An exciting rodeo event that isn't seen in Texas shows any more is steer roping which has been outlawed in this state for about 50 years.

The law against steer roping was passed not at the insistence of a humane society but at the request of the cowmen themselves. In those days Texas steers mainly had long horns even if they weren't of the Longhorn breed, and the cattlemen complained that the cowboys injured too many of the cattle with which they worked while practicing for the roping events. Some states, notably Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming and others have never outlawed the sport.

This brings to mind the fact that back in the days when roping steers had wider horn spreads than are seen on most bulldogging steers today and when the roping steers weighed from 1,200 or 1,300 pounds and up, one of the world's greatest rodeo steer ropers was a cowgirl, the later Lucille Mulhall.

One of the country's outstanding horsewomen, she was the world's champion woman steer roper, occupying a position in that field comparable to that of pretty Pat McCormick, Big Spring's honey blond matadora, in the realm of bullfighting.

Lucille Mulhall's skill with a rope brought her fame in Euorpe as well as in America. She was the daughter of Col. Zack Mulhall and years ago she worked with such up and coming stars as Will Rogers and Tom Mix.

Her other feats with a rope marked her as the world's champion woman loop tosser. She could catch six and eight running horses with one throw. In 1920 she entered a steer roping contest at Ardmore, Oklahoma, against some of the country's best men ropers, and won it. She was also a rodeo promoter and put the Fort Worth show at the top of the stack.

In later years she retired from active participation and lived on the Mulhall Ranch at Mulhall, Oklahoma. She died in 1940.