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In 1864 Brothers John S. Collins & Gilbert H. Collins opened their
first saddle shop in Omaha, NE where they remained making a good name
and doing a good business for the next 8 years until 1872. The
brother John & Gilbert learned the art of saddle making from their
Father Eli Collins who was a saddle maker himself for many years in
Galena, IL in the early 1800s. In 1872 the Brothers John S. & Gilbert
H. Collins moved their Saddlery to Fort Laramie, Wyoming where John S.
was appointed the post trader, and 3 years later in 1875 John S.
Collins was appointed Secretary of the Sioux Indian Commission a post
he held until 1877.
By this time the Brothers had shops in Miles City, MT and Cheyenne,
WY with the Cheyenne, WY shop as their home base of operations for
their chain of Saddleries which still included the Fort Laramie, WY
and Omaha, NE shop. Now with both brothers working the Saddlery the
Brothers spent much of their time developing new saddles which they
gave to local Ranchers to use, and they would get feedback on the
performance of the saddles. They ended up with a durable and popular
saddle widely used throughout the west, and the saddle of choice for
such pioneers as Buffalo Bill Cody.
In 1880 Brother Gilbert H. Collins died and John s. Collins began to
downsize his chain of saddleries first by closing the Miles City, MT
shop and the Cheyenne shop was closed by 1886, and the Omaha shop was
sold to Alfred Cornish. A short time went by and J. S. Collins was
not fond of his retirement so he opened a shop in Omaha, NE with
partner John Morrison and they continued making the finest of saddles
as the Collins & Morrison Saddlery. In 1890 Alfred Cornish bought the
Collins & Morrison Saddlery and in 1910 J. S. Collins passed away.
Even after J. S. Collins sold his business Alfred Cornish continued
selling saddles under the J. S. Collins name for many years.
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