FORT CONCHO
Attendees of Christmas at Old Fort Concho probably noticed the small row of chuckwagons that set-up camp along the grounds, providing a full cowboy lunch of beans, beef stew, cornbread, and cobbler, and breakfast the next day.
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the predecessors of today’s American “food trucks,” keep reading!
Keep Em’ Running
Birdsell, Bain, Flint Wagon Works, International Harvester, John Deere, Milburn, Peter Schuttler, Studebaker, Springfield, Troy, and Weber.
These were the main makers of American wagons.
Most of these companies read the writing on the wall around 1900 and moved into car or tractor production.
Flint Wagon Works went on to purchase Buick and became General Motors.
Wagons are certainly outdated, but there’s a lovely charm to them, and they appeal to many who think it’s maybe not such a good idea to throw out the old ways of doing things.
That’s what the folks who keep the chuckwagon business alive believe in.
Like Kirk Mann, who’s in charge of maintaining his team’s wagon, which was made by Weber around the turn of the 20th century.
“It was a grain hauling wagon originally,” said one operator, “Most of the wagons started off that way, and then you put a chuck box in the back, and that’s the magic of the chuck wagon.
“The chuck box is simply a mobile kitchen. Typically, the door would open to become a countertop, with shelves inside for storage, and a boot-box underneath for your ovens. — but you need to talk to him about maintenance,” he said, pointing to Mann.
Kirk said, “We try to keep it indoors; from there you just mix up a little bit of linseed oil and mineral spirits to shine it up….The hubs all need to be greased, especially if you’re driving it a lot, which we don’t really do, so we don’t have to do that very often,” he explained, describing the process.
“You’d jack it up and grease the axels with red axel grease. Other than that, [there’s] not a whole lot.”
Beautifully Uncomplicated
A few points of interest about the wagon: first, it’s a relatively simple invention; just a modern version of the ancient two-wheeled cart, really.
With preventative maintenance, they normally lasted for decades with no issues.
Say what you will about the miracles of modern transportation, with the heated seats, backup cameras, and stereos — what strikes me most about wagons is the fact you can make replacement parts from scraps of metal and wood.
If there’s something wrong with a wagon, there is a likelihood that the average greenhorn could fix it.
Good luck whittling a piston out of a tree branch.
The Chuckwagon of Theseus
Mann points to the spoke on the right-side hind-wheel, talking briefly about a repair that had been made not too long ago. Wrapped in baling wire to strengthen where it had cracked.
The Weber has an an International Harvester seat on it, which was typical of the period after International bought Weber, back in 1904.
Besides that, he said each wagon might have started out as one brand, but as time went on, parts were swapped and modified endlessly.
As Mann finishes showing a few details of his rig, another gentleman who knows about such things said, “When you get done with that, you got to go talk to him: he’s the godfather of chuckwagons over there,” pointing to the wagon at the end of the row. “Everybody sends their wagons to him for repair in Fort Davis – all the wheels and hubs.”
The Wagonwright
Glenn Moreland speaks softly, and with only a few careful words when explaining each part of his wagon.
Moreland said he got into chuckwagons back in the 1980s, and — like everyone else here — caught the bug and started competing along with his friends and family.
These days, of course, many tools of the trade are no longer in production, so they have to be handmade.
In his shop at Fort Davis, he keeps a blacksmithing station, a woodworking bench, along with the myriads of other small tools of his trade.
“For the bows, I’d need good, straight, green wood for that bend. And I live in Fort Davis, so that’s not possible.”
Moreland said the lumber comes from up north, and several key components like hubs and spokes are actually made by the Amish, who probably make up the majority of North American wagon users.
Still, these parts must be bent into shape and fitted, something only a scarce few, like Moreland, still know how to do.
Moreland said these wagons today, typically sell from anywhere between $8,000 and $15,000.
“That’s why I started making my own. Couldn’t afford ‘em,” Moreland said.
ON THE TRAIL
One thing that helped me break the ice with some of the chuck waggoners at Fort Concho was that I had worked with Dorithy Douthit in the past, helping with her well-known chuckwagon, suggesting I might not be a complete city-slicker.
Douthit operated Fiddlefire, a catering service that featured her Peter Schuttler chuckwagon at the heart of the camp.
History is Fun
“I’ve always had an interest in history, and Texas, and the west,” Douthit said in a recent interview. “I was involved with a Dutch oven cooking contest at the State Park, and I was given a flyer for the chuckwagon competition that they hosted in Amarillo…
“I went to enter into the contest and the fella said: ‘What’s the name of your wagon?’ and I said, ‘Wagon? — I don’t have a wagon!’
“I had no idea what I was getting into.”
Douthit said after lots of research, and looking at a thousand photos of different wagons on offer, she decided to get a Peter Schuttler, which is an extra-large model.
“Like the Studebaker, the Peter Schuttler was one of the better-known brands of butcher’s-knife wagon,” she explains, “These had wider beds, 42-inches wide instead of 38. On a lot of wagons, the back wheel is about 36 inches – well our front wheel was 38 inches — the back wheel was 54.”
Dorithy says she built the chuck box herself, and got everything mounted up for her first event, but found out she still had a lot to learn.
“We showed up to first cookoff with my wagon. I had a used canvas, didn’t know what I was doing…and I had put the coffee grinder where a bow was supposed to go.
“So, we had to unscrew everything…we had to pull the whole chuck box out and start from scratch, but everybody pitched in to help.
“The camaraderie in the chuckwagon community – everybody knows how much work it is, and how it is when you’re in a bad way – and it’s better if everybody just pitches in to help.”
The Living History Part
Those who wish to reach a high level of historic accuracy have their work cut out for them when it comes to wagon restoration; will you be able to find the antique hardware, or will you have to make things from scratch?
“I was probably never going to win the top wagon category, because it’s quite expensive to get the wagon to be completely historically accurate,” Douthit said. “But I was proud of my wagon, and what I had accomplished – as for everything being perfectly historically accurate – I just couldn’t do it…”
Getting a wagon along from trail-to-trail took a lot, and there’s always the borrowing and trading for whatever parts you find along the way, she explained.
“But I really think that’s part of the tradition,” Douthit said.
“Back in the day, they would have used the older wagons with good running gear for repairs, and each wagon would have been very individual.
“Some cooks were real particular about their wagons, and some couldn’t care less. You’d see all kinds of adaptations for how many people they were cooking for.”
Douthit’s wagon was equipped with many antiques she had collected over the years, such as knives, tools, pelts, and photographs.
This is a regular thing with chuckwagons: once you get the camp set up, you show off the tools that you’ve collected and talk with others about the things they’ve gathered.
“As for each item that’s on the wagon, that may not have been historically documented or recorded… if it works, who’s to say it wouldn’t have been used back then?” she asked.
“So, you know, when they say ‘You have to have three-tined forks to be historically accurate!’…Well that is historically accurate, but they also had four-tined forks…it’s not always perfect.”
What Keeps The History Alive?
At Fort Concho, among the many reenactors, living historians, or archeologists, I asked them what compels them to keep these historical traditions alive.
Answers varied.
There were a few long, thoughtful discussions on what it means to truly reenact history, and some who simply said it was good fun.
Several said they felt history has to be reenacted to be fully understood.
Dorithy says: “There is nothing like setting up camp and smelling that smoke. Doing things the old way. For me it just slows me down.
“I worked really hard to do what I did, but I loved when you get camp going, and you slow down. I love the process and being in the moment. It’s not about putting on a show.”
Wandering Around Camp
From the axels and the beds, to the hounds and the bows, these living historians find a lot of joy in simple objects that tell a story.
Digging around the toolbox, Kirk Mann pulls out a custom screwdriver, hand-forged from a bar of iron.
“This one has been in my wife’s family — and you can just picture it being made, for one purpose. A one-of-a-kind tool that you’ll never find on a shelf anywhere.”
The screwdriver is long and was clearly made to reach up into some old piece of machinery.
The screwdriver is one of many purposeful objects on display. There are so many bits, knives, tools, chains, apparatuses and other inventions here, each with a clear reason for existing.
If it hadn’t been for some particular circumstances on the day it was made, that tool wouldn’t have come out the same way. Who could’ve guessed that you could feel like you have so much in common with a screwdriver?
For thousands of years, up until about 100-years ago, a wagon would likely be a crucial part of your life.
You, as an average worker throughout history, would have used a wagon, or used something brought to you by wagon every day.
The internal-combustion engine may have rendered these prairie schooners obsolete, but there are still those who chose to roll the old-fashioned way.
Tips from the Pros: Cowboy Cooking
For beans, Moreland uses an ‘Africa Pot’
It has a distinctive shape that is curved on bottom. Moreland says that this helps the beans cook evenly, and they naturally stir themselves.
For cowboy coffee, skip the egg
Two sources reported that originally the eggshells were used to cut down on the acidity of coffee, but that might have been due to the way coffee was roasted back then.
But you don’t need to crack an egg into it to keep the grounds down. Several cowboy cooks said: simply put a good splash of cold water after boiling. The difference in temperature helps the grounds settle on bottom.
Picking out a Dutch oven
You might see lots of different designs and get overwhelmed: remember what you’re going to be using it for. Some Dutch ovens come with rounded lids. These are fine for cooking, but not as useful as ovens that are flat topped, and have a thick lip around the edge. For chuckwagon cooking, you’ll want something with feet cast into the base.
Now, you can put coals underneath the oven, and on top.
Tools of the trade:
Around the wagon, you have a firebox; special tools for lifting the lids of scorching hot ovens, hooks, and all kinds of other hardware designed to ease your cooking. Most cooks use a small lid lifting device which allows you to check your food without having to remove the coals.
