Postcard from the Past: Sheep Wagon Gets Mountain Gear

In previous Postcards we’ve outlined the history of the sheep wagon, also known as the original “home on wheels,” invented in Wyoming. Here’s more of the story.

Faithful readers over the years might notice this is a repeat of a Postcard from the Past published in the Wyoming Livestock Roundup in 2010. I’m so old, I don’t remember stealing it from some publication, so I hope long-time readers enjoy it again and new readers learn more about Wyoming’s historic sheep industry.

In an article by Agnes Wright Spring published in the December 1940 issue of Wyoming Stockman Farmer and Wyoming Industrial Journal, touted as “Wyoming’s only agricultural publication,” it was reported:

About 18 years after the first Candlish sheep wagon – invented in 1884 – was put into use, the Schulte Hardware Company of Casper employed Marshall Buxton to make sheep wagons. Buxton had, for some time, been a buffalo and wild game hunter.

The special “mountain gear” manufactured by the Bayne Wagon Company of Kenosha, Wis. was used for mounting the Schulte bodies. 

These wagons had seat boxes, a stove, a table and cupboards for supplies. The box was held together by double doors strong enough to support the weight of a man. The top was a combination of linoleum, blankets and canvas. 

When a wagon was first completed, the new canvas bagged over the top and looked like a terrible job, but after a rain, it drew up “tight as a fiddle string.”

The original Schulte wagon cost $248, plus the cost of the Bayne running gear, which varied from $65 to $195. A wagon with hardwood finish, good for a lifetime, could be furnished for around $1,200.

The Schulte company has continued to make sheep wagons for 40 years and is now turning out, on order, a new type for around $600 – an all-metal, flat-bottomed wagon which is streamlined in every detail and is insulated with cellatex. It is mounted on rubber tires….but, then, that’s more sheep manure for our next Postcard.