Chuck Wagons

The invention of the chuck wagon is attributed to the legendary rancher Charles “Chuck” Goodnight. In 1866, he designed a four-wheeled wagon of wide gauge for transporting supplies and preparing food. The notable feature of the chuck wagon is a cabinet or “chuck box” in the rear, filled with small supplies and bearing a fold-down table for food preparation. The chuck wagon was a significant development not only in forming and institutionalizing the “cowboy cuisine” of fact and lore but also in enabling, in part, the grand cattle drives of the cowboy heyday in the American West.