1980-1981 El Paso Saddlery Digital Catalog

In 1889 El Paso, Texas was the most notorious town in the West. Gunfighters, gamblers, and outlaws alike found this border town an ideal haven. Its wide open atmosphere gave rise to such popular pastimes as gambling and prostitution. Saloons lined the streets offering Faro, Poker, Roulette, and Craps. On Utah Street, only a few blocks from the original El Paso Saddlery shop at 400 El Paso Street, prostitutes could be found plying their trade round-the-clock. Only a block north Dallas Stoudenmire, famed El Paso City Marshal, shot three men in as many seconds. Another block farther is the spot where John Wesley Hardin was killed in 1895, and only steps away was the infamous Gem Saloon. It is here, according to legend, that Wyatt Earp witnessed the gunning down of two men in half an hour; then hastily left town abandoning his intention of applying for the City Marshal’s job.

In those early days the Saddlery’s customers ranged from professional gunmen who needed sturdy holsters to house the tools of their trade, to cowboys seeking rugged saddles for their ponies, to average citizens requiring nothing more than quality belts and leather goods. While among those customer’s were numbered such men as: John Wesley Hardin, John Selman, Jeff Milton, Captain John R. Hughes of the Texas Rangers, Bat Masterson, Killing Jim Miller, George Scarborough, and Pat Garrett, you also may be assured of receiving the same individual attention and guaranteed satisfaction that has distinguished the El Paso Saddlery Tradition.