Page 14 | in the European Mission".
  27. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1899-12-08 | Page 8 | Personal Mention".
  28. ^ "Deseret Weekly | 1898-12-10 | Page 18 | in the European Mission".
  29. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1899-12-08 | Page 8 | Personal Mention".
  30. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1900-12-11 | Page 5 | Big Show Promised".
  31. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1900-09-03 | Page 7 | Rough on Able John".
  32. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1900-08-22 | Page 7 | the Payson Democrats".
  33. ^ "Logan Journal | 1897-03-18 | Page 1 | Local News".
  34. ^ "Salt Lake Telegram | 1947-02-18 | Page 18 | Obituaries".
  35. ^ "Early Cowmen of Southeast Range". Lethbridge Herald, Golden Jubilee Edition. 11 July 1935. p. 63.
  36. ^ "History of the Hornless Bronc Riding Saddle".
  37. ^ "Davew Akers and Tom Purcell". Lethbridge Herald, Golden Jubilee Edition. 11 July 1935. p. 64.
  38. ^ "Dan Riley was Good Cowman". Lethbridge Herald, Golden Jubilee Edition. 11 July 1935. p. 55.
  39. ^ "Crossing the 49th Parallel | Religious Studies Center".
  40. ^ Livingstone, Donna (1996). The cowboy spirit : Guy Weadick and the Calgary Stampede. Greystone Books. ISBN 9781550544886.
  41. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1906-10-10 | Page 10 | Alberta Man Buys Here".
  42. ^ "Salt Lake Telegram | 1906-09-24 | Page 2 | Dies on Visit to Her Former Home".
  43. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1906-09-25 | Page 8 | Victim of Confidence Men".
  44. ^ "Vernal Express | 1906-10-06 | Page 1 | State News".
  45. ^ "Inter-Mountain Republican | 1906-09-25 | Page 3 | Provo News Notes".
  46. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1906-09-24 | Page 7 | Answers Final Summons".
  47. ^ "Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1906-10-10 | Page 10 | Alberta Man Buys Here".
  48. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1906-10-10 | Page 8 | Buys a Cottage Home".
  49. ^ "The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, September 23, 1920, Image 12".
  50. ^ "Salt Lake Mining Review | 1921-02-28 | Page 36 | Uncle Jesse Knight Ceases His Active Mining Career".
  51. ^ "Richfield Reaper | 1921-08-18 | Page 1 | Railway through Salina Canyon is Probably Sure Go".
  52. ^ "Salt Lake Telegram | 1947-02-18 | Page 18 | Obituaries".
  53. ^ "Provo Sunday Herald | 1943-01-24 | Page 2".
  54. ^ "Salt Lake Tribune | 1897-09-10 | Page 1 | Wants to Meet Knight".
  55. ^ "Provo Daily Herald | 1953-03-23 | Page 6".
  56. ^ "1982". Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  57. ^ "Ray Knight". Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  58. ^ "Canadian Trick Riding Association".
  • Turner, Lawrence, ed. (1993). Raymond Remembered: Settlers, Sugars and Stampedes: A History of the Town and People of Raymond. Town of Raymond. ISBN 0-9697655-0-9.
  • History of Raymond, Alberta from Town of Raymond website
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