King’sSaddlery Combines History and Quality
culture, sheridan, wild west history,
Looking to combine a crash course in Wild West history with finding a new saddle? Multitask on over to the Don King Museum and King’s Saddlery, the legacies of famed saddle maker Don King, who invented the Sheridan-style saddle and was an avid collector.
The saddlery is a fully outfitted tack store, with saddles, ropes, bridles, reins, halters, saddle bags, slickers and more – so much that there’s even a catalogue available of all the store’s offerings. The museum just sort of happened over the years, as King found items as diverse as a pre-Civil War Conestoga saddle and a Japanese saddle-tree found in Okinawa during World War II. There is artwork, re-creations and more.
“We get tour buses coming through, lots of people who just want to see all the things that Dad picked up,” says Bill King, who operates the nearby Bozeman Trail Gallery. “He began with a saddle collection, and a saddle makers’ tool collection, and kind of ended up with everything else.”
The museum draws more than the everyday tourist. During a trip through the United States in 1984, Queen Elizabeth II was in Sheridan and took a peek at the shop and museum. A keen admirer and owner of horses, she seemed right at home, King says.
“She was a very nice lady, and we just did what we were told as far as protocol and security,” he says. “She was very interested in the store and the museum, and she looked at a lot of things.”
People continue to bring odds and ends to the museum, so at some point it may outgrow its current quarters. Should that happen, the original building would be added onto, King says, but the ambiance would stay very much the same.
“That all remains to be seen, but there’s nothing imminent,” he says. “We keep finding things that ought to be in here, so it’s hard to tell.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Jeff Adkins
