Copyright 1995-2005 - Chuck Pritchard

POETS, BARDS & LIARS

John B. Stetson, the son of a Philadelphia hatter, was traveling west in the 1860's seeking a cure for tuberculosis, a common disease of hatters. Stetson and his companions were camped on the Colorado prairie braving the cold weather and the subject naturally turned to the need of a tent. Tents that were constructed of un-tanned hides were smelly & generally unpleasant so Stetson mentioned that fur could be processed without tanning and that cloth could be made without weaving. His companions scoffed at this and challenged Stetson to prove that it could be done. With a hatchet and other improvised tools, Stetson used an age old process of "felting" and converted the fur of a rabbit skin into felt, thoroughly amazing his companions. Just for fun Stetson formed the hat into what he considered would offer the best protection from the elements of the west. He proudly wore the hat and was the talk of the mining camps, with most of it being good natured ridicule. A large, rough looking man, riding a silver saddle on a spirited horse, rode into camp one day and noticed Stetson sporting his bonnet. The man asked if he could try the hat on, Stetson obliged and sold his first "cowboy" hat for the sum of $5.

Stetson regained his health and about a year later he returned to Philadelphia and resumed making hats, the ordinary type, which he peddled to various dealers. The big horseman wearing the big hat stuck in his mind and after pondering the issue for awhile Stetson decided that the man looked like a cattle king, the "Boss of the Plains." Stetson knew that the ranching and cattle industry was gaining momentum and that cattleman, who came from all walks of life, did not wear any particular style of hat. The industry was new, no one had been born a cattleman and Stetson believed that they might be open to the idea of a new style. Fighting poverty, Stetson decided to go with his idea and made a big, natural colored hat which he dubbed "The Boss of the Plains." He sent samples to dealers in the west and southwest and within three weeks the orders poured in. The Texas Rangers adopted the hat, dealers ordered more and more and within a year the western hat was Stetson's only product. A thirty by one hundred foot factory was built to accommodate the orders and when Stetson died, at the age of 76 in 1906, his factory was producing hundreds of thousands of hats each year.