Famous trail driver and rancher Charles Goodnight deserves credit for building the first authentic chuck wagon to accompany cowboys herding cattle up the trail. He used available materials and mechanical technology to create a model used for several decades before the chuck wagon became an essential for many Western ranches.

Sturdiness, not fanciness, marked the chuck wagons. They had to be able to withstand the rough treatment they received. Old army wagons were good choices because they were built to stand the test of time and use. But the wagon was only part of the required gear. The chuck box was the main focus.

There was no absolutely certain design, and there was a commonality that marked the real ones. The chuck box was constructed of lumber measuring 1” X 4” X 12’, either planks or tongue-in-groove. Some beaded ceiling siding was used. The height of the boxes varied but was not so tall that the cook could not reach its top from the ground. Shelves were common, and so were drawers. Some were square, but the classic profile was a box as wide as the wagon bed, deeper at the bottom than at the top. The slanted covering had tin to protect it and to provide a durable surface on which the cook could roll out dough or work his other comestibles. When in a lowered position, the table was supported by one or two legs, or held in place by a piece of chain.

Garnet Brooks of El Reno, Oklahoma, described the authentic wagon and chuck box and the other items in a typical trail camp in the First Annual Old Time Chuck Wagon Round-Up and Cattlemen’s Ball (1991). The wooden running gear of the wagon ran on steel-bound wooden wheels. The rear wheel stood about 54 inches high and the front 45 inches high. The tires ranged from two to four inches in width. The wagons had a tongue, double tree, single trees, and neck yoke, all of iron-reinforced wood, usually oak. The cook rode on a spring seat and helped control his wagon with a brake assembly. The wagon bows that kept the canvas covering over the wagon’s load consisted of four or five bows, the two end ones often made of the steel from an old wagon tire, the others of wood. The paint was usually green or light blue.

*A well-known author, Dr. Lawrence Clayton, who died in 2001, was committed to documenting the life of contemporary cowboys and preserving the history of ranching in Texas. He served as Dean at Hardin-Simmons University, and helped found Abilene’s Western Heritage Classic.