News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Dayton Hyde answered the phone from atop a ridge in South Dakota. He was repairing fence on the 11,000-acre Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, established by his father, Dayton O. Hyde.
Hyde and the sanctuary he created are the subject of a new documentary film, "Running Wild," which will show at Sisters Movie House starting October 4.
The younger Hyde hasn't yet seen the film.
"It'll be a big surprise for me when I go down to the Gene Autry museum in L.A. to see it," Hyde told The Nugget. He's also escorting his 88-year-old father to New York for a premier event.
The film is a portrait of a legendary cowboy-naturalist, warts and all.
"At first, I thought 'OK another mustang rescue film'," said Sisters Movie House owner Lisa Clausen. "So much more. Truly a story of a man driven by adventure and passion in our Western landscape. And sometimes, that can have a toll on the people he loves and who love him. I liked that this was not an examination of a perfect life and one with flaws and heartache."
Dayton O. Hyde is the author of a number of now-classic books depicting life on his ranch in the Klamath Basin, including "Yamsi" and "Don Coyote."
The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary website notes that, "In 1988, Dayton Hyde raised, by the skin of his teeth, enough money for a down-payment on a sanctuary near Hot Springs, South Dakota, and convinced the Bureau of Land Management to send him its unadoptable wild horses."
The horses now run free on the range.
His son notes that his father isn't done fighting for a cause.
"Right now the biggest thing is the uranium mining in the Black Hills - and he'll probably spend his last dollar fighting that," he said.
For more information on the film, visit www.running wildfilm.com. For film times see the ad in this week's Nugget or visit
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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