Visalia Saddle

Around the 1860's, Mexican saddle makers in the Visalia area developed a new saddle for the working vacquero. Names associated with the development of this new stock saddle were J. Martarell, J. Salazar, R. Mattley, and A. Herrera, old friends who were repairing and making saddles both independently and cooperatively around Visalia. In 1870 David E. Walker opened a saddle shop at this location, then known as 60 Main Street, and it became known as the Visalia Saddle Shop. The men who knew how to assemble this very new and popular style of saddle were brought together there, and the Visalia Saddle was produced and very successfully marketed. Saddle trees were cut from native oak crotches and carved by Mr. Mattley, the leather was oak tanned locally, and the silver work on saddles, spurs, bits, and other gear was done by Mr. Herrera, making the saddles and tack entirely a Visalia product. At different times the firm was Walker and Shuhan, Walker and Wade, and Walker and Wegner. In 1887 the Visalia Times called the shop the largest of its kind, with saddles, bridles, spurs, bits, and harness of the best kind on display, and said the saddles were being shipped to all parts of the country. A saddle store was opened in San Francisco in 1887, and the Visalia store was turned over to D. E. Walker's nephew E. W. Weeks while Walker moved to San Francisco to run the store there. In 1894, at 47, Walker died, and Weeks carried on the business until his own death in the early 1930's. The business then went into steady decline, was moved to Sacramento, and a disastrous fire in the early 1960's delivered the final blow. All modern stock saddles today are the direct descendants of the Visalia Saddle.

Visalia, California · United States