Family operation brings history back to life

For over four decades, Mike and Dona McGilvray of McGilvray Farms, located in Bird City, Kan., have been showcasing their talents restoring, rebuilding and hand-crafting a variety of wagons, carts, buggies and wagon wheels.

Mike was born and raised on his family’s farm in Brush, Colo. where they ran a commercial cattle operation, while his wife Dona grew up in Laramie.

Meeting in Mike’s hometown, the couple spent part of their time together in southeastern Colorado before settling in northwest Kansas.

Over the years, the couple raised two daughters and a son, and today they celebrate the joy of having four wonderful grandchildren.

“It all started with a team of draft horses we purchased. I wanted a hitch wagon to show the horses off, so I built one,” Mike stated. “And here we are years later, restoring wagons, wheels, carts and more.”

Now customers from across the country seek out the McGilvrays to build or restore all kinds of horse carts, sheep wagons, coaches and wheels.

“It’s just been Dona and I all of these years. We have never had a staff of more than two,” Mike laughed. “My son worked for us for a little while, but he left for a better-paying job.”

Today, the couple travels across the West showcasing their craftmanship at various events and sheep festivals.

Restoration

One of the biggest projects for McGilvray Farms has been the construction of two stagecoaches which can be viewed at area museums.

“We have our work displayed in two locations in Kansas – the Fort Wallace Museum in Fort Wallace, Kan. and Fort Larned in Larned, Kan. Each have a stagecoach we rebuilt for them,” he added. “Everything is curved so we had to bend the wood which takes time, and more than 1,000-man hours went into building just one stagecoach.”

It is a long process, but the final product is a work of art, as many have described the McGilvrays’ craftmanship.

As historic sheep wagons – the traditional home on the range – take on new popularity, Mike and Dona are filling the need for those who are looking to customize their antique sheep wagons.

Restoration teams, such as the McGilvrays, are utilizing their talents to bring history back to life.

Mike said, “It took us about a year to finish a sheep wagon which we will be delivering to Casper soon, but it takes time to restore or rebuild all of our wagons, coaches and wheels as they all are handcrafted.”

The McGilvray shop has a plethora of traditional hand tools and equipment, but they do not utilize any three-dimensional computer tools in their restoration process.

“Wood wheels are a major part of what we do, and we build everything out of hard wood like ash or hickory. Very little pine is used when we are restoring or building new spoke wagon wheels,” Mike added. “We have a full line of wheel building equipment and can do whatever anybody wants.”

Building and restoration efforts have been the family’s focus, and this has reached outside of traditional Western equipment. 

“We’ve restored a couple of old trucks we’re pretty proud of too” Mike said. “Other projects include signs, yard benches, ornate handles-fixtures and more. We’ll try to build or restore whatever anybody asks us to do.”

The couple has also restored or built from scratch a variety of carriages, buggies, box wagons, freight wagons, covered wagons, surreys and doctor’s buggies.

“We can make almost anything anybody wants or needs,” Mike concluded. “And we construct everything with the greatest pride and craftsmanship.”

Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.