Page 85 - April 2017

James Carter purchased Barred in 1946. He is pictured above with Barred in 1951 in front of the brick home that he built on his ranch on Cow Creek near Jordan Valley, Oregon, after racing at Bay Meadows in California.
James Carter with his wife Anna in 1922 in Wyoming (right), with five of their seven children including sons James Van Allen Carter and Gustave Edward Carter, and daughters Ella Virginia Carter, Mary Edna Carter and Margaret Carter.
The ranch on Cow Creek supported six hundred mother cows and required a huge amount of time and work. A large amount of hay had to be put up each year. Branding, moving cattle from one pasture to another, calving, weaning and all the related work on the ranch took a huge amount of time and good management. Horses ran with the cattle on the range.
Jim Carter’s life was punctuated with huge tragedies. His 42-year-old wife died on the operat- ing table, leaving him with seven children. He lost his two oldest sons in horse related accidents. One dragged to death from a rope, the other bucked off in the rugged, rocky terrain. His youngest son, Bill, was three years old when his mother died. Jim took care of his mother-in-law until she passed away. He never remarried.
Bill Carter, Jim’s only surviving son, and Wilma Dewey graduated from high school in 1949 and mar- ried. She moved to the ranch and they began helping with the operations full time. Jim Carter built an all brick five-bedroom house with a full basement for the family. That was keeping with his practice of tak-
ing care of things. Bill began taking a greater role in managing the ranch. Thus, Jim could focus more time on “his horses.”
Sage Acres was a racetrack near Caldwell, Idaho, sixty rugged miles from the ranch on Cow Creek. It was a track carved out of sagebrush and a place where those who loved horses and racing went
to train and run their horses. Jim Carter wasn’t interested in racing there, but he was interested in training there. He constructed stalls on the location and transported his horses in a cattle truck that he had covered with a metal roof to protect the horses while hauling them. This was long before goose neck trailers and vans.
Jim Carter was an excellent horseman. He broke, trained and rode his own horses. He used Sage Acres to condition horses for racing on California tracks in the fall and winter when he could get away from the ranch. He was a man of vision and planning. He was frugal but practical. Have what you need, but nothing more was his practice. He bought nice things that were needed and took care of them.
“A fellow said he would put up the $2.50 entry fee if I
would ride in a rodeo race. I agreed, rode bareback and
won. I’ve been interested in race horses since then.”
– James V.A. Carter in 1900 at the age of 13.
SPEEDHORSE, April 2017 83