The Chuck Wagon

The chuck wagon was an ordinary supply wagon that had been altered by the addition of a chuck box on the back. [See a chuck wagon in the photograph JA Cook Inspecting His Stew, (S59-166) and in the painting Bronc In Cow Camp, (1964.144).] There was a hinged lid that folded out into a table and used by the cook as a counter top. The first wagon alteration was made by Charles Goodnight, the famous “Cattle King” of the JA Ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon, of the Texas Panhandle. Goodnight replaced the hickory and oak gear and axles with bois d’arc and iron.

The chuck wagon was stocked with coffee, a three- to five-gallon coffee pot, sugar, bacon, dried apples, canned goods, rice, beans, flour, lard, salt, baking soda, eggs, and sourdough.

Most chuck wagon cooks were particular about the fuel used for cooking. To “get in good” with the cook, cowhands would sometimes rope wood and bring it back to camp. This gesture was appreciated by the cook. If wood was scarce, then cow chips (dried cow dung) were used for fuel.

With all those cows around, you might think that cowboys would use cow’s milk for themselves and cooking. Not so. Most milk used by the chuck wagon cook was canned. Cowboys did not believe in taking milk away from a nursing calf.

The chuck wagon was the center of the universe for the cowhand. It was what transported bedrolls, food, and clean dry clothes. Shade was provided by a tarp, which pulled out from the back of the wagon and held in place by sticks. A trench dug into the earth and then lined with charcoal, a feature of every camp, was the place for cooking the biscuits, beans, and heating the coffee.

There was a strict standard of etiquette around the chuck wagon. Some of these rules included:

• When lifting the lid off the Dutch oven, do not put it down where it can get dirty.
• When the wind is blowing, make sure you stand with your back to the wind so that dust and sand will not get into the food.
• When taking a pot off the fire, replace it so that the food will stay hot for the next person.
• Do not take the last piece of anything unless you know for sure that all others are finished eating.
• Do not leave food on your plate. If you take more than you can eat, then either scrape the leftovers on the ground for chipmunks and birds, burn them in the fire, or put them in a can.
• Drop your dirty dishes into the “roundup pan” or “wreck pan” (names for the dishpan).
• Do not tie your horse to the wheel of the chuck wagon or ride into camp so that the wind you create blows dust into the food, onto utensils, or plates of others that are eating.
• Do not saddle or unsaddle your horse near the food. Keep horse hair out of the beans.
• Do not get into the food until the cook has called to tell you that it is ready. Remember, the cook only calls for chuck once.
• Whoever finds the water bucket empty is duty-bound to fill it immediately.
• If, during the meal, a cowboy gets up to get more coffee and another cowboy yells, “Man at the pot,” the first cowboy up is obligated to fill the coffee cup of anyone who wants it.
• Be quick when getting your food. Lingering too long while dishing up your plate will aggravate your fellow cowhands.