2015 Cheyenne Frontier Days: Local Business Highlights – The Town Blacksmith

It seems that any town that was a town in the old west had a blacksmith. Old Frontier Town, Cheyenne has one too, and we were able to catch up with him this week.

In the old frontier, every town had what was known as a "blacksmith." The term makes reference to iron, or "black metal." The town blacksmith was always held in high esteem as everyone, some way, some how, needed his services.

He did everything from repairs, to fabricating parts for guns and wagons. He also crafted farm tools such as: picks, shovels and hoes. The women folk relied on him for knives, hatchets and, in some cases, kitchen accessories.

The blacksmith knew a lot of what was going on and would own a lot of property and have access to many supplies, especially when people had a problem paying up.

We caught up with Randy, the blacksmith, down at Old Frontier Town at the 2015 Cheyenne Frontier Days. He takes the history and the trade even further in the video above.