THE TRAIL BOSS WAS KING BUT THE COOK WAS MOTHER SUPERIOR
The cattle drive, short-lived and long remembered, created countless legends of the American West. None is more enduring than the chuck wagon. The nation’s first food truck, it was a home-away-from-home to countless cowboys.
Field kitchens have fed millions of soldiers since the time of the Roman Legions. The Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show’s traveling camp stoves of the 1890s unfortunately taught Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm how to sustain his army in WWI.
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Cooking for a crowd in the wilderness has always been a problem. Trailing hundreds of cattle thousands of miles through hostile terrain posed its own unique challenges. The frontier’s fabled trail boss generally gets all the glory, but the cook, it turns out, was the heart and soul of the operation. “Cookie” was medic, barber, banker, dentist, tailor, quartermaster, counselor, scribe, selector of campsites, provisioner of beans and biscuits, daytime guardian of firearms and all the drover’s worldly possessions save the clothes on his back. (Just like Tombstone, strict gun laws were the rule.)
The wonderous Western camp kitchen was dreamed up in 1866 by Charles Goodnight. (Above) His original prototype was built on a modified Studabaker wagon, forerunner of the Studabaker automobile. Measureing about 10 feet long, it was pulled by six oxen. Fitted with numerous drawers, shelves, a utensil “chuck box”on the back, the precious water barrel was strapped to the side. With the occasional addition of marginally fresh beef and bit of produce, butter and eggs procured along the way, this rolling mess hall could feed dozens of drovers for nearly half a year.
Yarns of big cattle drives have spawned hours of celluloid and TV’s “Rawhide” made Clint Eastwood a star. In reality the herds crossed the mid-American landscape for less than 20 years. Between 1860 and about 1880, the half dozen major routes brought hundreds of thousands of Texas Longhorns to rail heads, military outposts and mining boom towns.
Much less romantic than pictured, drovers worked in dangerous, hot, cold, soggy conditions depending on the season. The pay was poor to boot, on average a dollar a day for a drover and two dollars a day for a cook. That was based on a 10-to-14-hour workday (no overtime for night watch or the occasional stampede). Today it amounts to maybe $2 an hour for cowboys and close to $4 for “cookie.”
With no place to spend it, it could add up to a $400 payday at the end of a six-month drive, around $14,000 today. Usually all blown in the trails-end cowtown saloons and bawdy houses, most drovers went back to Texas broke with nothing but their saddles.
Mr. Goodnight, however, was not one of them. If you could nominate a a cattle drive legend, Charles Goodnight would probably be your guy; quintessential tall Texan, former Confederate scout, Texas Ranger and renowned rancher. With fellow cattleman, Oliver Loving, the pair developed the 2,000 mile Goodnight-Loving Trail from south Texas to Wyoming. Their real-life adventures were the inspiration for Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “Lonesome Dove” and its classic small screen miniseries.
The Goodnight name meanders through Texas history like the Pecos River. Never portrayed as a choir boy, he is generally described as a tough, profane, fair minded boss who forbade drinking, smoking and gambling and was gauranteed to cashier any hand who mistreated the stock.
His first big Texas Panhandle ranch, the JA, besides historic in the cattle business, literally rescued the American Bison from extinction. In addition Goodnight is credited or blamed, depending on your point of view, for “rescuing” or “kidnapping” Cynthia Ann Parker, captured by the Comanche at the age of eight.
Parker, then 33, was married to Comanche leader, Peta Nocona, when Goodnight discovered her location. Forcibly removed by the Texas Rangers,she left behind a young son, Quanah. He became a fierce and feared warrior, the last great war chief of the Comanche Nation. (Above)
Predictably Cynthia Ann’s personal saga didn’t end well. Returned to her Anglo-American family she and her baby daughter, Prairie Flower, both died within three years, the child from influenza, Cynthia Ann, according to observers, from a broken heart.
Despite their contentiouspast, Goodnight and Quanah finally managed to forge a lasting friendship. After reluctantly accepting relocation to Oklahoma, Quanah built a successful ranch himself, leasing large tracts of grazing land to his old nemesis.
While the 2,000-mile cattle drive is now a relic, the chuck wagon remains a significant piece of Americana. Chuck wagon suppers, way less rustic than any drover could imagine, are now popular tourist features throughout the West. And more than two dozen chuck wagon cookbooks are listed by popular book sellers.
The American Chuck Wagon Association, and a similar Canadian organization, are dedicated to preserving Western history, sponsor cookoff competitions and educational events annually. The Academy of Western Artists also recognizes the best chuck wagon cooks each year.
Chuck wagon races, once a popular centerpiece for rodeos and Western fests, have fallen sharply out of favor of late, however. Under withering scrutiny by animal rights activists and public safety organizations, they are deemed too dangerous for man or beast. Most have been discontinued as a result and Charles Goodnight would no doubt be happy to hear it.
For tenderfoots and frontier history buffs alike, it’s still possible to find “a kinda” real West experience at the Grant–Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site at Cottonwood Creek, Montana. Founded in 1862 by Canadian fur trader Johnny Grant and cattle baron Conrad Kohrs, the 1,618-acre spread is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service as a working ranch. There is no admission and it’s open daily 9 to 4:30 all year except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. For more information and recent updates, click on nps.com/ Grant–Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, call (406) 846-2070, Ext. 250 or write 266 Warren Lane, Deer Lodge , MT 59722.
Can’t make it to Cottonwood Creek? A real deal recipe for “Cookie approved” cowboy cuisine is compliments of the ranch and the Park Service.
CHUCK WAGON BEANS
1 lb. dry pinto beans
Bacon or salt pork (optional)—a handful or several strips cut in small pieces
1 15-oz. can tomatoes
1 teaspoon garlic powder (less or more to taste)
2 tablespoons chili powder
Salt to taste
½ cup rice (also optional)
Sort beansand rinse in cold water. Add water approximately two knuckles deep to cover the beans (about an inch depending on the size of your knuckles). If time allows, soak beans overnight before cooking. Simmer covered for 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours or until soft. Add the spices, tomato, the optional rice and bacon or salt pork, if using. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes to blend the flavors. Serves about eight city slickers orfour to six ranch hands generously.
If you don’t have time to be quite this authentic, instead substitute three
15-oz. cans of pinto beans, drained and rinsed.
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