tour travels the country exploring the american story. since 2011, we have been to more than 200 communities across the nation. like many americans, our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. next, look at one of our cities tour visits. >> one, two, three. the national finals of the rodeo. [applause] ♪ >> there's no place better to be the second week of july than sheridan, wyoming. we put on a world-class event , and we just love to invite you all to come to sheridan. >> ♪ oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming

♪ >> i will tell you what. this week is the biggest week in sheridan, economically and entertainment wise. we feel good about that because 89 years ago, sheridan was dead as a doornail. there was absolutely nothing going on. so some citizens decided we needed to have a rodeo to provide some economic opportunity and entertainment. and that was their charter, and it still is. so here we are 89 years later, we are still doing the same thing. and we hope the founding fathers would be proud of that. 1928, a wealthy financeer family by the name of j.p. morgan bought the historic kb ranch outside of town. for two years, they had a big rodeo out in the field. it was such a big deal. i think there were cars from 23

states, this was in 1928. so people in sheridan said if they can do it, why can't we do it here? so a group of concerned citizens got together and formed a committee. and the -- and they decided, we are going to have a rodeo. it didn't start out on a small scale. they wanted a big fish in a rodeo from the get-go. they put it all together. and in 1931, they had their first professional rodeo in sheridan, wyoming. and here we are today. a rodeo is eight events, different stock events from bucking horses, livestock roping, steer wrestling. eight is kind of -- it is kind of the old cowboy skills brought to the modern-day era. but it all started out somewhere , obviously, some ransomware they had some contests in , bucking horses. >> we are one of the top 30 rodeos in america and that is determined by the amount of prize money you add for your events. our rodeo competitors come from all over the united states. we had people from louisiana,

michigan, wisconsin. enter today a lot of the rodeo , contestants are from texas, oklahoma, wyoming has a lot of rodeo contestants. last year, in terms of our rodeo, we had people registered for our rodeo to watch our rodeo from 49 of the 50 states in america. and dang it, we are going to get delaware this year, i'm sure. we had people from all over the u.s. here, 49 of 50. our rodeo stock come from a rodeo in montana and they subcontract some of the other stock too. but i think they have been with our rodeo for about 23 years. some of the best in the business. >> our job from sankey rodeo we , provide all the livestock for rodeos across the country. that includes anything from the cattle to the bucking horses to the bull. we have 64 horses we brought. we leased 15 horses from a rodeo

company out of canada. for the tiedown roping, we have 100 head event -- 100 head of animals. for the steer wrestling and roping, we have 100 head of animals for those events as well. >> the animals that are involved in the rodeo, that is what they are born to do. these are not animals that are trained to do that, it is what they are born to do. and if you think about it, they spend most of their life in a pastor eating hay, and they actually work eight seconds a day, 20 times a year. and that is their job. and very truthfully, the prca and us, we put animal welfare first and foremost. and we really believe in the welfare of the animals and we take the best care of them that we can. >> these guys are bred to be animal athletes. it is not like a dairy cow, a -- it is not like a beef animal. they are bred totally different. they are bred to be an athlete, no different from horses. they are bred to be athletes.

it is totally different, so their nutrition is totally different. their care is totally different. i always tell people, if you go on a really good bucking bull, it is like winning the bovine lottery. from acupuncture to electric post therapy, whatever they need we will give them, and their nutrition wise is specifically for what they are bred to do. they're going to do there. and not one for anything. at the end event, they get turned out to maybe breed some cows and then they are going to die of old age. >> one thing different about the sheridan wyo rodeo is we like to keep a smalltime feel to it. we don't want it to just become some big economic thing. we wanted to be a community event. we don't want to get too big for our britches, if you know what i mean. >> it is going to make its way

out here. it is the blue moons. they represent the lakota. >> another thing that makes us unique is our world championship relay races. we started here in 1987. it has become a premier event of the rodeo. it is not a prca event. we start off the rodeo with it. i had you will be able to see just how exciting it is. and it brings a lot of people here that may not be that interested in the rest of the rodeo vence, but they come to -- the rest of the rodeo events, but they come to see the indian relay. we have a great partnership with the indian relay team. we've had indian relationships since the very first rodeo. they decided in 1931 that they wanted to have the indians. you know they just did. ,and in those days, the indians would walk down from the cheyenne reservation and the chrome reservation to be part of the show.

and in those days -- this was before television, before anything else -- they would have huge night shows like cowboy days and indian nights, where they would stage these big pageants with campfires and bonfires, because they didn't have lights necessarily then. it's always been an integral part of it. in the last 20 years, we've really brought it back. but with the indian relay races, it has become a thing of beauty. >> it is the first event. everybody wants to get in their seats early and find a great spot to watch, because if you have never seen indian relay racing, it is pretty spectacular. and i think that is the event that most of the people talk about at our rodeo. >> there has been many challenges. you know, like, shortly after the first rodeo in 1931, not many more years later, it became

financially challenged, making it go, making a profit so we can carry on the next year. so that has been a continuous problem throughout the years. they did not have the rodeo for two years during the war, 1942 and 1943. then in 1944, they started up again, but in a modest manner. because it wasn't professional like it was before. so the 1950's were kind of the doldrums for the sheridan wyo rodeo. and it got to the point in 1951 when the rodeo said to the community, ok, do you folks want to have a rodeo or not? so they took a poll. and they said yes, we want to have a rodeo. so we were alive again and got more of a community support. over the decades, community support from sponsors and businessmen has helped. and quite frankly, it has ebbed and flowed, but since the 1990's, it has flowed. >> typically, we end up around 22,000 over a four-day event. our facility seats about 6000.

we will be sold out for sure on friday and saturday. wednesday and thursday are down a little, but we're hoping to have between 20,000 and 22,000 here during the course of the week. and that is actually attending the rodeo. not to mention the other events that go on in town, how many people will attend those as well. >> we are pretty sure the sheridan wyo rodeo brings about $5 million to the community in one way or another. you know, motels, hotels, restaurants, bars, businesses, so the economic impact is pretty good. of course the dollars get turned , over several times. so it is the biggest economic event in sheridan, wyoming. that is for sure. >> it was started by citizens. you know, it has been carried on by citizens. it had a lot of trials and tribulations, but it held true to the west and the western culture. it has become and is an integral

part of the community and nobody can imagine sheridan, wyoming without the sheridan wyo rodeo alive. in 150 years saying the same thing, that is totally fine. >> you can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country at c-spin -- c-span.org/citiestour. this is american history tv, only on c-span3. >> american history tv is on social media. follow us @c-span history. >> next on history bookshelf, former george w. bush speechwriter jonathan ward discusses his book., "washington's and" -- end."

in one hour, a new york times columnist argues world war ii industry in the american west impacted the environment and demographics in ways that influenced development up until the