For Ryder Gauteraux, a boot maker turned alligator hunter turned silver artist, the city of Wallace is the place, he said, that ties his multifaceted business together.
To make his relationship with Wallace and the Silver Valley official, Gauteraux purchased the Wallace Corner building this week. He is already working on the ground floor, where he will put in his boot shop, a show room and a sculpture room where he said he will cast silver into pieces of art.
But Gauteraux said there is more in the works.
The top two floors, he said, will be converted into a banquet-style hotel where his high-end clients can stay overnight in Wallace, a city he was drawn to almost immediately.
“I needed a place that was central,” Gauteraux said. “This is the place that ties it all together. This is a great community. It’s like a diamond in the rough, but in the hills. Just the downtown atmosphere, that’s what is special.”
Gauteraux not only builds high-end boots, purses and chaps, he uses part of the month of September to go alligator hunting with his clients.
One alligator hide he had in the Wallace Corner buiding, which he said is enough to make three pairs of boots, was killed by Jean-Claude Van Damme’s son.
Gauteraux, who said he has worked with leather for 20 years, was born in San Pablo, Co., but later moved to Kalispell, Mont. with his parents.
“My dad was a cowboy — half cowboy, half hippie,” he said.
He also participated in rodeos in several states, where he rode horses competively. Because his boots always wore out, Gauteraux said he decided to start building his own.
Today, he spends 60 to 80 hours on a pair of boots. He also has artists come in and design them to a client’s liking.
“High-end businessmen and some of the most eccentric celebrities are some of my clients,” he said. “Plus ranchers and cowboys.”
Boots on his website sell for anywhere between $5,000 and $18,000.
“I do everything from scratch,” he said. “I like to sit down and have drinks with a client and decide what to make.”
Wallace Mayor Dick Vester said he is enthused with Gauteraux’s new business.
“We welcome him and look forward to him being very successful,” Vester said. “I find that a lot of people coming into Wallace bring some new energy and ideas. That helps to diversify things a little.”
According to historic records at the Wallace District Mining Museum, the Wallace Corner building was built in 1890 and opened as the Fuller Hotel. By 1901, it was known as The Wallace Hotel. Records show that Louis Sweet and Obadiah Gaut were the building’s proprietors in 1901-02. In 1924, records show that R.J. Fuller, C.T. McGuire and Frank Spillman were the proprietors.
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