Granite Station Saddlery & Feed

These are the Legendary Makers of the cowboy gear, made in the Vaquero, Buckaroo, Californio and Texas traditions, we now refer to as vintage, antique, and collectible Old West and Western Americana artifacts - They, through their imagination, creativity, ingenuity, responsiveness to demand, and, hard work, created the abundantly rich traditions making up the foundation and framework, on which, within which, and, from which, we explore the limitless possibilities of our own imagination, ingenuity and creativity in building today's custom made western saddles, tack, silverwork and leather shooting accessories.

Over time, we will be adding as much of the biography and history of each maker as we can find - Please stop by the shop, call (661 619-4545), or, email me, Jack D. Smith, at Jack@GraniteStation.com with any historical information, images or other material you would like to see added to this page.

Legendary Makers

Abbie Hunt

The following biographical sketch of Abbie Hunt was excerpted, with permission, from Ned and Jody Martin's book, entitled, “Bit and Spur Makers in the Vaquero Tradition”.

ALBERT BENJAMIN HUNT
1876-1967

Levi and Frances Hunt were married in Watsonville in 1864 and had seven children. The fourth was a boy named Albert, but known all of his life as Abbie. He grew up in San Luis Obispo, California, and as a young man always worked around horses. His first job was offloading wild cattle from a train, probably near Santa Maria, and driving them over the mountain to Cuyama. In 1898 his family moved to Bakersfield, and Abbie worked in Kern County as a cowboy for Miller and Lux, Tejon Ranch and other cattle ranches. He learned the craft of bit and spur making as a teenager from his uncle Tom Hunt, who was a blacksmith making hand wrought bits and spurs in his shop in Arroyo Grande , California. Tom operated that shop from 1887 to 1910, at which time he moved to Gilroy and continued making bits and spurs there.

During this period Abbie made silver mounted bits and spurs for cattlemen and cowboys, working on rainy days and by lantern light, until he became an expert at pleasing both horsemen and their horses. In 1905-6 Abbie went to Ventura to work six months in the shop of Vicente Mardueno along with Albert Espinosa. Abbie ran a blacksmith shop on the old Hunt ranch two miles south of Greenfield where he made bits and spurs.

In 1915 Abbie married Alma Logan, and they had two sons, Albert Leland in 1916, and Bill in 1926. It was difficult to support a family by his silversmithing alone, so Abbie continued to move around to different ranches working as a cowhand. Each time he moved, he took not only his family, but also his forge and engraving tools so that he could continue turning out beautiful and functional bits and spurs. Abbie enjoyed identifying his bits on ranchers’ beautiful mounts in Kern County parades. He was also skilled in braiding both horse hair ropes and rawhide reins and bosals.

Abbie developed the technical skill to flow silver. This process involves heating iron to 1450 degrees and melting silver at the same temperature, thus fusing the two together. He used Norway iron for his bits, and always made the inlays from sterling silver which he bought in sheets by mail order. Sometimes he and Alma went to Mexico to purchase silver pesos which could be flattened and used for inlay work. (Abbie was fluent in Spanish)

It took Abbie about one week to make a bit which he sold for $85-$90 if a simple pattern, and $115 for fancy work. Spurs took longer. He would rather make bits than spurs. Most of his bits were inlaid, and his spade mouth pieces were considered the best made. He believed the use of copper on the braces and a zinc disc soldered inside the spade gave a horse a sweet mouth making the saliva run. Abbie taught others his techniques. Apprentices include Harry Malone, Cal Collins, Jim Wermuth, and others.

For many years Abbie did not sign his work, since most horsemen in the Valley could recognize his distinctive style of engraving. It was not until his later years that he began to mark his work at the suggestion of his friend Felix Gutrone who told him a maker’s mark made any piece more valuable.

In the 1920’s Abbie and Alma worked on an ostrich farm at Wheeler Ridge near Bakersfield and later worked on a wild turkey ranch. In 1933 during the depression not many cowboys had the money to buy fancy bits. Abbie and his son, Al, ran a blacksmith shop in Caliente where they sharpened tools used by W.P.A. work gangs who were clearing road rights-of-way and working on other projects. Abbie taught Al to make his own tools for engraving and to make bits and spurs, but Al made only an occasional bit and no spurs. Although he learned his father’s craft, he never really pursued it as a trade. Instead he worked with the Kern County fire department and the department of highways.

In 1942 the Hunt’s house (in part of the old S.P. Depot) in Caliente burned, and they lost everything except a few engraving tools. A disgruntled relative started the fire and was sent to prison. The Hunts moved back to Bakersfield and Abbie resumed his bit making in a small shop behind their house. He was still working on a bit the day before he died very suddenly at home of a heart attack. Tony Araujo, major domo of the Tejon Ranch, was one of his pall bearers.

According to Cal Collins, Kern County Historian, author and former apprentice to Abbie Hunt,

“Abbie was the last cowboy
blacksmith bit and spur maker
who could take a piece of steel,
heat it on an old forge, shape
it into a horseshoe on an old anvil,
nail it properly on a horse,
and by using a piece
of the same steel bar
could likewise shape a bit the horse
would like to work with,
then he could saddle up the horse
and herd cattle with
the best of the cowboys”

Dick Fleming

The following biographical sketch of Dick Fleming was excerpted, with permission, from Ned and Jody Martin's book, entitled, “Bit and Spur Makers in the Vaquero Tradition”.

RICHARD FLEMING
1913-2002

Dick’s parents were Kansas farmers who moved west, to Colorado, when his father took a job with the railroad. Born in Colorado, but raised in Bakersfield California, Dick spent most of his life around horses. As a teenager he and some friends would go into the plains east of Bakersfield in a stripped down Model T Ford to round up wild mustang horses that came down from the Tehachapi Mountains in the winter. They would chase the horses to tire them, then rope a few and bring them home. They would break them then give them away.

In this way he learned to train horses. Later he trained quarter horses for racing, and one of his trainees went on to hold a world record. He also showed horses at fairs and shows.

In 1943 Dick and partner, Pat Paola, bought Farney's Saddlery and opened their own business building saddles and selling blankets, tack, and western clothing. He couldn’t find good braided reins locally so he went to Mexico to find someone to supply him with braided leather goods. He worked out an arrangement with Marcus Costello to supply him with reins, bosals, hobbles and other leather goods for his store. Either Dick would drive down to Mexico to get them, or Marcus would send them by Greyhound bus. Marcus supplied The Saddlery with braided goods until 1980.

In 1944 Dick bought out his partner and The Saddlery was his alone. He always carried a few bits and spurs, some purchased from Miller and Tietjen, and a few from Les Garcia in Salinas. Then Dick decided to seek a place in Mexico where he could have bits and spurs made for resale in the United States. He found the town of Amozoc between Mexico City and Vera Cruz where the 17th century Spaniards had taught local craftsmen to make bits and spurs, swords and armor. The people of that village have been doing expert metal and silver work ever since. When he first went there, Dick learned that Les Garcia was already purchasing bits and spurs from the same craftsmen. The Mexican government was financing several small factories in Amozoc to encourage silversmithing there.

Dick began a long profitable relationship with the artisans of Amozoc. He would design a bit and make detailed drawings of the cheek design, mouthpiece style, pitch of the spade and the location and design of the cricket. He would take his drawings to Amozoc and stay to watch the preparation of a prototype, which usually took several days. If it met with his approval, he would have about six bits made in one design. If it was a popular item that sold well, he would reorder many more.

In 1945 he began a wholesale business at the same time he started having bits and spurs manufactured in Mexico and marked with his name. He hired a salesman, Willard Thomas, who traveled all of the western states selling Fleming’s goods out of his motor home, a traveling showroom named “The Vaquero.” Thomas was an integral part of the wholesale business until it was sold.

At one time Fleming was the largest manufacturer of bits and spurs in the world. (He always sold more bits than spurs). His products were available through established dealers throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, and parts of Western Europe. He published only one catalog which was printed in 1973. After he set up production of bits and spurs in Amozoc, Dick arranged for similar production of other silver items in Guadalajara – jewelry, belt buckles, wristwatch bands, silver saddle trimmings, etc.

Dick loved to invent and design new and distinctive articles to aid and adorn the horseman and the horse. He designed numerous mouthpieces, and two of them were patented, the “Mona Lisa” and the “San Joaquin.” Not only could he create the designs, but he had the drive to find a way to manufacture and distribute them in large numbers.

In the early 1970’s The Saddlery was sold to Willard Wall who owned other saddleries in the San Joaquin Valley. The wholesale business was sold to Philip Rudnick in 1978 when Dick retired, married Maria Teresa and moved to a condominium in Mexico City. Now he and Maria spend part of each year in Bakersfield. (This segment was written in 1997, Dick has since passed away and Maria Teresa remains in Mexico City)

R. M. Hall

The following biographical sketch of R. M. Hall was excerpted, with permission, from Ned and Jody Martin's book, entitled, “Bit and Spur Makers in the Vaquero Tradition”.

ROBERT M. HALL
1915-1996

Belle and Albert Hall farmed in Dade County Missouri where their three sons were born in a log cabin on the banks of the Turnback River. In 1930 the Depression forced them off the land and with the two younger boys, Bob and Roy, the family moved to Riverside, California, and later, using horse and wagon, to Hanford.

When Bob was in high school he worked on various ranches in the summer and enjoyed being around horses. He then took a full time job as a cowboy on the Domengine Ranch north of Coalinga. He rode the line, worked on springs and windmills, and doctored cattle. He admired the silver inlayed bits used on the ranch and, not being able to afford one, he decided to make a bit using an old bed railing for cheek pieces, and a mouthpiece from a hay rake tooth. He even put some silver inlay on the bit. An old man helped Bob make a chisel out of a spring steel rake tooth, and he used an ice pick as an engraving tool. He always kept those first tools he made.

Bob also kept the first spurs he ever made in 1934 from a ¾ inch round sucker rod from an oil rig. He heated that rod and shaped it into a ½ inch square which he cut in two to make the heelbands, thus making a one piece spur. He then overlaid silver and engraved it. He never apprenticed with any makers.

Throughout the 1930’s Bob worked on several ranches in the San Joaquin Valley breaking and training horses. In 1941 he joined the Army and participated in the training of U.S. Cavalry horses which were used in New Guinea. He spent 4 ½ years in the service in California. In 1943 he married Leslie Canning, and they had two daughters, Leslie and Jean.

In 1945 they moved to King City and opened R.M. Hall Saddlery. Bob made and sold his own saddles (over the years he built 527 saddles) as well as selling a few commercially made saddles. He made bits but no spurs over the next ten years. Bob ran his saddlery in King City until 1984. In 1980 he started a school for bit and spur making one day a week for six weeks. He had about 30 students over 16 years. In 1985 he published a book, How to Make Bits and Spurs. From 1985 until he died in 1996, Bob continued to make custom ordered bits and spurs in his workshop at his home in Jolon.

In his many years of bit and spur making, Bob designed about 17 unique patterns which he made in limited editions of ten. The original of these are marked with an “0” on the upper inside of the left cheek. All copies are numbered in the same place.

Al Tietjen
Alsalio Herrera
Atanasio Larios
August Buermann
Bakersfield Saddlery
Bernard Valenzuela
Blake Miller
Brydon Bros. Saddlery
Clarence Nelson
Colt
Crocket
D. E. Walker
Ed Fields
Eddy Hulbert
Edward Bohlin Co.
Eliseo Valenzuela
Elmer Miller
F. A. Meanea
F. M. Stern
Frank Olzer
G. S. Garcia
Garcia Saddlery Co.
Goldberg, Staunton
Gus Goldberg Saddlery
H. P. Pollard
Hamley and Company
Heiser
J. C. Johnson
J. F. Echavarria
J. R. Lamdin
J. Walsh-Richardson Co.
Jesus Mardueño
John Estrada
Jose Figueroa
Juan Flores
Jumbo
Ken Ramoni
Keyston Brothers
L. A. Saddlery & Finding
L. D. Stone & Co.
Lichtenberger Ferguson
Main & Winchester
Manuel Gil
Mike Morales
Olsen Nolte
Ortega
Osborne
Otto F. Ernst, Inc.
P. B. McMillan
Phillips & Gutierrez
Raphael Gutierrez
Renalde
Rex Schnitger
Robert F. Schaezlein, Sr.
Tom Hildreth
Tom Hunt
US Military
Van Voorhees-Phinney
Visalia Stock Saddle Co.
W. Davis & Sons
Walsh-Richardson Co.
Wilson Saddlery Co.
Winchester

Source Material References