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Wheelwright Tim Hoffman pours
water on a hot rim of steel and momentarily disappears
in a billowy cloud of steam at Hansen Wlieel & Wagon
Shop in Letcher, S.D. (pop. 160).
"We don’t use glue or nails to hold tlie spoke to the
wheel, so the shrinking steel pulls everything up tightly
for a strong bond," says Hoffman, 31, who lias been
perfecting the art of wooden wlieel making for six years.
After the hot steel rims shrink and cool, the
Special Pullout Section!
Doug Hansen
learned woodworking and blacksmithing at Mitchell
(S.D) High School and the nearby Mitchell Technical
Institute. “She brought home an old broken-down
buggy, and then my granddad bought a span of mules
and said he needed a wagon.”
Hansen became so proficient at making wheels
and wagons that his grandfather suggested he
start the business.
During the last 28 years, Hansen Wheel &
Wagon has made about 1 (),()()() wooden wheels
and 13,000 wagons of all kinds, from reproduc
tions of 19th-century stagecoaches to wagons used
as living quarters by sheepherders.
Hansen’s business has grown because of a
renewed interest in the Old West. “People have
moved from the farm to the city, but have a long
ing for the past," he says. “It’s a nostalgia thing.”
To build authentic replicas, Hansen and his
■ . ■ wli i
Dale Michel fits the wooden door on a replica of
an 1880 s, nine-passenger Western-style stagecoach.
Crafting Vintage
by CHUCK
CECIL
wheels are painted and mounted
on the 50 or so horse-drawn
stagecoaches and other vintage
wagon replicas that roll out of
the shop each year.
Owner Doug Hansen, 47,
started the business in 1978
after spending his teen years
fixing broken wagon wheels and
, repairing dilapidated buggies.
1 "My mom and granddad really
got me started," says Hansen, who
Vehicles .
■HO IwMA
Horse-drawn conveyances, such as this luxury stagecoach, are built by Hansen Wheel & Wagon in Letcher, S.D.
wife. Holly, travel to farms, museums and other
places where antique wagons are used or displayed,
sketching and measuring every piece of the old
originals. He has dozens of notebooks with hand-
written details on all kinds of Old
West rolling stock, from chuck
wagons to prairie schooners.
From his sketches, Hansen
and his shop’s 10 craftsmen—
wainwrights, wheelwrights,
blacksmiths, coach makers, car
penters, pinstripe painters and
upholsterers—build wagons as
they were made in the 1800 s,
using square nails or handcraft
ed bolts when required.
Hansen’s shop is known for fine
craftsmanship in refurbishing or
making new wheels and wagons
from ash, oak and hickory wixid.
Wagons made at the shop range
in price from $9,000 to SBO,OOO,
depending on how elaborate and
labor-intensive the project.
The shop’s authentic reproductions are sought
around the world. Hansen has sent a replica chuck
wagon to Japan and a sheep wagon to France,
while Western-style wagons are favorites among
cowboy wannabes in Germany.
Hansen wagons have appeared in movies, includ
ing Dames With Wolves, and in television commercials,
such as the Budweiser beer wagons drawn by Clydes
dale horses. Wells Fargo Bank uses a dozen Hansen
made stagecoaches for advertising and promotion,
while Hansen wagons can lx? found on display in
museums and Western-theme restaurants, and driven
by participants in draft horse competitions.
ife i
Hansen's most unusual order was for a wagon
wheel 18 feet in diameter for che 2003 Warner
Brothers movie Looney Tunes Back In Action.
In 2001, operators of the Booth Western Art
'i WSWL '
Hand detailing a Budweiser wagon
“To my way of thinking,” says Hansen, “what
ever we do here—whatever leaves here—we give
it our best; and you can be sure that the next time
we do it, we ll do it even better."
Chuck Cecil is a freelance writer in Brookings, S.D.
Visit www.hansenwheel.com or call (605)
996-8754 for more information.
To see other vintage vehicles built by Hansen
Wheel & Wagon, visit AmericanProfile.com
Page 16
Museum of Cartersville, Ga.,
asked Hansen to refurbish a
historic stagecoach donated to
the museum. "We wanted the
coach to look old and used, but
still be in very good condition,”
says Seth Hopkins, the muse
um’s executive director. “We
were thrilled with the results."
Hansen is a perfectionist and
keeps a watchful eye on the
tiniest construction details. He
and his craftsmen enjoy the
challenge of continuing the
almost lost art of wheel and
wagon making, and they’re
reluctant to deviate from meth
ods used in the 1800 s to make
the durable horse-drawn con
veyances.
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