The American Western Stock Saddle (Part 1)

THE EMERGING ORIGINS TAKE SHAPE:

     The motivation for the western stock or “cowboy” saddle was a commercial industry that demanded more than just a simple riding seat, it required the development of a universal, utility tool. There were several necessities: First, it had to be stout, but light enough not to burden the horse; comfortable for the rider to sit hours in the saddle and yet be durable to last for years outdoors in all kinds of weather. For many, it needed a tall, sturdy horn for roping and a rear cinch to brace the saddle to the horse. For some, it required swells at the front to bracket the rider in the seat when trying to stay aboard an unruly bronc. Finally, it had to be comprehensive to allow multiple adaptable cultural or artistic embellishments crafted to its owner’s tasteful desires, or lack thereof. To the 19^th century cowhand, his saddle was a utensil used for riding, roping, carrying, pulling, bucking out broncs, and at night as a pillow. It was his “home”. A cowboy’s “kak” or “rig” was also a silent personal statement that visually told observers “who” he was, his level of ability or experience and often, where he came from. Such were the variable requirements of the working cowboy or “stock” saddle. 

     Of course, that industry was the cattle business. For that trade, transportation was a principal factor. Cattle were moved to the market place by riverboat then later, more often by railroad, but before this could even take place they first had to be gathered and driven “on foot” to the shipping points that served them. This had always been so, but what is most meaningful are the type saddles that emerged from the great western cattle drives that took place after the Civil War. In this short but influential period, the culture of the American cowboy and his iconic saddle was created and embroidered into history for all time. 

THE CATTLE INDUSTRY DRIVES AMERICA WEST:

     Cattle drives began early in American history. At first, eastward from the interior regions of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida to shipping ports along the east coast. Other important cattle producing regions began to develop in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. Then, as early as the late 18^th century cattle from east Texas and the Attakapas region of Louisiana were moved eastward in significant numbers along traditional Beef Trails to the major western shipping points like New Orleans and Mobile where further shipment was by boat to the eastern markets. Outside of Texas and the southeast, large numbers of marketable cattle did not exist except in California.

     As American civilization crept westward, by the 1840’s cattle were beginning to be driven on long trails north from Texas to towns in Missouri including Sedalia, Baxter Springs, Springfield and then St. Louis for steamboat passage up the Mississippi to the Ohio River and then east.  At this early date, the use of the cattle was not entirely for just beef but also the domestication of the Longhorn as oxen for freight hauling and farm work. However, fear by the local farmers of tick-born “Texas Fever” among the cattle frustrated much of this traffic forcing cattle drovers to move their cattle on trails farther west through eastern Kansas. Regardless, by later nineteenth century standards the numbers being moved were still relatively small.

     On the west coast, cattle had always been important. From the very first days of its settlement, California was cattle country. During the Mission Period of the late 18^th through early 19^th centuries ranching established a significant presence that grew under the Californio culture then accelerated with Anglo commerce and influence. From the early 19^th century, California had a market for hides as well as tallow that was shipped around Cape Horn in trade for manufactured goods. After Mexico received its independence from Spain in 1820 raising cattle became California’s sole industry. The number accelerated to about one-half million head by 1860 but greatly diminished over the next two decades due to natural cycles of severe drought and floods.¹

     During the Civil War, the Confederacy made a few small cattle drives as a source of food for their armies but the closing of the Mississippi River by Union authorities in 1863 ended that effort. The war had the effect of a temporary pause to the emerging cattle business that stifled both supply and demand. By 1866 an estimated quarter million surplus cattle free roamed Texas. With the opening of Chicago’s Armour and Company plant in 1867 and other innovations in meat storage, the expansion of the meat packing industry began. At the same time, the opening of the Trans-Continental Rail Road in 1869 made long distance shipping easier. All of these factors quickly drove the price of cattle from nearly worthless to $40 a head creating a massive potential profit for cheap cattle from Texas to be herded the long distances to shipping points. Thus, the cattle industry exploded and with it, the legend of the cowboy.²  

THE GREAT CATTLE DRIVE ERA:

     The first large scale cattle drives from Texas began about 1868 with drives north to Sedalia while other smaller post-war drives still used the old trails east to Shreveport, Alexandria and New Orleans. The westward extension of the Trans-continental railroad portended the spider web like expansion of other rail lines across the Middle West such as the Kansas Pacific and the Topeka & Santa Fe. Soon railheads were established in Abilene, Kansas creating an end point for drives up the Chisholm Trail from Texas through Oklahoma Territory. Other cattle trails forked off to secondary railheads in Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas and elsewhere. Over the next decade tens of thousands of cattle were gathered from the Texas ranges and moved north.³

     Tick fever remained a problem so the more significant cattle drive routes were forced successively westward. The Goodknight-Loving Trail was a major western cattle trail that brought beeves out of west Texas north into Colorado and then quickly to Wyoming and the gateway to the great northwest. The wide-open grass ranges found in the vast prairie lands of the American west were perfect for the development of the business of raising cattle which established a permanence and still more rail heads and shipping points growing in both number and importance.

     In the far west of California, the culture, climate and economy were different. The post war cattle business remained strong, but the earlier discovery of gold, disruptive weather cycles and other forms of agriculture had misplaced its importance. Long cattle drives were not necessary to drive the herds to shipping points and neither were lengthy rail lines a factor. To the east, the imposing Rocky Mountain range formed a critical physical and psychological barrier for the California cattle industry. As a result, California had developed its own markets, methods and of course, saddle culture. However, as we shall see it was not without influence east of the mountains as well.

     San Francisco became an early shipping point for cattle especially prior to the Civil War, as were other ports along the west coast. Just as in the east, after the war the cattle industry in California evolved in the following decades but with a northward migration to Oregon, Idaho, Montana and other areas north and west of the Great Divide. In the Great Northwest places like Miles City, Montana and Pendleton and Dalles Oregon also became centers for burgeoning cattle trade as well as their required saddlery.

     Interestingly, the formidable Rocky Mountains had also formed a cultural barrier that created a different, more Hispanic-influenced cattle industry tradition and form of stock saddle in California. The far west saddle making business took on its own unique style that was for a time, distinct from the saddles found on the east side of the Rockies.

       By the 1890’s, stable cattle industry operations were being developed all over the West and so the Great Cattle Drive Era was coming to a close. Several factors contributed to its demise including poor cattle and range management, several droughts, an exceptionally severe winter in 1886-1887 and civilization, with towns, farms and its accompanying barbed wire fencing. Of greater impact than all of this was that rail expansion and meat-packing plants were being established closer to the western ranching areas. While there was still a critical need for cowboys and stock saddles- a need that would last for decades or arguably forever, but the long-distance cattle drives were soon rendered unnecessary and thus ended.  

     The Great Cattle Drive Era lasted only about twenty years. Nevertheless, the history, legends and romance of the cowboy founded during this short but unique period would be forever burnished in the American culture and psyche.⁴

THE AMERICAN COWBOY STOCK SADDLE:

     The development of the American-made cowboy stock saddle was as much economic, cultural and geographical as it was dependent upon the innovative creativity and business genius of several key pioneers in the saddle industry. It began before the Civil War with saddles built by pioneer makers on the east coast, in St. Louis, Texas, California and Mexico. In the decades following the war, large-scale enterprises in San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, San Antonio and St. Louis along with influential makers in Visalia California, Cheyenne Wyoming, Pueblo Colorado, Miles City Montana and Nevada quickly emerged, developed and soon dominated the stock saddle market.

      Of greater interest is that it also started with two distinctive saddle cultures in the west. One east of the Rocky Mountains beginning in Texas then emanating north onto the Plains and the other in California with a third, smaller sub-culture later emerging by influence of the others in the northwest area including Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. All of these cultures had Spanish/Mexican origins but were significantly developed by the skill of multi-national immigrant arrivals in all of the finest traditions of our great American heritage.

WEST OF THE GREAT DIVIDE:  HISPANIC HERITAGE AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE STOCK SADDLE.

     The Spanish then later Mexican background for raising cattle began during California’s early Mission period but was greatly advanced by the emergence of the Californio culture in the late 18^th century through the mid-19^th century. The development of the California style of saddle originated in what was then regarded as the land of the Californios. This area was generally located along California’s central coast yet with significant pockets elsewhere as well.

      As has been shown, the early Spanish then Mexican Vaqueros there developed their own cultural saddlery and trees including variable up-right horns used for roping. The capricious Mexican Ranchero saddle patterns were quickly adapted by Anglos in the first half of the 19^th century and then inconsistently condensed under the broader term “California saddle”. This saddle further developed or transitioned after the Civil War where the California style of saddle found it’s calling in American stock saddles. First, by broad exposure during the California Gold Rush and then with the emergence of the post-Civil War cattle industry.⁵

Marked “Budd & Lehman, Sacramento” Though incomplete, this Visalia tree with under skirting, c.1860 is a good example of an early California Cow Country Vaquero saddle.

THE CALIFORNIA SADDLE TREES:

     The foundation for any successful cowboy saddle is its tree. The tree has to be designed for punishing utility such as roping. It had to be durable and ridged for years of hard work and yet be comfortable enough for a man to spend long hours in the saddle. However, perhaps more importantly it also had to be tapered to the gentle contours and flexible movement of a working horse’s spine and muscle structure. In short, it had to be comfortable for the horse too. The complexity of this conflict between the ridged tree and the variable yet soft, flexible horse’s back is what makes a good saddletree design so incredibly difficult to achieve.

     Up to the 1860’s the best saddle for working cattle was the varying Californio Vaquero Saddle, although it arguably had a formidable rival found in some pre-war Texas saddles. While Mexican Vaqueros were mostly content with their native saddles Anglo cowboys preferred Americanized designs. As far as recorded, most early Californio Vaquero and Texas saddles were made with a natural fork tree- that is, the fork and horn cut and shaped from the notch of trees. Unfortunately, wooden horns of any type could not long survive in open range roping and other harsh conditions inherent of the great Texas cattle drives and cattle industry that emerged after the Civil War. Thus, it was the unique requirements of the cattle trade that led to the modified design of several new saddletrees in the 1860’s and beyond.

     After the war, the new saddle patterns emerging on the Plains incorporated the longer bars, and smaller horns of the refined California style trees. These trees varied widely in style and by maker. Among the well-known early names were Freiseke and Lehman- both indefinite patterns emanating from California but in whole all of the California trees were to become the basis for almost all heavy stock saddles that would follow. Later, in the 1870’s and 1880’s still better trees exploded on the scene.⁶

THE LEDESMA TREE:

     One of the most famous stock saddle trees emerging out of California at this time was the Ledesma. Born in Mexico, Cornielio “Tony” Ledesma came to California in the 1860’s. It is not known where he learned saddle making but by the late 1870’s he was already an accomplished tradesman working in the shop of Jesus Salazar in Visalia California.

Ledesma tree

     Jesus Salazar (1830-1903) is thought to have come from the renowned saddle making area of Sonora Mexico. At an early age, he moved to Hornitos California where he began working in the leather and saddle repair business. Salazar displayed particular talent for constructing saddles that conformed to the horse so was encouraged to move to the cattle ranching region around Visalia. This was definitely cattle country. One nearby ranch ran some 50,000 head. There he opened his own shop and with the fortuitous arrival of Tony Ledesma, Salazar’s business and reputation exploded.⁷

     While in Visalia, the two men worked together to create the Ledesma tree and some of the finest saddles yet available at that time. It is not clear who had the most influence on the development of the Ledesma saddletree but historians generally credit the skill and ingenuity of Tony Ledesma, “Under Ledesma’s craftsmanship the Salazar saddles were far superior to any on the market.”  Moreover, it is his name that is universally attached to that tree pattern. Its principal feature was a well-designed form that fit the horse’s back and with a deep seat and high horn, “…that allowed Vaqueros to more easily loop (dally) their lariats.” By the early 1880’s Ledesma’s tree and saddle making talents had grown beyond cattle country. His trees were often shipped to other makers for finish including to the R. Stone & Co. shop of Sacramento. In 1882, after Albert A. Van Voorhies purchased Stone & Co. the new owner enticed Ledesma to move to Sacramento, first as a saddle maker then later, he was made foreman.⁸

     Ledesma worked for Van Voorhies almost until he passed in 1925. Under his guidance and workmanship, the Van Voorhies shop, later Van Voorhies & Phiney Co., became known for excellent quality saddles. Salazar’s history is a bit more obscure. Apparently, he worked rather quietly in his Visalia shop until 1902 and died in 1903.⁹

      Tony Ledesma had a huge impact on the American western saddle. Moreover, his tree pattern was widely copied by other stock saddle makers throughout the west. Nevertheless, it is their shared legacy that both he and T. Salazar are rightfully credited with helping further the reputation for California in the art of making fine saddles.

THE TAYLOR TREE:

     One of the most intriguing legends of the early cowboy tree makers in California is that of the Taylor brother’s. Theirs is a whimsical and obscure story with little solid documentation. Most of its narrative comes from the venerable saddle book, “They Saddled the West”, by Lee M. Rice and Glenn R. Vernum. This book was written in a highly nostalgic, romantic style, but without sources and by authors in the twilight of their years. Little of it can be verified. Yet, these two old-time cowboys had credible links to early saddle history and firsthand knowledge of the old cowboy way of life. Despite these misgivings the essence of their Taylor tree story rings true.¹⁰

     Aleck and George Taylor ran a small cattle ranch in the heart of cattle country in central California. There was nothing special about them. They had not been trained in the art of tree making nor had they any experience, … “neither of the brothers was a saddle maker, nor did they ever have a factory. They were just a couple of back-country boys who used what time could be spared from the ranch work in shaping up saddle trees.” Despite this unlikely beginning their saddletree would achieve nationwide fame for its design and craftsmanship.¹¹

Taylor tree.

    It all started sometime in the 1870’s when the Taylor boys decided that the Vaquero trees employed in their neighborhood were not good enough. They concluded that they could do better. So, one winter with nothing more than pocket-knives, hand tools and time they designed and constructed their own saddletrees. The result worked remarkably well and was so different they were asked by friends to make more. Soon all of the Vaqueros on the surrounding ranches were engaging the boys to make trees. In each case, the Taylor’s cut and carved the tree themselves and covered it in rawhide but always allowed other saddlers to finish them with leather to the desire of the owners.

      What made the Taylor tree unique was the shape of its bars and fork with a high fork and roping horn, the angle of the cantle and like Ledesma’s tree, they fit the horse’s back. In another critical innovation, they discarded the use of hardwood replacing it with softer, more flexible Willow wood and then covered it entirely with thick rawhide. All of this made for a unique style but also a very durable, lightweight tree very different from the standard Vaquero tree of the time.

     The fame of the Taylor tree spread rapidly among the area’s saddle shops. “By 1876, the Taylor brothers were spending their entire winters with knives and (wheel) spoke halves making saddle trees to keep abreast of the growing demand. Doing all of their work around a wood stove in the ranch house kitchen…”¹² Even some of the major shops that were then emerging in Visalia, at Fresno and San Francisco clamored for Taylor trees. The Taylor’s never made more than what they could turn out by hand so naturally the supply was limited. In addition, they were just country boys so they never considered patenting the tree. As a result, the larger shops began to copy and make their own “Taylor” trees. Regardless, the fame of the Taylor tree spread far and wide so that by the 1880’s all of the name saddle makers as far as Cheyenne and Miles City, Montana; Pueblo, Colorado and Elko, Nevada were making or using knock-offs of the Taylor trees.   

     The Taylor’s branded each of their genuine trees with a greyhound figure on the rawhide. They always gave a personal guarantee that if any of their trees ever hurt a horse’s back the owner could bring it back for replacement and see the defective tree broken up with an axe at the Taylor wood pile. Thus, guaranteeing it would never hurt another horse’s back. It will never be known, but still it is probably doubtful that the Taylor’s had to resort very often to this drastic measure.¹³ Today, original trees made by the Taylors are rare but what survives is their ground breaking tree design and of course, the legend. 

THE VISALIA TREE:

     The Visalia tree is unquestionably the most famous stock saddle tree of the old west. It began its early development in the 1870’s at the Juan Maratrel (Martorell) saddle shop in Hornitos California. A native of San Salvador, Maratrel came to California at the time of the Gold Rush. Later, at his shop in Horintos, he was joined by a saddle maker from Sonora, Mexico by the name of Ricardo Mattle. In 1868, Maratel moved his shop to Visalia to take advantage of the opportunities in California’s cattle country. Though the business struggled in competition with T. Salazar’s saddle shop in Visalia, Maratrel and Mattle developed the design of the soon to be famous Visalia tree. In the early 1870’s two former employees of Main & Winchester by the names of David E. Walker and Henry G. Shuham arrived in Visalia and subsequently purchased Maratel’s shop and engaged the employment of the two saddle makers as well as another by the name of Jose Rodríguez. D.E. Walker was a savvy businessman. During the time under his leadership the firm, later known as the Visalia Stock Saddle Company, refined and widely marketed the Visalia tree and saddles that would make it famous all over the west.¹⁴

Visalia Tree

      In 1882, Walker bought the whole interest in the company from Shuham and remained its sole owner until 1887 when he sold out one-half interest. At that time, the business was removed to San Francisco. The Visalia Stock Saddle Company went through several ownership changes over the next one hundred years but is still in business today at Fresno California. Perhaps due in some part to that perseverance the Visalia remains today the most well-known of California saddletrees.

     The Visalia, Ledesma, Taylor and other trees were unique in their innovations, but to the untrained eye very similar to each other. There might only be subtle variances, but the cowboys of the era knew the difference. Their personal preferences may have varied but their choice was more about utility, style and comfort for both horse and rider. Like most saddletrees, none were patented however as noted, it was due to their excellent design and construction that they were adopted or copied by other saddle makers. In the 1870’s, all of these patterns were migrating to northern California, Oregon and east to Colorado, Montana, Utah, Nevada and elsewhere.

    Other popular stock saddle trees that were to emerge in cattle country were the White River (California and Colorado styles), Chappo, Portland, Nelson, Ellenburg and others. To be sure, by the 1890’s these and still more saddletrees were applied in the industry under other trade names. Nevertheless, it was from the foundation of the California trees that were to emerge the most famous stock saddles of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries including the Cheyenne, Pueblo, the Swell Fork, Montana saddle and even today’s Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association bronc saddles.

THE CALIFORNIA STOCK SADDLE MIGRATES TO THE NORTH:

     The leather finish of the stock saddle founded in California cattle country from the 1860’s to 1880’s was hardly monolithic but it was powerful. Four hundred years of cultural embellishment and cattle working experience had a huge and variable impact, perhaps more so than any other area of the country. Their migration north into Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and western Montana in the late 19^th century helped establish some fairly common themes there as well including full seats, single rigging, sometimes tapaderos, and then adding their own touch- primarily swell forks, to ride the large, powerful bucking horses produced in the region. Significant saddle makers that would come to make a name for themselves in the northwest for these type saddles were the Hamley Brothers, Victory Marden, Al Frustnow, George Lawrence, the Connolly’s and others. In a broader text and in due time, the California influence would come to impact all stock saddles in American cow-country.

Very complete Gallatin & Co. California saddle. C. 1870’s.

EAST OF THE GREAT DIVIDE: STOCK SADDLES FROM TEXAS NORTH ONTO THE PLAINS:

THE TEXAS (Stock) SADDLE:

     The 1870’s were the high water mark for the great cattle drives on the central Plains and then, quickly expanding west and northwest into the emerging cattle regions of the northern plains via Cheyenne. In the early years the saddles arriving from the South were variable Texas and Hope patterns, Mexican patterns of the era with no doubt, a sprinkling of the earlier horned and unhorned American patterns. Most were lightweight saddles little suited for the excessive demands placed upon them by the long trail drives, rugged roping work and, harsh weather of the cattle business on the plains. Moreover, the short bar trees did little to displace the human weight over the back of the horse resulting in sore-back horses. The California saddles that the Texas drovers encountered on the Plains were found to be a better match for cattle work.) By the 1870’s enterprising saddlers had begun incorporating the California features by lengthening the tree bars and placing wider skirts under the bars then double rigging the girths (as security for Texas style tie-down roping). Quite quickly these features had become prominent and fairly consistent. What developed from these modifications became the “Texas” Saddle”, an early form of post war stock saddle While still generally retaining a low horn and cantle, by adding wide underskirts, double girths, Samstag rigging, half seats, wide looped stirrup leathers and other common California features the saddle was heavier, stouter and had a distinctive look than those native to Texas at the time. The underskirts and seat leathers provided a dispersal of weight that was more comfortable for the overworked cowhand but more importantly his often-overlooked horse. (see Section VI, The Hope/Texas Saddles (1830’s – 1870’s) for more information).¹⁵

Texas style saddle made by G.H. and J.S. Collins, c.1870s

SAMSTAG RIGGING:

     The origins and development of the powerfully prominent Samstag rigging presents a unique challenge to the American horned saddle story line. Little is known of Samstag the person and less about just how this rigging pattern proliferated across the western saddle world. In fact, the elusive Mr. Samstag may not have developed it at all and, where did it first emerge- Texas, California, the Plains or elsewhere? We cannot be sure.  

     Joseph Alexander Samstag was born in New York in 1836 to German immigrant parents. At a fairly young age he came to California during the Gold Rush. By the 1860’s he had his own small saddlery in Visalia, Tulare County, California but by the 1870’s he had sold his business. Later records list him alternatively as a miner or saddler and still living in Visalia as late as the turn of the century before his death in 1913. Not much else is known.¹⁶

Samstag (“over and looped around”) rigging is made of one piece of leather, usually slit lengthwise with one strap looped around the horn then down to the rigging ring.

     The dominant rigging style that is known today as Samstag rigging was originally known as “over and looped around rigging”.  It was made of one piece of leather properly slit lengthwise with one strap looped around the horn then down each side of the slick fork to a rigging ring. Another similar rigging employed two straps both looped around the horn but one from the front of the horn and the other from behind the horn. This two-strap style rigging became incredibly popular on California saddles as early as the 1860’s and then on Texas and other stock saddles everywhere. It was simple, effective, very attractive and widely employed by saddle shops large and small and by catalog companies across the country from at least the early 1870’s to the 1920’s. However, it was not generally associated to Samstag the person until the twentieth century- as it remains today among saddle makers, cowhands and collectors.¹⁷

Texas saddles, even some with a full Coras remained popular well into the 1890’s.

OTHER EARLY STOCK SADDLE FEATURES:

     Like Samstag rigging, it is not clear how many of the other popular saddle features found on the Texas saddle originated, but it was likely piecemeal, over time and by several makers. For example, large underskirts, half seats, seat jockeys, fenders and some horn shapes. Clearly, much of the basic Texas stock saddle is in actuality a re-birth of the Mexican/California saddles that originated in the early 19^th century then proliferated in the 1860’s and 1870’s. Many of its individual features have been around for quite some time but exactly when and by whom these came to be can only be speculated. They may have been refined somewhat in the saddle shops of the central and northern Plains and they were certainly widely assimilated there, but it would be an exaggeration to attribute all of the above feature changes to only one era, pattern or maker. Gallatin, Meanea, Gallup, Heiser and the Collins’ were all very prominent saddlers at the time. It is certain these well-known makers were building the California in the 1870’s, then in the late 70’s to early 1880’s the Texas style stock pattern, but no doubt innumerable other makers were as well. Despite its mixed blood origins the Texas-style saddle was the first widely recognizable stock saddle in the post war era.¹⁸

THE INFLUENTIAL MAKERS:

     As noted above, the development of the American-made cowboy stock saddle was geographical yet also dramatically influenced by the innovative creativity and business genius of many pioneers in the saddle industry; again, many of them new arrivals to the American West. This was particularly true in the cattle country on the plains east of the Rockies. Several people figured prominently into this story but the most significant of these persons was certainly Edward L. Gallatin.

1. L. Gallatin was a highly skilled saddle & harness maker, even excellent by contemporary accounts but his legacy reaches much farther than his personal handiwork. Gallatin’s impact upon his partners, acquaintances and other craftsmen in the cowboy saddle trade was far more important. Often called the “Father of the Western Stock Saddle”, Gallatin was either intimately or at least indirectly involved in the establishment of many of the major centers of the stock saddle trade on the Plains. It was he and his venerable associates and contemporaries who were the first to take the California saddle and then the light saddles arriving from Texas and transform them into a heavier more rugged article suitable to the use of the western cowpuncher. Their influences impacted the Texas and then the subsequent creations; the renowned Pueblo and Cheyenne saddle patterns.¹⁹

      Gallatin got his start in 1845 as an apprentice in his native St. Louis under pioneer saddler Thorton Grimsley. After several difficult years in apprentice and then under employment with Grimsley, Gallatin moved to Independence Missouri to work with John Landis, son of pioneer saddler Israel Landis. Here, he found a more amicable employer. At the urging of Gallatin, Landis decided he needed to take advantage of an emerging sales opportunity lying to the west at a small but burgeoning frontier village in Colorado Territory that was later to become Denver. That city was then developing as a gold miner’s supply town and jumping off point for the Pike’s Peak Gold Fields. In the spring of 1860 Landis and several employees with two wagons loaded full of finished harness and supplies traveled across the plains to Denver and built a shop that quickly prospered. By fall 1860, Landis had grown weary of the frontier life and proposed that Gallatin and another hand, Francis Gallup, take over while Landis returned back to Independence. With business booming this turn of events certainly suited the two aspiring businessmen. Flushed with success from this and other entrepreneurial adventures, in a short time Gallatin propositioned opening another location. In 1865, leaving his partner in Denver the budding entrepreneur established a new branch for Gallup and Gallatin back along the Missouri River in Nebraska City, Nebraska- then the freighting capital of the west. Here, harness making was the primary interest. The great cattle migrations had not yet materialized so saddles were an important but a secondary consideration. Nevertheless, still possessed by the ambition itch, just three years later Gallatin proposed yet another bold move. This one was prophetic.²⁰ 

     In 1868 the town of Cheyenne in Wyoming Territory was reeling after being by-passed as a rail center on the Union Pacific Railroad. Despite its forlorn beginnings, Cheyenne had the makings of something special. It was surrounded by cheap grasslands perfect for raising cattle and was centrally located for the northern trail drives from Texas as well as for cattle ranchers to the northwest in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming, Oregon and even Utah. At first, Texas cattle stocked the rangelands but soon cattle were being introduced from all over the Plains. In short order, Cheyenne would quickly become “cowboy central” for the northern plains. Gallatin’s sharpened business acumen recognized these opportunities. In 1868, he went to Cheyenne and opened up yet another shop, this one primarily for saddles. Under his innovative stewardship it immediately took off. However, with three very widely ranging locations, uneven health and his other meandering aspirations Gallatin was spread mighty thin. So, in 1870 he engaged his young nephew, Frank Meanea to manage the Cheyenne branch of Gallup and Gallatin.  This too would prove providential.²¹

     Frank Meanea was young but no slouching leatherhead. He too, possessed strong business intuition and consummate craftsmanship skills, but more than any other individual saddle maker on the plains, Frank Meanea was innovative. Born in Missouri in 1849, Meanea began his career in leather working for the Union Pacific Railroad. At 19 years old, he went to work in the Gallatin shop. Then, at only twenty-one he was called upon by his uncle to manage the surging Cheyenne branch of Gallup & Gallatin. Though not an insatiable wanderer like his uncle Gallatin, Frank Meanea was equally as ambitious. In 1873, he was made full partner and in 1881 he purchased the Cheyenne shop. By this time Meanea had built a name that could stand on its own and a reputation that remains to this day.²²

    Meanea’s impact on the cowboy saddle trade is legendary. He operated this shop in Cheyenne for nearly sixty years. In that time, he was to play a significant role in the development of some of the most recognizable styles of western stock saddles of the era as well as many new innovations and ideas. Today, the legacy of his name and products are iconic in the history of American stock saddles.

     While Gallatin and Meanea were making a name for themselves in Cheyenne another famous name in cowboy saddles was also rising- The Collins Brothers. John and Gilbert Collins grew up in Galena Illinois where they learned the saddle and harness trade from their father Eli Collins. At the time, the Collins shop purchased much of their leather from a nearby tannery owned by a man by the name of Jesse R. Grant. The Collins’ were friendly with the Grant family and Eli was particularly helpful to Jesse’s son Sam helping him get a commission in the army at the beginning of the Civil War. In 1864, the Collins boys went west to seek their fortunes settling in Omaha Nebraska to establish their own saddle and harness shop. Although probably intending to make both harness and saddles they no doubt recognized quite early the opportunities in the cattle business on the plains and the growing need for saddles.²³

A Collins Brother’s Saddlery advertisement, Cheyenne Daily Sun, June 11, 1878. Many other makers widely advertised “California Saddles” including Gallup & Gallatin in Denver. Courtesy of Grif Durham.