Sheridan, Wyoming: Home of King's Saddlery and the Best Rodeo You've Never Heard Of

Sheridan sits in the lee of the Bighorn Mountains, on the north end of the Powder River Basin, about two hours north of Casper and twenty minutes from the Montana line. Population about 18,700. The downtown is brick and intact and looks like the cattle-money town it was when the Burlington railroad arrived in 1892. Plenty of visitors who plan one night end up staying longer.

The reason: Sheridan is where working-Western culture still operates without theming itself for tourists. King’s Saddlery, which Don King opened in 1963, is the shop most closely tied to Sheridan-style leather tooling, the floral style King and his contemporaries developed in the middle of the twentieth century and the one most people picture when they think of hand-tooled Western leather. The WYO Rodeo runs the second week of July. The Bighorn Mountains start a fifteen-minute drive west. The Mint Bar on Main Street has been pouring drinks since 1907, and its neon sign has hung out front since 1938.

This is what Wyoming towns looked like before they figured out they could sell themselves to tourists. Some still do not bother to.

Sheridan versus Cody and Jackson

Cody and Jackson get more attention, and there are real reasons for that, but they’re a different kind of trip. Cody has curated itself for the Yellowstone East Gate crowd: more polished, more expensive, more built around the visitor. Jackson is another tier up again, dramatically pricier and, these days, more resort town than Wyoming town. Sheridan hasn’t done either of those things. There’s less infrastructure built specifically for tourists here, fewer hotel options, a thinner restaurant scene, but what exists is the genuine article rather than a version staged for out-of-towners. For a visitor who wants small, real, and uncrowded over polished and expensive, Sheridan is the pick of the three.

What to do

King’s Saddlery and the Don King Museum

The reason a serious visitor comes to Sheridan. King’s Saddlery occupies a building on Main Street and operates as both a working saddle and tack shop and a museum. The retail floor sells working bridles, halters, saddles, ropes, and the range of small leather goods that made the Sheridan-style reputation.

Off the rope shop is the Don King Museum, open at no charge (a donation is welcome), one of the great underappreciated Western collections in the country. Don King (1923-2007) collected Western gear his whole life. The museum opened in 1990 with about 200 saddles and now holds close to 600, from silver-mounted parade saddles to working cow saddles from across the West and Don’s own work, along with wagons, carriages, guns, Indian artifacts, and rodeo posters and photographs.

You will spend two to four hours here.

The Sheridan WYO Rodeo

Second week of July: four nights of PRCA rodeo (July 8-11 in 2026), with the World Championship Indian Relay races, and a parade down Main Street. The purse is smaller than Cheyenne Frontier Days’ or the Pendleton Round-Up’s. The town is full and lodging books up early, so plan accordingly.

If you can only catch one Wyoming rodeo and want a small-town one, the WYO is a strong choice. Cheyenne Frontier Days is far bigger, but Sheridan’s is closer to the ground.

The Brinton Museum

About ten miles south of Sheridan near Big Horn, the Brinton Museum sits on the Quarter Circle A, the ranch Bradford Brinton bought in 1923; his ranch house, built in 1892 and expanded in 1927-28, still holds his collection. The holdings include Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, Thomas Moran, Karl Bodmer and Edward Borein, Plains Indian beadwork and art, and the world’s largest collection of Hans Kleiber. The Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Building, opened in June 2015, added major exhibition space. Admission has been free thanks to a sponsor; check before you go. Two hours minimum.

The Mint Bar

Main Street, since 1907. One of the genuinely great American cowboy bars. Working clientele, regional history on the walls, walls covered in branded cedar shingles. Not a tourist attraction, just an old bar. Stop in for one drink in the early evening before dinner. The neon sign out front is itself a Sheridan landmark.

Day trips into the Bighorns

The Bighorn Mountains are 15-30 minutes west of Sheridan via US-14. Easy day trips:

Panoramic view of the Bighorn Mountains from the eastern foothills near Sheridan, Wyoming, with forested slopes rising to open alpine ridges under a wide blue sky. — The Bighorn Mountains viewed from the Sheridan-area foothills. The range rises from the valley floor to just over 13,000 feet at Cloud Peak, with paved access roads crossing at Granite Pass and Powder River Pass. *Photo via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA.*

Sibley Lake for picnicking and fishing.
Granite Pass and Burgess Junction for the high country drive over the range.
Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark (a longer day, roughly two hours each way), a Native American sacred site built in stages within the past 1,000 years, at nearly 10,000 feet.
Tongue River Canyon west of Dayton for hiking and easy access trails.

For multi-day backcountry trips into the Cloud Peak Wilderness, a popular access is West Ten Sleep Lake on the south side of the range; see our four-day Bighorn pack trip guide for the full route planning.

Where to eat

Frackelton’s. Long-running fine dining on Main Street. It closed suddenly in October 2023 and its founder brought it back in 2024; check that it is open.

Black Tooth Brewing Company. Sheridan’s brewery, for a casual evening.

The Wagon Box (Story). About 20 miles south in tiny Story, in a roadhouse dating to 1906. Its owner was looking for a partner to reopen the restaurant in 2025, so confirm before you drive.

The historic Sheridan Inn, a large Victorian-era wooden hotel with wrap-around porches and a distinctive gambrel roof, in downtown Sheridan, Wyoming. — The Sheridan Inn, built by the Burlington railroad and opened in 1893. Buffalo Bill Cody ran it from 1894 to 1896, and by many accounts auditioned Wild West Show acts from the front porch. It closed in the 1960s, was nearly demolished, and has since been restored. *Photo via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA.*

Sheridan Inn. The historic 1893 inn that Buffalo Bill once ran; check whether its restaurant is serving when you visit, because a meal there is worth it for the history.

Skip: the chain restaurants near the I-90 interchange. Sheridan’s actual food scene is Main Street and out toward Big Horn.

Where to stay

Historic and central: The Sheridan Inn (1893, Buffalo Bill connection, restored). The Mill Inn, smaller and quieter.

Mid-range: chain hotels near the I-90 exits.

Ranch and country: Eatons’ Ranch at Wolf, west of Sheridan, often called the first dude ranch: the Eaton brothers took paying guests at their Dakota ranch from 1882 and moved the operation to Wolf in 1904. Multi-night, all-inclusive stays.

Camping: Bighorn National Forest campgrounds within an hour (Sibley Lake and others along US-14). Dispersed camping is allowed on much of the national forest.

When to visit

Summer (June through August): the WYO Rodeo (second week of July), all the museums and Bighorn access, peak weather.

Shoulder season (September and October): the cottonwoods turn gold along the Tongue River, lodging gets cheaper, Bighorn fall colors are excellent. The best window for thoughtful visitors.

Winter: The nearest skiing is the small Antelope Butte area up in the Bighorns. The town itself slows down but stays functional. Cheap lodging, museums open, the Mint Bar just as good as ever.

What’s around Sheridan

Story, Wyoming (about 25 min south): tiny foothills town by the Wagon Box Fight site.
Big Horn (about 15 min south): the Brinton Museum, and polo on summer weekends.
Buffalo, Wyoming (about 40 min south): the Occidental Hotel (where Owen Wister was a guest), the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum, Crazy Woman Canyon access.
The TA Ranch (about 55 min south, past Buffalo): site of the climactic standoff in the Johnson County War (see our piece on the Johnson County War). Now a working guest ranch and historical site.
The Bighorn Mountains: as covered above.

Plan three days. Spend one at King’s and the Don King Museum. Spend one at the Brinton plus a Bighorn drive. Spend the third in town, eating, walking, sitting at the Mint Bar, and hitting whatever you missed on the first two days. If you can hit it during WYO Rodeo week, do; if you cannot, the town is still itself.

Shop the Sheridan tradition

Sheridan is the home of Sheridan-style leather tooling. The right gear to carry out of this trip:

Tony Lama floral tooled belt, an El Paso maker’s take on floral tooling
Justin basket-weave belt, the everyday work belt at an honest price
Bickmore Bick 4 leather conditioner, what to use after you buy a belt from King’s
Fiebing’s saddle soap, clean first, condition after; the two-step routine that keeps King’s-quality leather lasting decades

The Mint Bar on Main Street in Sheridan, its neon bucking-horse sign cantilevered over the sidewalk above a green marquee reading MINT BAR. — The Mint Bar on Main Street, open since 1907. The sign is a bucking horse and rider, the same figure Wyoming puts on its license plates, and "meet you at the Mint" is still how people in town arrange an evening. The slab-wood front and the neon are the entire exterior design, and neither was added later to look historic. *Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress (LCCN 2017685682). Public domain.*

A high-country lake ringed by lodgepole pine and willow flats under a wide blue sky, Sheridan County, Wyoming. — A high-country lake in remote Sheridan County. Water like this is what the Bighorn day trips out of town are for. Sibley Lake off US-14 is the easy roadside version; the Cloud Peak Wilderness holds a great many more that take a horse or a long walk to reach. *Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress (LCCN 2017884713). Public domain.*

A view from a grassy Bighorn foothill ridge out across dry rolling rangeland toward the open plains, Sheridan County, Wyoming. — Sheridan County from the foothills, looking out toward the plains. The whole county works on this gradient: timber and summer range up high, hay meadows and winter ground down on the flat, the town sitting where the two meet. Fifteen minutes from Main Street puts you in country that looks like this. *Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress (LCCN 2017884711). Public domain.*

Sheridan, Wyoming: Home of King's Saddlery and the Best Rodeo You've Never Heard Of

Sheridan versus Cody and Jackson