Page 79 - March_2022

The Johnson family was among the first in the state to promote racing Quarter Horses
Because of the late John Johnson and his family’s contributions to promoting the state’shorseindustry,theSouthDakota
Quarter Horse Association (SDQHA) in 2019 recognized the family with its newly adopted Legacy Award for influential race producers.
The award follows years of top trainer awards bestowed on both John and his son Bob, and which by extension also honor Bob’s brother/partner Gary.
The fourth-generation ranch on which Johnson Stables sits sprang from a claim staked by Bob and Gary’s great-grandfather, Andrew Sandwick, in 1894. Andrew had left his job in
by Diane Rice
the gold mines of Deadwood, South Dakota, and settled along the North Grand River in northwest SouthDakota,about30milessouthofpresent- day Lemmon. Andrew moved his family up from Deadwood in 1896 and added acreage to the ranch through the years. However, the original homestead was flooded when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built the Shadehill Dam in 1951, creating the Shadehill Reservoir.
Bob and Gary’s paternal grandfather, Oscar Johnson, came to the area on a cattle drive from northwest of Grand Forks, North Dakota, when he was 14 years old. While still in his teens, he guided Norwegian
relatives to the area to settle, and then raised and sold horses to the army during World WarII. Heandhisson,AndrewJohnson, later raised Thoroughbreds. Oscar’s younger son John — Bob and Gary’s father — was born on the ranch in 1931.
Andrew and John worked in partnership until Andrew passed away, at which time John, Bob and Gary bought out his share of the ranch and the boys registered the ranch’s Rafter JJ brand. The ranch has been the family’s home continuously for 128 years and remains one of the oldest one-family ranches in Perkins County.
Bob Johnson
Gary Johnson
SPEEDHORSE March 2022 77
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