Tom Hirt is one of the most respected makers of cowboy hats today—with good reason. You won’t find any cookie-cutter-type headware at his home/shop/showroom in Penrose, Colorado. You won’t find any modern machinery either—unless you count the 1920s-era Singer sewing machine. No flange. No binding machine. No automated finisher. Heck, he doesn’t even use a conformiter to measure customers in person. A tape measure suits him. He also has an “at home” method that customers can u

July 2004
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Silver J Western Wear
- “I Will Laugh No More While Living”
- Santos Furniture
- Puttin’ the Hirt on Your Head
- Country Crossover Colorado Style
- State of the Union
- Wind River Historical Center
- Seventh Cavalry Sells High
- Kill Bill
- Digging Up Billy the Kid’s Mother
- A Pictorial Historian
- On the Trail of Wild Bill Hickok
- What did women use as hairspray years ago? Miss Kitty’s hair was always in place.
- When did they stop hanging men for horse theft? Also, what was the penalty after hanging was outlawed?
- Have you heard of West Texas badman Charlie Small?
- While watching Joe Kid and The Journeyman, I’ve noticed the use of Mausers. Was this gun typical of the period?
- Did cowboys really make tenderfeet “dance” by firing their pistols at their feet as is often shown in old Westerns?
- Can you describe a drover’s typical day on the Long Trail?
- The Three Charleys
- Nerves of Steel