Maine and Winchester History

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi,

While surfing, I found this short (one page) but good history of M&W:

http://www.vintagegunleather.com/company-marks/mainwin_history.html

TTFN,

[Marshal Will Wingam]

They were quite an outfit in their time. Cool link, WW. Thanks for posting it.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Marshall,

It is thought that most of the '49ers wore Slim Jims, invented and perfected by Maine and Winchester ... or wore an old Army holster, sometimes with the flap removed for better access.

A little known fact was that they built the first four story building in San Francisco ... and that besides holsters, they provided much of the leather for the Cavalry ....

TTFN,

BTW, Thanks for the credits on the link ... *S*

[Cliff Fendley]

Thanks for the link, that is very interesting. They were a huge business in the day.

I'm sure civilian holsters would have been a small part of most any leather business in the day when livestock provided the transportation.

Saddles, harness, and accessories would have been the backbone of the businesses.

We don't often think of a leather business operating on that large of scale in those days but leather goods were a big part of what drove the economy.