MTFCA Forum

I find it a little puzzling why the sheepherder would find a Model T useful in the hills, but here you have it. I’m going to assume the T doesn’t quite have enough power to pull the sheep camp up to summer range, but the team can handle the load plus trail the T.

Here’s another - not a T, but it shows the trials early drivers endured. Figuring out the newfangled gas buggy’s limitations vis-a-vis what they were used to doing was quite a learning curve, I imagine.

Awesome pics.
I wonder if they pulled the spark plugs first.

Horses to pull the sheep camp, the T to haul camp supplies from town while shepherding in the hills.Quicker ans easier than riding back to town and pack saddling in supplies.

Allan from down under.

varmint wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 18, 2026 4:21 pm

Awesome pics.
I wonder if they pulled the spark plugs first.

Vern, I wondered about the “drag”, most cases the sheepherders weren’t necessarily that “tech savvy” I’ll bet the team just had to take it in stride.

Allan wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 18, 2026 5:58 pm

Horses to pull the sheep camp, the T to haul camp supplies from town while shepherding in the hills.Quicker ans easier than riding back to town and pack saddling in supplies.

Allan from down under.

Maybe “down under”. Here, in the Rocky Mountains the sheepherder would usually be in some nearly inaccessible terrain, waiting for a periodic visit from the boss to re-provision. Can’t leave the band unattended, and most cases, the wherewithal to motor into town could mean too frequent celebrations in the local saloon resulting in a confrontation with cattlemen and time in the hoosegow.

My Father -in-law spent many summers on the prairie 30 miles from the nearest town in a sheep wagon watching the herd. They used our 1923 touring to retrieve lambs that wandered and to go back to the ranch or town for provisions.

My input was based on travels and talks I had in a T in southern California with Basque gentleman who used to tend sheep in summer camps in the mountains and then tend orange groves in winter. Emil used to make visits back to town to replenish supplies, mainly foodstuffs, and then drive back up to the sheep camp. He lamented that most of the orange groves were going under housing, but he was ready to forgo the work involved due to his growing seniority.

Allan from down under.