Two enduring features of the heritage and lore of the American West are the development and use of the chuck wagon and the evolution and utilization of branding to denote ownership of cattle.
The noted Texas Panhandle cattleman, Charles Goodnight, is generally credited with the invention of the chuck wagon. In the early days, when cowboying was a local affair and herders were out on the range for only a few days at a time, wranglers generally carried their food with them.
Sometimes, pack horses or mules might be utilized when additional supplies needed to be hauled.
But, with the advent of the genuine cattle drive, when huge herds of longhorns were driven hundreds of miles from the home ranches in Texas northward to Kansas and, later, to the open ranges of Wyoming and Montana, a more complex and sophisticated method of feeding the men had to be developed.
The answer was the chuck wagon. In 1866, Goodnight purchased an old government wagon, drastically modified it, added iron axles, and placed a large wooden box, or cabinet, on its rear.
The lid on this “chuck” box was fitted with a swinging leg that allowed the lid to be used as a preparation table. The box was divided into conveniently sized compartments in which “Cookie,” as the drive’s chef was usually called, stored all sorts of rations and equipment, from salt and baking powder to beans and coffee to tin utensils and cooking ware.
The chuck wagon, driven by the cook, always traveled in advance of the cattle and the cowboys for two reasons: to avoid the dust created by the thousands of hooves and in order to set up camp and get the evening meal underway by the time the tired cowboys arrived.
Skimpy as the food on a cattle drive might have been, eating was the highlight of each day for the weary cowboys after long hours in the saddle. Consequently, cooks were hired for their ability to turn out a good meal on the limited supplies they could carry in the chuck wagon.
Most were older men; often cowboys too old to stand the rigors of the trail drive on the back of a horse.
Like so many inventions, the chuck wagon was developed to solve a very real problem, in this case, the transporting of quantities of food and supplies across many miles and over a many-weeks period of time.
Goodnight’s redesign and perfection of a standard horse-drawn wagon into the utilitarian vehicle that it soon became, contributed greatly to the success of the mid-to-late 1800s cattle drive.
Brand Those Cattle
Ever since humans first understood the principle of private property, they have placed some kind of identifying mark on their possessions. The Egyptians were branding cattle, for instance, as far back as 2,000 B.C.E.. and, during the darkest days of United States history, when human slavery was prevalent, brand markings were frequently used on men, women, and children.
The practice of branding cattle was already widespread in Europe in the fifteenth century when Columbus “discovered” America and, years later, when Spanish conquistadors landed in Mexico, they brought brand-marked cattle with them.
It was only a matter of time before the cattle moved northward with the adventurous Spanish who often maintained large herds with them as they explored far and wide across New Spain.
Later, Mexican vaqueros inherited the idea, and from them Texas cowboys adopted the procedure, which proved particularly valuable for claiming the thousands of free-roaming, feral cattle grazing the Texas landscape following the Civil War.
In the early days, the only permanent way to mark a cow was to burn the brand into the hide, usually on the left hip or side, which fortunately did no harm to the animal.
Cattle were also sometimes identified by earmarks, a unique design that was cut into one or both ears. Even today in the West, brands, are important identification marks for livestock, including cattle, sheep, and horses, although in some cases tattoos, freeze brands, metal tags in the animal’s ear, earmarks, and even implanted microchips are used instead of, and sometimes along with, hot iron brands.
The number of brands developed and utilized over the years was as numerous as the owners who needed a way to identify their cattle, and the design of the marks was as varied as the vivid imaginations of the men who created them.
One important rule was always followed when devising brands: the design of the mark should be difficult, if not impossible, to alter.
Many are the tales of stolen cattle that had their marks “re-branded” with a similar, yet slightly different brand. This type of brand altering--often accomplished with a single hot iron known as a running iron--was common among rustlers and led to some of the great range wars in the West.
Branding was done during the spring and fall roundups. Then, cowboys would ride far and wide gathering the newborn calves and branding them following the code of the West where the calf was given the same brand as the cow it nursed.
The procedure was clearly explained by America’s cowboy-president, Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote:
A fire is built, the irons heated, and a dozen men dismount to, as it is called, “wrestle” the calves. The best two ropers go in on their horses to catch the latter; one man keeps tally, a couple put on the brands, and the others seize, throw, and hold the little unfortunates. A first-class roper invariably catches the calf by both hind feet, and then, having taken a twist with his lariat around the horn of the saddle, drags the bawling little creature, extended at full length, up to the fire, where it is held before it can make a struggle. . . .
If there are seventy or eighty calves in a corral, the scene is one of the greatest confusion. The ropers, spurring and checking the fierce little horses, drag the calves up so quickly that a dozen men can hardly hold them; the men with the irons, blackened with soot, run to and fro; the calf-wrestlers, grimy with blood, dust and sweat, work like beavers; while . . . the tallyman shouts out the number and sex of each calf. The dust rises in clouds, and the shouts, cheers, curses, and laughter of the men unite with the lowing of the cows and the frantic bleating of the calves to make a perfect babel.
As the number of brands increased in any particular state or territory, the job of maintaining them became quite laborious and, in some jurisdictions, an elected official was responsible for recording and keeping up with the marks and their ownership.
Brand marks often were published in a brand book, which was simply a directory of brands distributed by the local cattlemen’s association.
Stock producers also routinely published their brands in newspapers, giving notice to residents and landowners.
James A. Crutchfield can be reached at TNcrutch@aol.com
