Bill Schonhorst has had his chuckwagon for about 15 years after he bought it from a friend.
A chuckwagon, according to Schonhorst, has its roots in ranching and is like a pickup truck today.
“Well, they start out as a farm wagon on the ranch. It’s like a pickup truck and when they get ready to go out on the cattle drive, they’ll slide the chunk box in the back. And bolt the boot on the bottom, for the cast iron goes in there,” Schonhorst said. “And then that’s basically your pantry and medicine cabinet and all that and then when you get back off the cattle drive, all that comes off, and you have your pickup truck for your ranch again.”
His chuckwagon was built between 1900 and 1910, has never been restored and is fully functional, Schonhorst said. It has a coffee grinder, a 30-gallon water barrel, a bench stretcher, and a chuck box for a junk drawer and kitchen utensils. It was on display for attendees at the Cowboy Festival in Newhall on Sunday afternoon.
While talking about the machinery, Schonhorst began talking about coffee grinder and how early companies preserved coffee so it would stay fresh longer.
“Before the 1900s, you had to roast the coffee then with (it) right in the middle and then put them through the coffee grinder and grind them to make your coffee whip. (In the) early 1900s, they had companies coming out. Because once you roast them, they don’t last very long. They go rancid real quick,” Schonhorst said.
He added that window companies would then put the beans in an egg white and sugar mixture to preserve them longer and began selling them in one-pound packages.
Schonhorst said the packages would include a peppermint stick as well in each 1-pound bag.
A Dutch oven inside a fire box and hot wash station were also on display to show how people would make their food and clean their dishes.
“You’re cooking with the Dutch oven; you’re just using coals. Not fire. Coals around the bottom of the Dutch oven and cover the top. You want to turn the pot one way, turn the lid the opposite and that evens out your heat. We’re not using charcoal and (we) can’t treat it,” he added.
Schonhorst said he makes meat or bacon and eggs in the morning with his setup. He said he also uses a cast iron Dutch oven for baking biscuits or cake.
When asked why he loved the chuckwagon, he simply said, “I’m just not into the modern stuff. I like the old stuff.”
