RIDING TALL IN THE SADDLE!! KING’S SADDLERY!!

When Cookie and me need a saddle or rope where do we go…well to the best of course King’s Saddlery and King’s Ropes!

And where do I go when the cowboy in my current work in progress needs a top of the line saddle…well he just moseys on over to King’s Saddlery!

Born in Douglas, Wyoming, in 1923, Don King was the son of an itinerant ranch hand, Archie King.  By the age of 14, Don learned to tool leather as he supported himself with odd jobs at ranches and rodeos.  He sold and traded wallets, belts and other small gear.  “I traded for pants, shirts, hats, spurs, anything. Sometimes I ended up with nothing.”

King worked on ranches throughout the West, finally settling down in Sheridan, Wyoming in 1946. There he became an apprentice to expert saddle maker Rudy Mudra.  King assisted in the building of saddles and created piecework for local cowboys.

After acquiring his own ranch he committed his time to that enterprise until in 1957, when he devoted himself full-time to saddlemaking and leather tooling.  King preferred to focus on highly ornamental trophy saddles like those given as prizes in rodeo competitions. During this time, he developed his own style of tooling.  A style characterized by wild roses “with a distinctive shape, as though they were viewed from a 45-degree angle.”

By 1961, when King opened his own business on Main Street in Sheridan, he was well-known among ranchers and rodeo stars for his impeccable craftsmanship.  This artistry and precision is best demonstrated in the making of the saddle type he created, the Sheridan-style saddle. The Sheridan-style saddle is “in its general form, a classic high plains roping saddle: short, square skirts; a low cantle with a broad Cheyenne roll…” But the most distinctive element is the wild rose (Sheridan Rose) tooling. King also used unusually deep stamping to give “greater three-dimensional depth to his tooling…”

Sheridan Style Saddle

His skill earned King the PRCA World Championship Saddle contract for 6 years. Some of these saddles are displayed at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and PRCA Rodeo Hall of Fame.  The honors King received for his works include: Chester A. Reynolds Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, The National Heritage Fellowship for the Folk Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Governor’s Quality Business Award for the State of Wyoming.  King was also a founding member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association.

Through the years King’s saddles have been acquired by everyone from local Wyoming cowboys to celebrities and dignitaries such as: Queen Elizabeth, Ronald Reagan, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

King’s Saddlery & King’s Ropes is a must stop in Sheridan. Not only can you walk back to the rope shop and pick out your very own custom rope, but there is a Museum off the rope shop filled with saddles of any style along with Old West collectibles. But beware it is extremely easy to walk in empty-handed and walk out with empty pockets…I speak from experience! But guess where I’ll be next week…?

 

SOURCES:

http://www.sheridanwyoming.org/history/buildingsmuseums/kings-museum/

http://www.kingropes.com/thekings.htm

http://www.cowboysaddlery.com/donking.html

**Photos are mine except the one of the Sheridan style saddle it is property of www.sheridanwyoming.org**

POLO ANYONE? BIG HORN AND FLYING H POLO CLUBS IN WYOMING!

I don’t know about y’all, but when Cookie and me are in the mood for a bit of “the sport of kings” well the first place we think of headin’…Sheridan and nearby Big Horn, Wyomin’, of course!

One of the ten largest polo clubs in the United States today is the Big Horn Polo Club near Sheridan, Wyoming. There are forty-five, full-time members including the last three winners of the U.S. Open. Some of the best American polo players still make a pilgrimage to the Big Horn Polo Club, and the most prestigious polo breeding operation in the world is located there.

During the late 19th Century, Englishmen and Scotsmen moved to the area purchasing ranches usually with the intent of breeding thoroughbred horses. With them they brought the game of polo, which they taught to their ranch hands.

The first spectator game of polo, in Wyoming, was played on July 4, 1893 at the Sheridan fairgrounds. The hour and ten minute game pitted Beckton against Sheridan. Both teams were primarily composed of British players, including Captain Pete Stockwell a British officer formerly stationed in India, who played for Beckton.

The umpire during that game was Frank Grouard. Grouard was captured by the Sioux in 1870. He lived with the Sioux until he joined the U.S. Army and scouted for General George Crook.  After the Indian Wars, Grouard came back to the Big Horn area and went into the horse business.

Malcolm Moncreiffe and Ways

Not long after over a thousand spectators witnessed that first polo game, Scotsman Malcolm Moncreiffe moved from Powder River to the Big Horn area and built a polo field and breeding operation in 1898. Moncreiffe’s breeding operation was one of the finest in the world, and he exported Wyoming-bred thoroughbred polo horses and foxhunters to England. Moncreiffe also provided over 20,000 of his Wyoming thoroughbreds to the British cavalry and artillery during the Boer War.

Along with building his breeding operation, Moncreiffe developed a polo team with his friend Bob Walsh. Bob Walsh, a former piano player in a whorehouse in Miles City, Montana, was by this time the president of Moncreiffe’s First National Bank in Sheridan. By the turn of the century, Moncreiffe and Walsh traveled with their team to Colorado Springs winning a tournament on the lawn of the Broadmoor Hotel. The tournament featured several Army teams, a Denver team and a team from Kansas City.

But it wasn’t Moncreiffe or Walsh who led their team to victory, but genuine cowboy, John Cover. Cover was a bronc rider, steer roper, relay rider and cattleman. As a teenager he started working for Moncreiffe. Cover was eventually put in charge of the polo operation and evolved into one of the top players in the United States. He quit Moncreiffe after a dispute and was immediately hired by Goelet Gallatin who owned the Circle V Polo Company in Big Horn.

The Circle V was started at the end of the First World War, and became one of the premier polo operations in the world.  The Circle V expanded its polo operations to include more than 150 top brood mares, and established a winter location in Aiken, South Carolina. Broodmares from the Circle V were sent to top international players throughout the world including Tommy Hitchcock, Ambrose Clarke and Deveraux Milburn. When Cover arrived at the Circle V, Hitchcock and Milburn trailed him in an attempt to acquire a few of his secrets.  Cover became such a well-respected player, he was asked to join a team of Americans traveling to England. He refused stating “he had cows to look after.”  Cover was known as the second-best Back in the United States, behind his protégé Milburn.

By the 1920s and 30s, world class horse breeders were firmly established in the area including Cameron Forbes, Alan Fordyce and O.H. Wallop. These men also established polo teams and rivalries, friendly and not, resulted in local games benefiting charities such as the Salvation Army, Red Cross and local charitable organizations. Many of these thoroughbred breeders had been in business over 30 years, producing some of the heartiest horses on Earth.

In 1948, the Neponset team repeated history on the lawn of the Broadmoor Hotel winning the National 12-Goal Championship match.  Bloodlines of six Kentucky Derby winners were present on that team.

But polo started to fade from the local scene in the late 1950s. Bob Tate began a resurgence of the sport, in 1963, with Malcolm and John Wallop and a Tepee Lodge team.

By the early eighties, the Moncreiffe field was sold and a group of players established the Big Horn Equestrian Center including the Big Horn Polo Club.  In 2000, two teams with their breeding operations in Sheridan won the U.S. Open.

The Flying H Polo Club, started on what used to be the Circle V, became one of the premier summer clubs in the United States offering high-goal polo. Some of the top international players have participated at the Flying H, including eight U.S. Open winners.

If y’all are interested in takin’ in a game, no need to high-tail it across the Atlantic. Just set sail on a prairie schooner to Sheridan where three days a week from July to Labor Day you can see “the game of kings” at either the Big Horn Polo Club (the oldest polo club West of the Mississipp) or at the Flying H Polo Club.

Now see, Cookie and me we’re just full of culture and the like. Why we might go so far as to bathe before headin’ on over to the polo field.

 

SOURCES:

http://www.poloplayersedition.com/new/sept04.html

http://www.sheridanwyoming.org/activities/weekly-events/polo-matches/

http://www.flyinghpolo.com/history.htm

Blair, Pat, Prater, Dana and the Sheridan County Museum. Images of America: Sheridan. Arcadia Publishing, 2008.

 

WESTERN ROUNDUP!!! SHATTERED SILENCE BY MARGARET DALEY

Whoo-eee, y’all, it’s been a coon’s age and a year since we’ve had a Western Wednesday feature! I’m pleased to have Ms. Margaret Daley back ‘round the fire with the second book in her Men of the Texas Rangers series, SHATTERED SILENCE!

Once again, Ms. Daley tackles some of the toughest issues facing our society and packages it all within a fast-paced thrilling romantic suspense!

So come on ‘round the fire and make sure you read the excerpt from SHATTERED SILENCE and then read on to learn a bit about Margaret Daley in an interview she graciously provided!

A serial killer is targeting illegal aliens in southern Texas. Texas Ranger Cody Jackson is paired with a local police officer, Liliana Rodriguez, to investigate the murders. 



While the case brings Cody and Liliana ever closer, the tension between Americans and Mexican Americans heightens. As Cody and Liliana race to discover who is behind the murders and bring peace to the area, what they uncover isn’t what they expected. Will Cody and Liliana’s faith and love be strong enough to survive the storm of violence?

This book in the series (each book stands alone) is about bullying in various situations in society from high school to the workplace to a marriage.

KIRSTEN’S THOUGHTS:   Margaret Daley’s MEN OF THE TEXAS RANGERS series just gets better and better. In SHATTERED SILENCE, Daley addresses bullying, domestic abuse, racism, workplace relationships, faith, love, forgiveness and redemption, and does it all while authorities race to find a serial killer in a small Texas town.  Daley does a superb job of weaving all these facets together without the reader’s head spinning, or left feeling overwhelmed.

Liliana Rodriguez  is a strong female detective, but in many ways is content hiding behind her job to avoid any romantic relationships. Her journey was touching to watch as she battles to find a serial killer and fights her own fears.

On the outside, Cody Jackson is confident and unshaken Texas Ranger, but inside he is battling his own insecurities and turmoil threatening his faith.

Both Liliana and Cody come across as real people in extraordinary circumstances forced to work through their own issues and trust each other and God before they can solve those things tearing their families and the town of Durango apart. I was drawn to each character from their first appearance on page. Once again, Daley created characters the reader really cared about, and could identify with and learn from.

The secondary characters were genuine, as well. Each representing a facet of our society and yet well rounded, and therefore avoiding becoming two-dimensional. Even the “villain” wasn’t a melodramatic caricature, but someone faced the same obstacles as others, but choosing to pay evil with evil. There were moments when the “villain” evoked as much sympathy as many of the other characters.

As always, Margaret does and exceptional job of weaving faith and the love of God through SHATTERED SILENCE, and using her characters as wonderful examples of what He can do for and with ordinary humans if we give everything to Him.

EXCERPT FROM SHATTERED SILENCE:

No one sees me. They walk right by me and don’t even know I am here. I’m invisible.

But that’s all going to change today. The woman who has agreed to marry me will be here soon. The world will finally know someone cares about me. It was worth all my savings to bring her across the border.

I’m tired of being alone. Being nobody. I’m getting married. I won’t be invisible anymore—at least she’ll see me.

* * *

Maria Martinez lay flat on the dust-covered wooden planks, her right eye pressed against the hole in the floor of the abandoned house. Pedro won’t find me here. I’ll win this time.

A sneeze welled up in Maria, and she fought to stop it. She couldn’t. Quickly she looked through the small opening to make sure Pedro hadn’t come and heard her. Her older brother always thought he could do everything better than her. Not this time. He’d never think to look here. He’d think she was too afraid to hide here. A rattling behind her sent a shot of fear through her. She went still. Her lungs held her breath and wouldn’t let go.

There’s no such thing as ghosts. He just told me that to scare me. I’m not a baby. I’m eight.

Her words fueled her courage, and she popped up to look over her shoulder. Nothing. Just the wind blowing through the broken window. Maria sank to the floor in relief and took up her post again. Watching through the hole. If Pedro came into the house, she’d be ready to hide. He was not going to find her. For once, she would have the last laugh. He was just two years older, but the way he acted, you’d think he was Papa.

Another sound caught her attention. Down below. Footsteps. She started to hop up and scramble to her hiding place nearby, but a gruff, deep male voice stopped her. Not Pedro. Who?

With her eye glued to the hole again, she waited to see who it was. Another voice—a woman’s—answered the man, then she laughed. A funny laugh—like Pedro when he made fun of her.

“Dumb. Evil eye,” the woman taunted in Spanish.

The man raised his voice, speaking in the same language so fast Maria had a hard time keeping up. Mama insisted on only speaking English at home. Now she wished she was better at Spanish. But she heard some words—the ones he slowed and emphasized, repeating several times in a louder voice a few cuss words that got Papa in trouble if he said them at home. The deep gruff voice ended with, “You will pay.”

The woman laughed again, but the sound died suddenly. “What are you doing?” she said in Spanish.

Maria strained to see the two people. The lady moved into her line of sight as she stepped back, shaking her head, her long brown hair swirling in the air. Maria glimpsed the top of a tan cowboy hat that hid the man’s face from her.

The beautiful lady held up her hands. “No!”

The fear in that one word chilled Maria.

Before she could think of what to do, a gunshot, like she’d heard on TV, blasted the quiet. The lady jerked back. She glanced down at her chest, then up, remaining upright for a few heartbeats before crumbling to the floor.

Maria froze. Her mind blanked.

The man came closer to the still lady on the floor, her unseeing dark eyes staring right at Maria, pinning her against the wooden planks. She saw the gun as he lifted his arm and aimed it at the woman. He shot her in the stomach then the forehead.

Maria gasped.

The man must have whirled away. Suddenly he wasn’t in her line of vision. She bolted to her feet as the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs echoed down the hallway.

Terror locked a vise about Maria and held her in place.

INTERVIEW WITH MARGARET DALEY:

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I have been writing for thirty-four years and sold my first book in 1981 in the secular market. After twenty books, I was introduced to the Christian market by the Lord, who gave me a story I could only tell with a faith thread in it. I have gone on to sell sixty-three books since that happened in 2000.

I have been married for forty-two years to Mike and we have one son Shaun and four granddaughters from ages 3-12. I also have three cats that adopted us and think they rule the household. Don’t tell them but they probably do.

When did you first discover that you loved writing?

I’ve always been a storyteller since I was a little girl. I never wrote those stories down, but after reading many books, I decided to try to write one. Since that first book, I’ve been continually writing–all with a romance thread in the story.

Why do you write the type of books that you do?

The first books I remember reading and really enjoying were the books in the Nancy Drew series. From there I grew to love suspense and adventure (usually with a love interest). I wanted to write what I enjoyed to read the most.

Has writing changed your life in any way?

I taught special education for 27 years before I retired to write full-time. My writing allowed me to do that and not go crazy. I have to have something to do. I couldn’t just retire and have nothing to do. My writing also allowed me to research a lot of different topics and visit many different places.

What Bible scripture has impacted your life the most?

I love the 23rd Psalm and what it tells us. God is with us through the worst. That is comforting to know.

What’s one of your favorite books you’ve read?

Amazonia by James Rollins (secular–pure suspense/adventure)

What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever done?

I once came out of a bathroom with toilet paper hanging out of my waistband of my pants. I turned ten shades of red.

 

Bio for Margaret Daley:

Margaret Daley, an award-winning author of eighty-three books, has been married for over forty years and is a firm believer in romance and love. When she isn’t traveling, she’s writing love stories, often with a suspense thread and corralling her three cats that think they rule her household. To find out more about Margaret visit her website at http://www.margaretdaley.com.

 

Where can readers learn more information about you?

I love hearing from readers.

Website: http://www.margaretdaley.com

Blog: http://www.margaretdaley.com/margarets-blog/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/margaretdaley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margaretdaleybooks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JIM JENNINGS 1909 WILD WEST SHOW!! IF YOU DON’T ATTEND IT WILL BE YOUR LOSS!!

WHOO-EEE!!  I don’t know ‘bout y’all but Cookie was sweatin’ bullets at the rodeo watchin’ Cal ride that man-killer and then the thrill of the Bride Race! Why the ol’ coot even shed a  tear durin’ the ceremony…Yes ya did ol’ man and don’t go blamin’ it on dust…

Now that we’ve spent some time followin’ in Cal and Josie’s tracks… Cal asks that y’all please back away now …  And ya’ll have read (I hope) the final chapter of RACE TO MARRY let’s head to the Sheridan fairgrounds and get a look at the actual 1909 Wild West Show that planted a seed in my mind and grew into a story (that kinda smarts a bit, too).

The October 2, 1909, and October 5, 1909 issues of the Sheridan Daily Enterprise, reported on a Wild West Show and rodeo organized by Jim Jennings.  The show ran from Thursday through Saturday, but it was so thrilling and drew such large crowds that a half-page ad in Saturday’s paper announced a special show was planned for Sunday.  “IF YOU DON’T ATTEND IT WILL BE YOUR LOSS: THE SHOW COMMENCES AT 1:30!”

From the accounts in the newspaper, the participants were Sheridan locals or from neighboring communities. Events included a marathon, a hold up of the Deadwood stage, roping and tying exhibition, a relay foot race with four teams, a wild horse race, and a pony express ride; just to name a few.

One of the novelty races was the midnight race. “The most laughable event of the day.” Contestants started 200 yards from the wire and rode to the front of the grandstand. There they donned longshirts, mounted and raced around the track. For this race “A fast horse counted for little…It was the handy man with a shirt who won.”

For another race contestants were required to carry umbrellas. Then they rode to the wire where they “turn their coats wrong side out, light a cigar and ride with umbrellas raised.”

While the novelty races and trick exhibitions entertained the crowds, two events stole the show: bronco-busting and the race for the bride.  Reports in the Enterprise, exhibit the bronco-riding held quite a few exhilarating moments.  “Corkscrew, a wild outlaw, threw every man, Bud rich went down like the sound of a pile driver hitting the top of a wet log.”

“Clyde Brown on Aeroplane had a narrow escape in his broncho [sic] busting contest. He was thrown and his foot caught. People averted their heads for fear the crazed horse would stamp the man to death. But by a dexterous twist Brown himself got loose from his perilous position in safety.”

But the climax of the bronco-busting was the ride of Jim Jennings on the back of Corkscrew.  Jennings was a Sheridan local with a ranch on Mead Creek, fourteen miles from town. He traveled with Buffalo Bill for four years, touring in Europe in 1903 and 1904. “He is one of the best riders in the state, and that is the same as saying the best in the world, for Wyoming horsemen have no superior.”

Corkscrew entered the rodeo a noted man-killer, sending a Buffalo, Wyoming man to the hospital for several weeks and severely injuring another cowboy just a year before. Jennings, having few equals as a rider, was game to ride Corkscrew and subdued the outlaw. However, Corkscrew had the final word sending Jennings to the ground with a hard thud on his back. “Jennings is carrying around a fractured rib as a memento of the occasion.”

The crowd went wild for the “Race for the Bride.”  The bride’s name was given as Hazel Foster and Lillian Foster. However, it appears as Hazel Foster in most records and on Sheridan’s official website. The “grooms” name was Harry Lewis. Lewis participated in the pony express ride, bronco-busting and the wild horse race, as well as the bride race.  While riding his bronc, he didn’t place and he came in second to Sage Collins in the wild horse race, but he would outride Sage to capture the bride.

The “lady and the cowboy catching her would be married on the spot.  Judge Story, it was said, would perform the ceremony without cost.”

All we know of Hazel Foster was she hailed from Rock Creek, and was obviously an excellent horsewoman as she gave her pursuers a run for their money. Hazel was given a 200-yard head start and made good use of it not intending to get caught.

“Sage Collins, on his favorite roan, was after her, but whether or not he would have overtaken her will never be known. Harry Lewis started late and realizing that Sage could never be overtaken, he doubled back, intercepted the bride on the last quarter, and carried her to the grandstand,” much to the crowd’s delight. Harry Lewis won $50 and the hand of Hazel Foster.

Jennings show was such a success he decided to take it on the road. By the end of Sunday’s performance he already had a long list of applications from the Wyoming cowboys participating.  Enough applications, in fact, that he planned to take the show to Billings, Montana the next week.

As for the bride and her cowboy, I am not sure I would ever want to know what happened after the race. I prefer to make up my own happily ever after ending for the couple.

So from two newspaper reports Cal and Josie’s story sprouted. I reduced the show to one day. Cal’s character emerged from Jim Jennings wild ride on Corkscrew and Harry Lewis’ daring capture of his own bride.  Yes, Siree, it takes two men to make one of Cal. But it all started when I read about a young woman, Hazel Foster, agreeing to be the fox to seven Wyoming hounds. What would make her do such a thing? Excitement? Was she a spinster? Or did she need to save the family ranch? From these questions, and Hazel’s race, Josie Allison was born.

Hope y’all enjoyed RACE TO MARRY and the look behind the scenes!

SOURCES:

THE SHERIDAN DAILY ENTERPRISE.  Saturday, October 2, 1909. Sheridan, Wyoming: pages 1 and 4.

THE SHERIDAN DAILY ENTERPRISE.  Tuesday, October 5, 1909. Sheridan, Wyoming: pages 1 and 4.

 

COOKIE SLEPT HERE! THE SHERIDAN INN!!

Don’t know about y’all, but after kickin’ it up at the Mint, Cookie and me had to find a place to bed down.  So, we beat our boots on over to the Sheridan Inn where it’s always in apple pie order.

Ya never know who yer gonna meet at the Inn, so keep a sharp eye.  Who knows ya might even see Cal and Josie, at least in passin’.  Those two are always on the move. I’ll be given the tour since Cookie’s still sawin’ on the logs; dang lazy ol’ coot sleepin’ off a rounder.

By 1892, the railroad was built as far as Sheridan, Wyoming and westward expansion was at the height of popularity.  The railroad brought adventurous souls out West in search for a new life, as well as transporting agricultural goods, coal and cattle back East. Recognizing the advantages of the railroad in establishing the new frontier, and the need for lodging along the line the Sheridan Land Company, with the blessing of the Burlington and Missouri Railroad, undertook the ambitious task of building the Sheridan Inn.

The Inn’s design was inspired by its architect, Thomas Rogers Kimball’s visit to a Scottish hunting lodge and included 69 gabled windows. Construction of the Inn began in December of 1892 and was completed six months later. The Inn boasted the first running-water bathtubs and electric lights in town, and the first telephone line was connected to a downtown drugstore.

George and Lucy Canfield were the Inn’s first managers and were known for their extravagant dinners and gracious hospitality. George was responsible for acquiring the Inn’s furnishings; among them was the saloon’s bar. The bar was made from American oak with a mahogany countertop, and included front and back bars complete with wine cooler, liquor cabinet, and cigar case.  If you didn’t get your fill at the Mint you can still belly up to this bar today, where Buffalo Bill Cody used to by rounds for the house.  Make sure you order a Wyoming Slug a concoction of champagne and whiskey popular with the saloon patrons of the past.

Western legend Buffalo Bill Cody had many ties to the Sheridan Inn.  In 1894, Cody became a Sheridan Land Company partner when he purchased the Inn’s furnishings and opened the W.F. Cody Transportation Company behind the Inn.  The Canfields continued to manage the property, which now included a livery barn, stage line (part of Cody’s line from the Inn to Deadwood, SD), freighting service, and mail carrier. The Inn’s mud wagon ferried passengers back and forth from town about a mile away.

Cody auditioned local cowboys for his Wild West show from the comfort of the Inn’s sprawling porch. A few of the cowboy’s wives were featured in one of the Wild West show’s acts. The wives rode sidesaddle and, with their partners, performed a square dance on horseback.  For many years the Inn sponsored a Wild West show as a fundraiser that also honored its extraordinary past.

Not all Cody’s visits to the Inn were pleasant. In 1902, Cody’s son-in-law, Horton Boal committed suicide in room 52 of the Inn.  Then in 1905, Cody visited the Inn while seeking a divorce from his wife Louisa. The divorce was not granted and after that, Bill Cody didn’t visit the Inn until 1910 as plans for the town of Cody, Wyoming took much of his time.

Author Ernest Hemingway was another frequent guest at the Sheridan Inn. Hemingway wrote parts of A Farewell to Arms from a room on the third floor of the Sheridan Inn from August 3rd to 8th, 1928. Eventually, he found the activity at the Inn to be too distracting to his productivity, and he went in search of quieter locations. His search for peace ended at the Spear-O-Wigwam ranch in the Big Horn Mountains, where he finished the novel. Hemingway returned to the Inn several times in the 1930s to visit. (I told Cookie to keep it down, but the old codger was really tyin’ one on, and once he gets to whoopin’ it up well…)

Other notable visitors included, Bob Hope, Robert Taylor, Will Rogers and a number of U.S. Presidents.

The Inn hit hard times in the late 1930s as owner after owner passed through its doors struggling to maintain the building and operate the business. In 1965, the Sheridan community feared the worst that the Inn would have to be demolished.  The Sheridan County Historical Society tried to save the Inn holding an auction, but proceeds fell short.

New York heiress, Neltje, purchased the Inn in 1967, and became known as the “woman who saved the Inn.”  The saloon re-opened in 1968, and was followed shortly with the re-opening of the dining room, Ladies Parlor, and Wyoming Room. During Neltje’s two-decade run as the Inn’s owner the Inn’s place in Sheridan was revitalized. The Inn hosted many public events and dinners.  Struggling to make money, the Inn’s doors closed again in 1986. Despite the purchase of the Inn by the Sheridan Heritage Center and plans to revive the historic building, the Sheridan Inn is once again facing financial difficulties and looking for someone (s) to step forth and resuscitate this Sheridan institution.

Cookie and me would sure hate to see the old girl go. We shared a great steak and even better bread puddin’ at the old Inn not too long ago.

But on a brighter note, and let me tell y’all the tongues are waggin’ about that rodeo cowboy Cal Renner upstairs in his room with local girl, Josie Allison! Cookie is blushin’ to beat the band! Me…I’m enjoyin’ this show ‘til the big rodeo this Saturday! Whoa, I think I just saw Ma and Pa Renner headin’ upstairs…

 

SOURCES:

http://www.sheridaninn.com/history.html

Blair, Pat, Prater, Dana and the Sheridan County Museum. Images of America: Sheridan. Arcadia Publishing, 2008.

**Photos in color belong to Kirsten Lynn. Black and White photos are property of the www.sheridaninn.com**