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Chuckwagons and the trail drive A day in the life of a Cousie
The work day for the cousie began with the jangle of the alarm clock before the first light of dawn. In the dark, he lighted his lantern, built a fresh fire on the previous night's white ashes and hung the large coffeepot on a pothook suspended from the pot rack placed over the fire pit. An unwritten law of the range prohibited any man from complaining about another's cooking, but woe be to the cook who didn't get the men's meals done on time. Knowing this, every cook worked under pressure. As soon as the fire blazed along his trench he set the heavy Dutch ovens and their lids where they would heat.
Into each he dropped a hunk of beef tallow. Next he began cutting the steaks, and "building" his biscuits in a big dough pan on the chuck box work table. Immediately above it was a cupboard holding tin ware cups and plates, knives, forks, spoons, salt, coffee, dishrags, towels, soap, etc.
After the beef was salted, the cook slipped them into a hot Dutch oven. He then pinched biscuits off one end of the newly made loaf of dough, rounded each one between his palms, dipped it in melted tallow and placed it into a bread oven. When the bottom was filled, he set the lid in place and shoveled hot coals around and over it. When the grub was ready to serve the cousie would give a shout to summon the cowhands to breakfast. The men headed for the wash basin and scrubbed their hands and faces and passed around the all too wet towel to dry off. A common comb may have been used to arrange messy hair. (Sounds a little too cozy). Each man helped himself to a plate, cup and tools. The men got in line, grabbed their grub, plunked down somewhere and ate their meal. As each man finished, he flipped the dregs from his coffee onto the ground and dropped his dirty dishes into the "wrecking pan" - a big dishpan set aside fir this purpose. To neglect placing dishes in this pan was the ultimate no-no As soon as the men saddled up and left the cook washed and dried the dishes. The bed rolls were tossed into the chuck wagon or a bed wagon, (hoodlum wagon). The Dutch ovens were wrapped in burlap bags and stowed away with the pot racks in the boot. An assortment of hooks and hangers on the side of the wagon accommodated and other things that needed to be stowed away. The team was hitched to the wagon and the move to the next camp would be under way. Along the way the cousie would collect any combustible material he could find and store it in the "possum belly" under the wagon. When the new bed ground was reached the cook would dig his fire trench, set up his pot rack, get the coffee going and get started on dinner. A good cousie changed the monotonous diet by preparing soup and stews which were eaten in relish despite some rather vulgar names for the concoctions. A really imaginative cook occasionally stirred up pastries with dried fruit or put up some beans to soak, though beans on the high plains were not to common as it took too long for them to cook. Evening was the time of day to kill a beef. The carcass was halved with the cooks axe and each half was hung from an erected wagon tongue, where the meat chilled during the night, and was ready to be eaten in the morning. During the heat of the day the meat was wrapped in tarpaulins. At night the beef was hung out again to chill. After washing the dishes, filling the water barrel and dragging wood the cousie could finally relax and enjoy what was left of the evening. Why a Dutch oven? It has been claimed by at least one writer that the Pilgrims, who spent some years in Holland before departing for America, brought "Dutch ovens" with them and used them aboard ship. The idea of using this utensil on a wooden ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean is an interesting thought and warrants study in itself. The manufacture of the kettle was common in colonial New England and its design has remained constant to this day. The standard pattern for the Dutch oven has been said to have been perfected by Paul Revere. Some of his models had a detachable frying pan type handle. The best modern day manufacturers of Dutch ovens are Wagner Ware and Lodge Manufacturing. Both put out a good oven in a variety of sizes suitable for the re-enactor. But by all means spend time scrounging through your local antique stores, flea markets and auctions. Many fine period specimens remain floating around, and under the right circumstances, can be purchased for less than their modern day counterparts. I recently found a circa 1800s #10 oven buried in a dusty corner of an antique store and talked them down to $45.00. It is now promptly displayed with my wagon. Griswold, Wagner and Erie are company names to look for in period cast iron. If you find any examples you may as well grab them. More and more people are collecting cast iron and prices are starting to sky rocket. Do not be deterred by a build up of carbon and baked on grease. Simply place the Dutch oven or skillet in an oven and run it through the self clean cycle. This will remove must of the extraneous material and leave the hidden gem within. Wash your new treasure in hot, sudsy water, followed by a good rinsing and drying. Now re-season the piece by giving it a liberal coating of grease, suet or lard (don't forget the lid) and heating it in an oven until it begins to smoke. Let the oven cool down, wipe it out, and you have piece to be proud of. Give the oven or skillet a swipe of grease after each use and cleaning and it will remain pretty much maintenance free. DO NOT use spray on food release it leaves a varnish like coating on cast iron that is absolutely no fun to remove. The Trail Drive The high time of the trail drives lasted only about 20 years, from the end of the Civil War to the mid -1880's. In that brief period of time around 10 million cows walked the trails from Texas to the rail heads in Kansas and Missouri. Many of these went as far as Wyoming and even into Canada. After the civil war there were millions of cattle roaming free in Texas and northern Mexico. When a market started to develop in the east for beef and beef related products (leather for drive belts in factories, etc.) there were a few men, Charles Goodnight to name one, who began "round up" these cattle and drive them north. It was lucrative for the ranchers who succeeded in these drives. A free range steer worth $4.00 in Texas would escalate in value to $40.00 dollars at the point of sale in Kansas or Missouri. Many a fortune was made during this period time while the average cowboy worked for "forty and found". The number of cows trailed out of Texas during the big years was awe inspiring. Simple multiplication gives you an idea of the revenue generated during this period of time. 1867...........35,000 The market was glutted in 1871 and numbers dropped off
substantially the following year. 1874 marked the beginning of a
depression which kept the numbers down from then on.
The first of the major trails to open was the Shawnee in the 1840s, heading northeast from Texas to Missouri. The Civil War and a quarantine against long-horn cattle closed the Shawnee trail. The most heavily traveled trail was the Chisholm, which handled half of all cows moved from Texas. The Western Trail was an incredibly long thing extending from San Antonio to Fort Buford in the nether regions of the Dakota Territory and Miles City Montana. Trail drives from Texas north to Kansas and Missouri usually began in the spring so the cattle could feed on new grass as they moved along; for drives up to the northern ranges it was important that the cattle get to their destination before the hard winter set in. In addition spring drives usually avoided flooded rivers, every cowboys nightmare. A herd of steers could move about 10-12 miles a day- a drovers favorite speed-although at the start the cowboys might cover 20-25 miles a day in order to get the herds trail broken. During the trail drive, the herd was supposed to drift along rather than be driven. The cattle started a little after daybreak after the cowboys had eaten their breakfast and were driven four about five hours or until around 11:00 A.M. when the cowboys would stop for dinner. After breakfast, the cook would pack up and move ahead to find a spot for the noon meal; the trail boss would also go ahead and look for a spot to bed down for the night. During the noon dinner the cattle could graze until about 1:00 P.M. then they would bee herded again. The bedding ground had good grass and water so that the herd would be well fed and watered before settling in for the night. A herd of about 3000 head would take around 10-15 cowboys; this included the trail boss, the wrangler and the cook. Men worked in pairs so two man watches could be made, and a cowboys status was determined by his position on the trail drive. The top hands were the "pointers" who rode at the head of the herd and guided them; next came the swing riders about a third of the way back, and finally at the back of the herd were the poor "drag" riders. Probably one of the dustiest jobs in all of workdom. The "pointers" kept their position throughout the drive ; others might change their position as the drive progressed and no one wanted to ride drag.
At night the cowboys would take turns, working in teams for about two hours each; they would often sing to the cattle to keep them calm or to keep themselves awake and let the other rider know their whereabouts. These "nighthawks" each circled the herd from different directions so they would pass each other twice on each circle. In the best trail outfits each cowboy had 8-10 horses in the remuda, or a group of horses on the trail drive. Each cowboy needed a good swimming horse and one that was good for a hard run. A good night horse was also a necessity. A young and inexperienced cowboy usually acted as the wrangler for the trail drive. To be continued. Do you own a working chuck wagon, chuck wagon dinner show or know of a chuck wagon event? Include it in the Chuck Wagon Registry! Pony Express me your links and information.
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