Leonard Moore inducted into 2020 Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame

SWAN VALLEY - The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame (MCHF) and Western Heritage Center (WHC) inducted Leonard Moore of Condon into their 13th class of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame.

According to a press release, inductees are chosen from a field of candidates nominated by the general public. They are honored for their notable contributions to the history and culture of Montana. Every year one living candidate and one legacy candidate are chosen from each of the 12 districts. 

"The Hall of Fame exists to honor those who have made an impact in their part of the state and represent Montana's authentic heritage for future generations," said Bill Galt, MCHF and WHC President.

Moore received the Legacy Award following his death on June 6, 2020 at the age of 94. He was born on May 29, 1926 near Pablo, Montana. His daughter, Jan Wheeler, said just before he died he had a feeling that he would be inducted this year.

"Before he passed he said, 'I know I got it. I just know,'" Wheeler said.

One of his other daughters, Marjorie Sager, said the induction is reflective of her father's life and what rodeo culture meant to him.

"I think it's important for my father's legacy because he truly lived a cowboy's life," Sager said. "He loved rodeo, he loved being a wrangler, he broke horses for the Forest Service, he was a packer and a logger and a rancher, a forester. He lived a very full life in Montana and really exhibited the importance of being a participant in the Montana culture."

He grew up learning to wrangle horses at an early age since his parents George and Fern Moore, ran an outfitting and guide business for nearly 60 years in Glacier National Park and the South Fork of the Flathead River which today is located in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

"He grew up on horses, I mean that was basically his transportation," Wheeler said. "He was a good old tough cowboy."

Moore took his first pack trip into the South Fork before he learned to walk, riding with his mother on her saddle and occasionally in the pannier of the lead horse. He spent his youth and later every hunting season helping guide hunters and fishermen into the south end of the Bob Marshall.

In 1938, at 12 years old, he competed in the Helmville Rodeo. He primarily rode saddle broncs but his daughter Sharon Lopau said knowing him he probably tried bulls and roping as well. She recalls him steer wrestling at one competition. He mostly competed locally, including at the only Double Arrow Ranch rodeo in the 1940s which was owned by his parents at the time, however according to Lopau, he also competed in Washington, Oregon and Calgary, Canada.

Lopau said Moore stopped competing in rodeos in his 30s. His wife Ethel Minster was a "city girl" and was not as big of a fan of the rodeo as he was.

"Mom was just a nervous wreck," Lopau said. "[She wanted him] to get out of it and she didn't want him to do it."

Lopau said what he enjoyed most about rodeo competitions was the challenge of it.

"He knew he was good at what he did," she said. "I never ever remember him questioning anything."

According to his biography written by MCHF, in 1939, at 13 years old, he, his eight-year-old brother and his 12-year-old uncle rounded up 300 head of pack stock from the winter range near Stevensville and delivered them to Ovando and Holland Lake driving the stock through downtown Missoula.

At the end of the hunting season in 1940, Moore stayed behind to break up camp and pack gear while his parents went down the trail with the last of the hunters. On the morning of Nov. 20, 14-year-old Moore brought the gear from Gordon Creek to the Holland Lake trailhead traveling over 29 miles through snow.

Along the way, he saw a grizzly bear on the trail in the distance. Because the snowpack was too deep to go off the trail, he hollered at the approaching bear and shot his rifle in the air. The bear continued advancing so he shot it. 

"I thought for sure Mr. Bear had me," Moore was quoted. "It was a different time. Kids don't do that now."

He reached Holland Lake Lodge at 10 p.m. where the barn thermometer registered -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lopau said when her father was in high school in Missoula, he and one of his friends skied around 30 miles over a mountain in the Blackfoot to Seeley Lake during their winter break.

Moore had tried to enlist in the military during World War II but was unsuccessful according to MCHF's biography.

"Every time I got to the induction center I had a cast on somewhere," he was quoted. "Finally, they told me to stay home and raise beef."

He married Ethel Minster, his high school sweetheart, in 1943 before they graduated. They spent their first married summer in the Bob Marshall where he guided a geological survey crew while she worked as camp cook. During their 72-year marriage they had five daughters: Wheeler, Lopau, Sager, Mary Christman who died in 2015 and Marsha Moore who died as a baby.

Ethel Minster's sisters, Nancy and Dolores, also lived with the couple for a period of time.

As they were raising their daughters, the married couple raised dairy cattle on Moore's grandparent's ranch in Pablo. At one point they were milking 120 cows.

Moore worked for the Forest Service at the horse ranch in Perma, Montana where he broke horses and mules. Part of his job was to take horses from Perma to ranger stations throughout western Montana. In 1948 and 1949 he worked two summers as a packer at Big Prairie, also in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

According to Lopau, in the '60s, Moore was a member of the Lake County Sheriff's Posse where he assisted in search and rescue missions on horseback. In 1964, he rescued 200 cows off of an island in Swan Lake during a spring flood. He also helped rebuild trails in the Bob Marshall when they washed out, so the Forest Service could have access.

Eventually, he came to work in the timber industry. However, that position was cut short when a sawyer dropped a tree across his truck, crushing the cab and almost severing his hands.

He attended forestry school in Missoula and was later hired by the U.S. Forest Service. In the 1970s and '80s he worked in Condon and later in Idaho where he became a timber cruiser. 

"He loved exploring the wilderness and participating in wilderness activities," Sager said. "I think he really promoted the importance of maintaining a quality environment. From my perspective, a part of him that a lot of people didn't realize was his desire to maintain the culture of Montana so that future generations could enjoy it."

Moore retired in 1988 and moved to his log home in Condon where he continued to ride and wrangle horses. In his later years he began indulging in cowboy poetry where he shared stories of outfitting, packing and hunting. He had two books published with the help of his daughters: "Cowboy Chatter" and "Moore Cowboy Chatter."

Lopau said anyone interested in purchasing copies of his books should email her at blueskygram@yahoo.com.

In the remaining years of his life, Moore and Ethel moved to Stevensville, Montana to live with Lopau's oldest daughter where he continued writing up until his death.

The MCHF and WHC tentatively plan to honor Moore and the other inductees during the MCHF Annual Induction Ceremony and Western Heritage Gathering from Feb. 12 - 13, 2021 in Great Falls at the Heritage Inn. More information on the event will come later this year.

To read Moore's full biography visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/moore_biography.pdf. Full biographies for past inductees are available on http://www.montanacowboyfame.org.

Information in the biography came from Moore's books, a 2014 interview with him by Jenny Rohrer, "It Was a Different Time" by Steve Lamar and "Montana Voices of the Swan" by Suzanne Vernon.