Foss Lewis’s Hamley Saddle
Lela Lewis Belnap with her father’s 100 year old ’Hamley’ saddle.
Ever since we started up in Caribou County, it has been interesting to experience moments where Caribou and Oneida counties come into contact with one another. Outside of sports, there are a number of residents of one county who grew up in the other, or people who live in one place and work near the other. There are multi-county agencies or boards that have members in common, and so on.
But this story came about in a different way, and the unexpected connection between individuals across the counties is (in my opinion) an extremely interesting and entertaining one. Bill Lewis, Chairman of the Oneida County Board of Commissioners, mentioned this to me a few months back, and this report comes from primarily from him. For readers of both counties, enjoy this story about how the world can be both bigger and smaller than you’d think!
In about 2020, Bill Lewis and Bob Borgen rode their mules out of the Bob Marshall wilderness in Montana at the Benchmark trailhead near Augusta, Montana, loaded their mules in the trailer and headed to Augusta for an overnight stay at the local Augusta rodeo grounds. The Rodeo grounds are owned by the American Legion, so to get permission to stay the night and house their mules in the corrals on the grounds, Bill called Ben Arps, the American Legion representative. Ben agreed that they could stay the night with a small donation to the local American Legion Post. He met Bill and Bob at the Fairgrounds and after introducing himself as Bill Lewis from Idaho, Ben ask if Bill was a relative of Foss Lewis out of Soda Springs Idaho. Bill responded that he did not know the name of Foss Lewis. However, he did live within 70 miles of Soda Springs and would check out the name in Soda Springs at the Caribou County courthouse to see if he could find any relatives of Foss Lewis.
Ben Arps delivering the ‘Hamley’ saddle to Idaho.
Ben Arps went on to tell Bill that he had attended an estate sale in Great Falls Montana and had purchased a ‘Hamley’ Saddle at that sale. The saddle was well used, however it was a famous ‘Hamley’ saddle. Ben then said that if they could find a family member of Foss Lewis, he would give the saddle to the family.
Ben had taken the serial number of the saddle to Pendleton Oregon where this famous saddle was made and they identified that the saddle was made on May 4, 1923 for Foss Lewis from Soda Springs Idaho. The saddle maker was Lewis Campbell and the saddle was made for a cost of $90.
At a County meeting Bill Lewis met Jill Stoor who is the Caribou County Clerk and asked her about the name of Foss Lewis. In a further search, Jill was not able to come up with any Foss Lewis information or identify any relatives of his. Bill also searched the internet for information on Foss and came up empty as well.
In September of 2025, Bill was contacted by Jim Stoor, Jill Stoor’s husband. Jim introduced himself and ask if Bill had a story about a Foss Lewis saddle. Bill recounted the story of his visit with Ben Arps in Augusta Montana and Ben’s desire to give the saddle to Foss Lewis’s family if they could find any of his descendants. Jim then told Bill that he had just met Lela Belnap, the daughter of Foss Lewis, the previous week as she visited the 160 acres Lewis family homesteaded north of Soda Springs.
Bill told Jim that he wasn’t sure that he had Ben’s phone number or if he was still alive but he would try to search for the needle in the haystack and see if Ben and the saddle were still around.
With a short search, Bill was able to come up with Ben Arps phone number. He called Ben who said that he did have the ‘Hamley’ saddle and was still eager for the saddle to go to the family of Foss Lewis. Bill explained to Ben that Foss Lewis’s daughter Lela Belnap and her husband Clint Belnap had been met while making a trip to Soda Springs Idaho from their home in Arizona to visit their family homestead.
The following Saturday Ben Arps delivered the saddle to Idaho, where it was handed off to Jim Stoor whose family delivered the saddle to Lela Belnap in Arizona.
A Miracle story that placed a 102 year old ‘Hamley’ saddle into the hands of the original Foss Lewis family.
Lela Lewis Belnap, daughter of Foss Lewis, said “I am amazed that I now have a saddle I didn’t even know existed-one that belonged to my father when he was a 20 year old man more than a century ago. What makes this even more meaningful is that none of the people who helped make it possible even knew me, yet went out of their way and expended a great deal of effort to track it down and get it to me. I am deeply grateful to Ben Arps, Bill Lewis, Jim and Jill Stoor, and Megan Stoor Pall. It means the world to me.”
