Category: sheep wagon

Even More About Sheep Wagons!

~ George Crawford ~ 3 Comments

A Tumblr follower spotted my interest in sheep wagons and other classic mobile lifestyles.  They sent me this excellent link to a short (20 minute) documentary from faircompanies.com.  It’s a nice overview of sheep wagon design old and new by a couple making and selling old-fashioned Sheep Camps.

And here are a few older posts I’ve made about the American sheep wagons.  They’re all you need out here in the west.  Click the photos to learn more.

A Sheep Wagon in a Modern Setting
Growing Up in a Sheep Wagon
A Sheepherder Wagon Community
Sheep Camps are Alive and Well in the West

Have a look at a little bit of nearly lost American history.

A Classic Sheep Wagon in a Modern Setting

~ George Crawford ~ 1 Comment
Classic sheep wagon; Dutch door, wash pan hanging out of the way but handy, and an offset door.

I love these old sheep camps.  There are many on ranches from New Mexico to Idaho and beyond in old sheep and cattle country.  They aren’t highway capable but it seems they could provide a real housing alternative for low-income minimalists.  For many of us, living this way would be far better than a housing complex or apartment.

Cook stove and kitchen box.

I took a fair amount of design inspiration from these wagons but added a bit of class along the way.  I wouldn’t mind having a cook stove like this one though.

A nice stove cap. I need to make something classy like this some time.

Off-the-shelf or build it yourself?  I love these details in hand-built structures.  This stove pipe cap has a classy look.

A double bed, cooking area, and a place to relax out of the weather. The essentials are covered.
A double bed, cooking area, and a place to relax out of the weather. The essentials are covered.

A short piece about Lorna’s wagon can be found here on the Tiny House Blog.

Sheepherders’ Camps

~ George Crawford ~ 2 Comments

Here are a few classic Sheep Camps from the Wyoming Tales and Trails webpage. There are some great photos and some good information on their web page.  I personally took a lot of inspiration from these resourceful and low-cost housing solutions.

Fiddling on the prairie.  I could spend much of my life like this!
Out on the range. Looking at my Vardo, you can see my inspiration for the offset door and stove.
Again, the offset door. I get asked about this a lot. It gives a large amount of room on one side.

There’s a lot of other information and photos of western history here too.  Have a look around.

http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/

A Story of Growing Up in a Sheep Wagon

~ George Crawford ~ Leave a comment
Greasing the axles of a sheep camp n Taos County, New Mexico ca. 1941.
Greasing the axles of a sheep camp in Taos County, New Mexico ca. 1941.

“Victor Croley grew up with a sheepherder father, his family of six lived happily in a wagon like this, entertained by the outdoors and a fiddle.”

Victor Croley describes growing up in a nomadic family of six with a sheepherder wagon for home and how years down the road he felt the urge to build a wagon of his own.
Mother Earth News, May/June 1970

Here is great story I read years ago about being raised in a family of six in a sheep camp measuring about 7 x 8′! (I think that’s the floor space).  I recently relocated the article in Mother Earth News.

Croley’s Wagon.
Schematic of a typical sheep camp.

Here’s an excerpt:

“The canvas-covered sheep wagon was roughly about seven feet wide by eight feet long. On the front end a door opened out of the middle and you stepped down onto the wagon tongue and thence to the ground. From the inside looking out, the stove was on the left of the door. On the right was a small wash stand with several wooden drawers for storage of linens, towels and socks. A bucket of water and washbasin were on the oil cloth covered top and a small mirror hung above the basin for shaving. Soap, toothbrush, razor and essentials rested on top of the stand when in location or were stowed in a drawer when moving.”

Download the print article here: CroleysSheepCamp.

Sheep Camps are Alive and Well in the West

~ George Crawford ~ Leave a comment

I have posted quite a few images and links to classic old-time sheep camps here over the years.   If you travel the small byways of the Mountain West you will still see plenty of old sheep camps in use or parked around ranch houses today.  But the sheep camp isn’t just a thing of a past generation, they are still being rebuilt, restored, or made in shops for modern use.

2012-11-09-09-30-54If you aren’t sure how this differs from a modern RV, you may not be alone.  However, there are some subtle but significant differences.  First of all, the sheep camps tend to be built much more sturdily than their recreational cousins and almost always have a wood stove for heat due their use in remote mountains.  The over-built bodies and heavy-duty frames allow them to be dragged into all sorts off-road locations without damage.  As a working accommodation they tend to be more spartan than many new RVs.

img_3415Note the traditional wheel arrangement on the model above. This type of running gear allows the wagon to be pulled into any location and is always set-up.  No need for jacks if you can find a relatively level patch of ground.  However, if the wagon is to be primarily pulled on the highway, a more modern configuration adds to their towability as seen below.

img_3844legend-outlinedThe layout is classic (I modeled my layout, in part, on this style wagon) with the bed across the back and a stowaway table.  The people at Timberline Range Camps, who create the wagons pictured here, have preserved the classic features in a fully modern “camp”.

TRC

I get no endorsement from them but please go and check out their work.

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Tiny sink, lots of storage, and a two burner stove are perfect for a couple working folks or an cold weather hunting camp.img_3360_0

Nothing fancy required in an off-grid home like this.img_3365Although the wagons have grown in size to accommodate the modern worker I appreciate their dedication to simplicity.  One of the coolest features, I think, is the bed-under-the-bed.

img_3368The lower bunk slides in and out as a drawer to completely stow away with a minimum of wasted space when not needed.  If you want the vardo-caravan-sheep camp lifestyle but cannot bring yourself to build it, explore the many options of the modern builders.  This is just a small sample of what they offer, check out their web page and blog to see many more photos: http://sheepcamps.com/

Vardo News, Russian Style

~ George Crawford ~ 3 Comments

вардо, that’s Russian for Vardo; and it certainly looks more interesting in Cyrillic. Searching some Russian pages for vardo information yielded a wealth of photos and some interesting information about Traveler culture in Eastern Europe.  There’s as much fascination with the Traveler lifestyle in the largest country on Earth as there is on this side of the globe as we are more alike than we are different, despite what politicians might say.

trav02The enchantment that some of us have for life on the road spans the world.  Our ancestors were all nomads but some seek the comforts of permanent roots.

trav06It’s only in our recent past to settle for a permanent dwelling when the Earth is our canvas on which we write our lives largely and bold.  Most of us in the “New World” certainly wouldn’t be here at all had our ancestors been stay-at-homes or successful and steadfast.  I think we have it in our genes to look for greener pastures.

horsefaireThat’s why so many of us (1 in 300 according to U.S. statistical data) at some point in our lives choose an itinerant life against the image portrayed as “typical” and settled.

92477527_Gypsy_002This feeling is certainly not exceptional, from Reading Wagon to Winnebago, it’s relatively easy to make one’s home on the road.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMaybe not as spacious as a spec home in Los Angeles but when the outdoors is your home then the real luxury can be limited in square footage.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd, of course, there is the romance of the Road.  Think of Steinbeck, Kerouac, McCarthy, or Tolkien; the great adventure stories of the Road that never ends.  We need nothing but our rolling universe and the few things we bring along.

Reading RomanceFor western Europeans, there is a special romance with the horse, wagon, and music that makes this lifestyle especially enticing to some, leading to the immense sales of caravans that will rarely see actual use but represent a freedom most of us may never get to know.

Horses graze in a field next to travellers during the horse fair in Appleby in Westmorland, Cumbria.

So if it’s in you, you are not alone in looking for some adventure on the open road that is your life.

Mick’s Bowtop Progress

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Mick’s bowtop is coming along nicely, and has even hit the road for an extended camping trip.  The canvas cover is attached but, unlike it’s historical cousins, there is wood all the way around the roof for strength and security.

DSC_0862Mick’s cabinet-making skills are paying off in the details including the hand-built bay window, dutch door, and drawers.

DSC_0863The photos hardly do it justice as there is great detail in every part of the construction.

DSC_0864From the arched moulding to the compound angles in the stairs, great thought has gone into each step of the construction.

DSC_0866A combination of woods gives a great look and feel to the interior.

DSC_0865

DSC_0867Curved seat backs counter the arch of the roof for a unique look and feel in the interior.

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DSC_0870The home stretch is in the details of shelving and other storage; a problem not made easier by the curved walls but will create a wagon that is a work of art as much as a home on the road.

OTR

Visit the build here to see more: http://vrdomayneac-trailerbuild.blogspot.com/