The Meanea Catalog, 1889
The first mail-order catalog from the Meanea shop in Cheyenne, defining the Wyoming saddle.
Chapter II·The Heritage Archive
A living record of the American West.
Catalogs, oral histories, tools, photographs, maker's marks, museum partnerships, and a nationwide map of craftsmen and heritage locations — searchable, free, and growing.
Chapter II.i·Interactive Timeline
One hundred and fifty years.
- 1866
The first cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail sets the template for the working cowboy.
- 1889
The Meanea saddle shop opens in Cheyenne, defining the Wyoming-style saddle.
- 1911
N. Porter Saddle Co. becomes the largest maker west of the Mississippi.
- 1954
Billy Cook begins his career at Ryon's in Fort Worth, learning the tree.
- 1969
Billy Cook opens his own shop in Sulphur, Oklahoma.
- 2003
The last of the great mail-order saddle catalogs is discontinued.
- 2024
Adam Trenk revives Genuine Billy Cook and begins The Last Saddle Maker project.
Chapter II.ii·Searchable Collections
Search the record.
12 of 12
N. Porter Trade Catalog
The Phoenix maker's leather goods catalog at the height of its production.
Ryon's of Fort Worth
The catalog Billy Cook trained inside — reprinted from the original plates.
Cheyenne Cowboy, c. 1902
Studio portrait of a working hand mounted on a Meanea rig.
Panhandle Cattle Drive
The last generation of open-range drives, photographed on the XIT.
Billy Cook — Oral History
A three-hour recorded conversation with Billy Cook near the end of his life.
A Silversmith Remembers
A Sheridan silversmith describes learning the trade before the war.
The Stamp Collection
Photographs of the hand-stamps used in the great Oklahoma shops.
Fitting the Tree
The single most important measurement in a working saddle, documented step by step.
The Billy Cook Maker's Mark
The evolution of the shop's stamped mark across five decades.
N. Porter Mark
The distinctive banner mark of the Phoenix maker.
National Cowboy Museum
A partnership documenting the museum's saddle and silver collection.
Chapter II.iii·Maker's Marks
A signature struck in leather.
Every serious shop carries its own stamped mark — a lineage as distinct as a signature. We're photographing and cataloging the marks of the great American makers, past and present.
Chapter II.iv·Oral Histories
Voices from the workshop.
Billy Cook
Sulphur, OK
3:14:22 · 1984
A Sheridan Silversmith
Sheridan, WY
1:42:08 · 1968
The El Paso Bootmaker
El Paso, TX
0:58:41 · 1991
A Ranch Foreman
Ochiltree County, TX
2:07:19 · 2001
Chapter II.v·Nationwide Heritage Map
The country, mapped by craft.
Every maker, ranch, and museum in the archive, plotted on the land where the work lives.
Nationwide Heritage Map — 12 locations
Chapter II.vi·Museum Partnerships
In partnership with the institutions keeping the record.
- National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
- Buffalo Bill Center of the West
- Autry Museum of the American West
- Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
- Desert Caballeros Western Museum