LINDEN, Alta. – In an era of larger trucks, higher speed limits, satellite-fed marketing information and e-mail, a wagon builder may seem out of place.
But Robby Fyn, who practices the art of traditional wheelwright in this central Alberta town, has seen his business grow since he opened Linden Wagon and Buggy Works a year and a half ago.
“The further rural people get from their heritage the more respect they have for it,” said Fyn.
“The chuckwagon racers bring in a lot of work with wheels and tongues but the rebuilds and mystery of a wagon that has been put out to pasture being brought back to life, that is the most interesting part of the work.”
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Wagons that once rotted in the back of farmyards and ranches are being given new life. Often the very wheels that carried the pioneers to Western Canada carry their descendants in parades, cattle drives and Sunday rides.
Stewart Bradley, one of Fyn’s customers, said the old wagons have a story to tell about western heritage.
“There is a western culture and people are only beginning to find out how important it is to retain what we can of our forefathers,” he said.
Bradley, who does some restoration work himself, sought out other wheelwrights when he was restoring his own wagon, circa 1890. The results, while aesthetically pleasing, weren’t everything he had hoped for.
“Robby does the original work, with the original tools, and knows what the original wagon should be,”said Bradley.
Fyn, whose heritage includes nine generations of Anabaptist wheelwrights, carries the traditions of the family into the late twentieth century.
“You don’t have to have wagon building in your blood, but it helps,” he said.
Technology took over
Fyn’s father brought the tools and the skills from Europe to Ontario, but eventually settled on a career in architectural engineering as the need for wagon repairs faded with the advance of tractors and trucks. He passed on his skills to his son who has practiced the craft most of his life.
The materials and parts that form a wagon, once commonly available at the local hardware store, are now only specialty items made by a few companies.
Follow taditional beliefs
Fyn buys parts from companies that have been in the wagon business often as long as his own family. Many, such as the Amish and traditional Mennonites, hold similar beliefs about the proper way to restore wagons to their original states.
“They still build by hand and they use the products they make,” he said, describing one of his suppliers from his home town in southern Ontario.
In addition to storing some wagon parts on site, Fyn keeps handmade harness and tack on hand.
The business got started shortly after Fyn and his family moved to Alberta two years ago to be closer to his wife’s parents and to find a community that supported their Mennonite faith.
“Originally I thought of working for a rancher or maybe in the family business, but the wagon work kept on coming and coming so we decided to try and make a go of it,” he said.
“The only part that gets me down is the books. I hate to deal with the money, but I’m hoping that with my wife’s help I’ll get better at it. I just rather would be working on wagons,” he said.
