Charles Weldon Cannon, known as Tooter Cannon, was a widely recognized manufacturer of boots and saddles in rural Dickens, Texas. Cannon was the last of nine children born to Charles Ira Cannon and the former Mattie Cordial Snodgrass on a working ranch in Afton in Dickens County in West Texas. He was given his unusual nickname as a child by his father. As a teenager, he learned boot and saddlemaking techniques to help the cowboys obtain a proper fit on their horses. He also worked on other ranches in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, as well as Texas. He broke horses for the U.S. government during World War II at El Reno in Canadian County, Oklahoma. After the war, he operated two leather goods businesses in Tulsa, where his clients included the citypolice. In 1949, he returned to Dickens County and settled in the Spur community. He relocated his shop to Dickens in 1968. After 1970, he concentrated exclusively on saddle making until his death. His Tooter Cannon Saddles were prized by ranchers and rodeo riders because they were designed to fit the contour of the horse's back. A Tooter Cannon saddle or a pair of his boots is usually passed down within families. Anything made by Cannon rarely is for sale on the open market. His work is found in a number of private collections. Customers often waited for Cannon to fill their orders, rather than finding other available saddlemakers. Cannon, who outlived all of his siblings, died in a Lubbockhospital at the age of 82. He was a former two-term member of the Dickens Town Council. He was Methodist. Survivors included his second wife, the former Grace Adeline Roberts, then Grace Wheeler, whom he married on April 22, 1957, in Santa Fe, New Mexico; a daughter, Leanora Cannon Houwen, then of Santa Maria in Santa Barbara County, California, but who later returned to Dickens; two stepsons, Kenneth Wheeler of Hobbs, and Bill Wheeler of San Antonio, 11 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Cannon also had an older sister named "Grace". Charles and Grace Cannon are interred at Dickens Cemetery. Over the years, Cannon was cited in newspaper articles, books, magazines, and even a television special. He is permanently honored in the saddlemaking exhibit at the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock.
