The First Western Holster
Stampeded out of the California Gold Rush.
Categories: Shooting from the Hip
By: Phil Spangenberger 01/01/2008
For centuries, pistol holsters were strictly utilitarian in design, often consisting of little more than a leather pouch for housing the gun. By 1850, many holsters produced for the new caplock revolvers, such as Col. Colt’s offerings of the day, were constructed with flap covers, providing protection from rain, dirt and other debris that might jam the gun’s action mechanism or render a percussion cap useless.
The lawlessness prevalent in the overcrowded mining camps of California’s Mother Lode created a need for gunleather that offered quicker access to one’s pistol than afforded by the flapped holsters. To prepare against possible trouble, gun toters began folding back these protective flaps—or cutting them off altogether.
Having set up shop in the bawdy and bustling city of San Francisco, pioneer saddlers such as Main & Winchester (est. 1849) and L.D. Stone Company (est. 1852), along with other “Yankee” artisans of the California Gold Rush, saw firsthand, the need for such gunleather. What resulted became the first truly Western holster, the “California Pattern.”
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