04/07/08 Resurrecting History

Ressurecting History. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. What happens when you are the best at something for years and then the world starts to pass you by? It happens. But thanks to a couple of gentlemen with some foresight on history the name Hamley lives on in Pendleton, Oregon. PEARCE: Hamley's dates way back as a company. We're the oldest saddle maker in the West; probably of cowboy saddles, probably the oldest in the country. Hamley's has been in business 125 years. When the last Hamley retired which was in the early 80's, Hamley's struggled a little. That's Parley Pearce, one of the two new owners of Hamley. The company was bounced around for a number of years but eventually was on the verge of closing. PEARCE: And that's when my ears first perked up and realized that this is a company that needs some help. It's a wonderful old western icon. We started making offers to buy the company with no success at that time and made a number of offers over the years and finally we were fortunate enough to negotiate a buy and keep the brand and the building all together. At that time they decided to close the store for several months just to give them a chance to go in and remodel and start fresh in time for the companies 100th birthday back in 2005. Both Pearce and his partner, Blair Woodfield's interest in the company goes back to what Pearce describes as having worn the basket stamping off a saddle. They saw too many other old companies go out of business. PEARCE: Most of the other old great companies, Visalia and Porter and a number of the great old companies had closed and pulled the plug and they were no more and Hamley's was kind of the last of them and I just thought it's too painful to see a company like this just disappear after the long rich history they've had there and so we kind of rolled up our sleeves and decided to invest. Not only does Hamley make the finest cowboy saddles, they also have clothing, jewelry, household items and art work all in a western theme. PEARCE: And it's going along well. We're real pleased with where it's going and how it's going. People have really responded to it and it's sort of become that Holy Grail for cowboys again where they can come and buy good gear and good equipment. For years the Hamley catalog was a prized possession and even today those old catalogs are fetching good prices at antique stores as collectibles. Pearce hints that just maybe, that tradition will come back. Tomorrow, that and making the legend bigger and better. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.