Sheridan, Wyoming: Home of King's Saddlery and the Best Rodeo You've Never Heard Of
Sheridan is the leather-tooling capital of the West, the gateway to the Bighorn Mountains, and the host of the WYO Rodeo. Here's how to spend three days well.
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 around 18,000. The downtown is brick and intact and looks like the cattle-money town it was when the Burlington railroad arrived in 1892. Most visitors who come through here for one night stay for three. Most who stay three want to come back.
The reason: Sheridan is where the real working-Western culture still operates without theming itself for tourists. King’s Saddlery has been making working tack since 1963 and is the global origin of Sheridan-style leather tooling, a tradition Don King developed in the 1940s through 1980s that now defines what most people picture when they think of hand-tooled Western leather. The WYO Rodeo runs the second week of July and is one of the most respected mid-tier PRCA stops in the country. The Bighorn Mountains start a fifteen-minute drive west. The Mint Bar on Main Street has been pouring drinks under the same neon sign since 1907.
This is what Wyoming towns looked like before they figured out they could sell themselves to tourists. Some still do not bother to.
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, custom saddles (with multi-month wait lists), and the entire range of small leather goods that made the Sheridan-style reputation.
Behind and above the retail floor is the Don King Museum, free admission, one of the great underappreciated Western collections in the country. Don King (1923-2007) collected Western tack his entire life. The museum holds over 500 saddles including some of the finest examples of California silver-mounted parade saddles, vaquero rigs, working cow saddles from across the West, and Don’s own work. The walls hold tooled chaps, holsters, bridles, spurs, and a complete set of Western Americana that most museums would build an entire institution around.
You will spend two to four hours here. Photography is generally allowed. The staff are working leather people who answer real questions seriously.
The Sheridan WYO Rodeo
Second week of July, four nights of PRCA-sanctioned rodeo plus a parade, a street dance, and the Sheridan WYO Pancake Breakfast. The rodeo itself is mid-tier in PRCA terms (smaller purse than Cheyenne Frontier Days or the Pendleton Round-Up, but consistently top-five for rodeo quality and atmosphere). The town is full and the lodging books out months ahead, so plan accordingly.
If you can only catch one Wyoming rodeo and want the most authentic experience, the WYO is it. Cody Stampede is bigger, Cheyenne Frontier Days is the largest in North America, but Sheridan is the one working cowboys themselves enjoy.
The Brinton Museum
Twelve miles south of Sheridan in Big Horn, the Brinton Museum is a working art museum housed in the 1928 Bradford Brinton ranch estate. The collection includes substantial Frederic Remington and Charles Russell holdings (the kind of work that defines Western art), plus contemporary Native American artists, plus a working preservation of the Brinton ranch buildings as a museum of early-twentieth-century Western ranch life. The new Forrest E. Mars, Jr. building (opened 2015) added significant exhibition space and a quality cafe. Two hours minimum.
The Mint Bar
Main Street, since 1907. One of the genuinely great American cowboy bars. Working-class clientele, regional history on the walls, drinks priced like the 1980s. 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 and US-87. Easy day trips:
- Sibley Lake for picnicking and fishing.
- Bighorn Pass / Burgess Junction for the high country drive over the range.
- Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark (longer day, 90 minutes from Sheridan), an 800-year-old Native American sacred site at 9,642 feet.
- Tongue River Canyon west of Dayton for hiking and easy access trails.
For multi-day backcountry trips into the Cloud Peak Wilderness, the access is via West Tensleep on the south side of the range; see our four-day Bighorn pack trip guide for the full route planning.
Where to eat
The Powder Horn Restaurant. Clubhouse-style at the Powder Horn golf community south of town. Quietly excellent steaks, the place locals take out-of-town family. Reservations.
Frackelton’s. Modern American on Main Street. Better than it has any right to be in a town this size. Strong wine list.
The Cottonwood Coffee Co. Best coffee in Sheridan. Working space, locals, breakfast pastries.
The Wagon Box (Story). Twenty minutes south in tiny Story, the Wagon Box is a destination restaurant with a wood-fired pizza oven and a serious chef. Worth the drive.
Sheridan Inn dining room. The historic 1893 Sheridan Inn (Buffalo Bill was a part-owner) reopened the dining room a few years ago. Steak-heavy, atmospheric, sometimes uneven but worth a meal 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, recently restored). The Mill Inn, on the south end of downtown, smaller and quieter. $200-350/night in summer, less in shoulder.
Mid-range: Holiday Inn, Best Western, Hampton Inn near the I-90 exit. Reliable, $130-200/night.
Ranch and country: Eaton’s Ranch in Wolf, 25 minutes northwest, the original “dude ranch” (the Eatons coined the term in 1882). Multi-night packages, all-inclusive, the original American guest ranch experience. $400-600/night per person all-inclusive.
Camping: Several Bighorn National Forest campgrounds within 30 minutes (Tongue River, Sibley Lake, others). Free dispersed camping on national forest land further up.
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 drops by 30%, Bighorn fall colors are excellent. The best window for thoughtful visitors.
Winter: Sheridan has a small ski area at Antelope Butte 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 (15 min south): tiny historic town in the foothills, Wagon Box restaurant.
- Big Horn (10 min south): the Brinton Museum, polo at the Big Horn Equestrian Center on summer weekends.
- Buffalo, Wyoming (35 min south): the Occidental Hotel (Owen Wister wrote The Virginian here), the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum, Crazy Woman Canyon access.
- The TA Ranch (40 min south near 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 — the El Paso belt that carries the same floral tradition King’s Saddlery perfected
- 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
Related reading on this site
- Hand-tooled leather: how real Western leatherwork is made
- Wyoming’s best horse packing trails
- How to pack for a four-day horse camp trip in the Bighorns
- The Wyoming regional outfitter directory
- The Western dress code, decoded by setting
- Buffalo, Wyoming: the Occidental Hotel, the TA Ranch, and the Bighorn Front
- The Bozeman Trail and the Fetterman Fight: Wyoming’s forgotten war
- 9 Wyoming hot springs you can actually soak in
- 9 Wyoming ghost towns worth the drive
Further reading
- King’s Saddlery and Don King Museum, official site.
- Sheridan WYO Rodeo, official schedule and tickets.
- The Brinton Museum, current exhibitions and visiting information.
- Western Horseman magazine archives — Sheridan and the King family appear regularly.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sheridan known for?
Three things in working-Western culture: King's Saddlery and the Don King Museum (origin of Sheridan-style leather tooling, the dominant American Western tooling tradition), the Sheridan WYO Rodeo (one of the oldest and best-regarded mid-tier PRCA rodeos in the country, every July), and access to the Cloud Peak Wilderness in the Bighorn Mountains. Plus a downtown that genuinely looks like a Wyoming cattle town from 1900.
Is Sheridan worth visiting if I'm not into leather or rodeo?
Yes. The Brinton Museum (a 1928 ranch estate now an art museum with significant Frederic Remington and Charles Russell holdings) is excellent. The Mint Bar on Main Street is one of the great American cowboy bars. The Bighorn Mountains immediately west are accessible for day hiking and scenic drives. Sheridan is small enough to walk, atmospheric enough to be worth a couple of days, and significantly cheaper than Cody or Jackson.
How does Sheridan compare to Cody and Jackson?
Cody is more touristy, more curated, more expensive. Jackson is dramatically more expensive and less Wyoming-feeling. Sheridan is the working-cowboy town: less infrastructure for visitors, but more authentic, easier to enjoy without crowds, and genuinely tied to the heritage. Best of the three for visitors who want the real thing rather than the show.