The Sewell Family has been involved with many different ranching operations in northern & central Nevada and south west Wyoming since 1993 where they developed the love for Vaquero & Buckaroo style hats. Back in 1993, Barry worked as a ranch hand at Kirkeby Ranches near Great Basin National Park where he learned to build buckaroo hats for fellow Buckaroos. It started out as a fun hobby but later word got around about the beautiful and traditional artistic work that he does. One hat by one, Great Basin Buckaroos from far away would ask him to build a hat for them. The demand grew as they became more and more popular. The rest became history

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Today Montana Rio, Inc. has sold hats to numerous customers throughout the world, as far as east and west Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America and North America. We are proud to say that we've sold hats to at least eighteen (18) countries. It's an amazing accomplishment considering where it all began... on a working ranch in central Nevada.  Numerous buckaroos, especially Great Basin Buckaroos are found in the high desert in Northern Nevada, California, Oregon and Southern Idaho. These Buckaroos wear such stylized hat. Thus the birth of Montana Rio Hat Company, a company that truly understand how to build customized quality buckaroo hats.