Sheepwagon: Home on the Range

About this book

For so long the sheepwagon was such a common sight on the western landscape that it has been overlooked as an important part of the region s culture. Other than a few articles about the quaint sheepwagon or the lonely life of the rapidly disappearing sheepherder no definitive history of the western sheep business has been written since 1948. This photo-intensive book gives the history of the sheepwagon and the surrounding sheep business. Here are chapters on the early days of Western sheep-raising; the origins and manufacturing of sheepwagons; traditional sheepherders: their superstitions customs and pastimes; women and families who lived in sheepwagons; the Basque influence; and modern-day herders sheepwagons and restorers. Author Weidel spent years interviewing sheepmen and women sheepherders wagon builders and experts for this the only book on the fascinating first mobile home.