He first learned the leather and boot trade as an 11-year-old shoemaker's apprentice in Syracuse, New York. In the early 20th century, Lama joined the U.S. Cavalry as a cobbler for the soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas.
At age eleven, he began learning the leather and boot trade as a shoemaker's apprentice in Syracuse, New York. By the early 1900s, Lama worked as a cobbler for soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas.