Lifetime Leaders of Rodeo & Ranching Rodeo Ranching Great Westerner Western Entertaiment & Arts Rodeo Producers & Livestock Special Achievement Cowboy Long Rider Legacy Award

Ranching

Earl Henderson
2004 Inductee

 Earl Isaac Henderson was born in Rice County, Minn., on Jan. 17, 1883, son of Isaac and Mary (Hobbs) Henderson. The family came to Dak. Territory in the spring of 1886, and, as a child, Earl learned to care for livestock on the family ranch south of Richardton. He read everything and possessed good math skills used for buying and selling livestock. In the spring of 1899, Earl and his brother, Esley, moved their horses and cattle into Mercer County near Zap, where they wintered in 1899-1901, staying with their sister, Nettie. In Dec. 1900, Earl and Frank Keogh went to what is now McKenzie County, where they cut logs along the Missouri River and began building ranches. Earl started his McKenzie County ranching life in June 1903 and stayed there for 45 years. He was an excellent horseman who sometimes ran up to 800 horses. In about 1915, he and others leased pasture land on the Fort Berthold Reservation where they had a house, barn and corrals. Earl was a charter member of 50 Years in the Saddle and the North Dakota Stockmen's Assn., a Blue Buttes Assn. stockholder and president and a member of the Lutheran church. He married Olga Isaacson at River Falls, Wis., in 1908. She died in 1922 and, in 1926, he married Bessie Olson, who died in 1968. He had five daughters and one son. Earl sold out in 1948 and moved into Watford City and, at age 85, moved into the Good Shepherd Home. There he created hundreds of halters, bridles, quirts and reins. Earl died in 1980 in Watford City.