Don Butler was a great saddlemaker. He was a tough cowboy. He was also a tough interview. I’d been in Sheridan, Wyoming, for a week and had interviewed all of the other great leather talents that were making saddles and leather goods along its hallowed streets. I needed to head south, but I couldn’t leave until I got the last one. Don had been eluding me for a couple of days. I staked out my spot on the steps of the Custom Cowboy Shop under the awning of the old brick hotel that housed it about an hour before I knew that Don would be coming to work. When Don showed up, he took my ambush with good humor, and a cup of coffee later we were having a great conversation about the West, saddlemaking, cowboys and roping. The story that Don told me that day is worth repeating to new ears.
Don was born in Billings, Montana, in 1946. He was raised by foster parents for six years. Eventually, he ended up on a ranch with his family in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. Like many ranch kids, his monthly trip to town would include a stop at the local saddle shop. Rudy Mudra’s saddle shop in Sheridan exposed Don to the world of leatherwork. Unfortunately, Rudy was not crazy about having a kid hanging out there and ran him off.
It was only natural that Don developed an interest in leather stamping. A 4-H leather class gave him a start and the local saddle
