Just what did those old chuckwagons carry, and how was it stored?

[Fence Fighter]

    Hi,
       I consider you knowledgeable folks and thoughtful also, so I knew who I wanted to ask for help. I'm startin' to take this food shortage &  price inflation rumor more serious, and would like to lay in provisions 19th century style. What I'm wondering is, what sort of provisions would cattle drives, remote ranches and line shacks commonly lay in for extended provisioning?
       My wife says things like flour, rice & cornmeal would most like go rancid or "buggy" before we could use up 50-100# bags, I'm considerin'. Any solution ideas for storage, type of provisions & quantities?
                                                        ???Thanks, 
                                                                 Fence

[Delmonico]

    Hi,
       I consider you knowledgeable folks and thoughtful also, so I knew who I wanted to ask for help. I'm startin' to take this food shortage &  price inflation rumor more serious, and would like to lay in provisions 19th century style. What I'm wondering is, what sort of provisions would cattle drives, remote ranches and line shacks commonly lay in for extended provisioning?
       My wife says things like flour, rice & cornmeal would most like go rancid or "buggy" before we could use up 50-100# bags, I'm considerin'. Any solution ideas for storage, type of provisions & quantities?
                                                        ???Thanks, 
                                                                 Fence

Well to be truthful you really have two different questions here.  The provisions on a chuckwagon with what it could carry wouldn't last long enough to spoil most times.  As for bugs, sift them out.  They carried most of those items in barrels and sacks.  For long term storage in todays world there are lots of ways but one of those devices that seals things up in a vacuum pacage would be hard to beat.

[kurt250]

during the period of the large cattle drives there was there was quite a large industry for canned good. beans could be stored in bags as well as flour. bugs were a part of life in those days. meat was on the hoof. food was rough and a good cook was one way you attracted the best cowhands. pay was about the same $1.00 a day plus food, ammunition, horse shoes and work related expense included.you did not get rich or fat being a cow drover. kurt250

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[Delmonico]

The canned goods were scarce on chuck wagons, there would perhaps be some, mostly peaches or tamatoes, but would be a treat or emergency rations for someone sent back to find some lost cattle, a horse or something simalar.  Cost was fairly high, about 10 cents a can or more depending on how far they had to be shipped to the store.  Also weight was a problem also with canned goods on the chuck wagon.

[Professor Marvel]

I'm startin' to take this food shortage &  price inflation rumor more serious, and would like to lay in provisions 19th century style. ...

 My wife says things like flour, rice & cornmeal would most like go rancid or "buggy" before we could use up 50-100# bags, I'm considerin'. Any solution ideas for storage, type of provisions & quantities?
                                                        ???Thanks, 
                                                                 Fence

Greetings My Dear Fence -

Having had a large sack of rice go rancid and all weavilly I sympathize...

One can readily store wheat, rice, beans, corn,etc  in their natural state or ground, by sealing them in any kind of airtight container and KEEPING OXYGEN OUT. Several University studies have been made in Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah, which showed that one of the easiest and cost effective ways sealing grain in a container and of removing Oxygen is this:
1) obtain clean  buckets with lids that seal (Wally World has them)
2) put several layers of newspaper on the bottom of a Wally World bucket
3) drop a small brick of dry ice (about the size of a pack of cigarets or larger) on the newspaper
4) fill bucket with grain
5) PUT LID ON "LOOSELY", letting it burp - as the dry ice "melts" it makes  CO2 displacing the Oxy
6) when it stops burping seal the lid tightly.

some folks add food-grade heavy duty ziplock bags, inside the buckets.

the studies showed that the grain stayed good, no "live" bugs, smut, rot or rancidness for several years. The funding for the study ran out before the grain in the buckets went bad.

hope this helps
yhs
prof marvel

[Terry Lane]

Howdy all. Actually for really long term (10-30 years) storeage, the best approach is to freeze the grain, rice, corn or whatever for a week to kill most unwanted critters then use mylar bags heat sealed with oxygen absorbers included before sealing then into the food grade bucket, prefferably with a Gama lid. The O2 absorbers suck the mylar bag down (if heat sealed properly) like a brick. Research Frugal's Forums for lots more info. The LDS (Mormons) canneries offer some of the cheapest prices on quality long term stuff available anywhere and shipping is (or was?) included in the price. It's pretty easy to build up a three (or more) year supply of food for your family that'll be there when you need it. Remember: store what you eat and eat what you store, it's called rotation of stores. An emergency situation is not the time to embark on a totally alien diet. Take care.

[Shotgun Franklin]

An emergency situation is not the time to embark on a totally alien diet. Take care.

An emergency is a bad time to get the drizzles.
BTW, if you have kids they will usually not eat strange food.
Keeping your pantry well stocked is you best move.

[Fence Fighter]

Thanks to you all, got some good info, and tonights news just reinforces my apprehension about road ahead.
                                                           Thanks,
                                                                Fence

[Karl]

This historic food list might help just by showing what long lasting foods were commonly available in the late 19th century:

Klondike supply list

The list shows a suggestion of equipment needed for prospectors before they were allowed entry into Canada at the summit of the Chilkoot Pass, 1897-1899. Total weight: 1 ton.[6] (See also: Klondike era)

    150 lb. bacon
    400 lb. flour
    25 lb. rolled oats
    125 lb. beans
    10 lb. tea
    10 lb. coffee
    25 lb. sugar
    25 lb. dried potatoes
    2 lb. dried onions
    15 lb. salt
    1 lb. pepper
    75 lb. dried fruits
    8 lb. baking powder
    2 lb. soda
    ½ lb. evaporated vinegar

      

    12 oz. compressed soup
    1 can mustard
    1 tin matches (for four men)
    Stove for four men
    Gold pan for each
    Set granite buckets
    Large bucket
    Knife, fork, spoon, cup, and plate
    Frying pan
    Coffee and teapot
    Scythe stone
    Two picks and one shovel
    One whipsaw
    Pack strap
    Two axes for four men and one extra handle

      

    Six 8-inch (200 mm) files and two taper files for the party
    Draw knife, brace and bits, jack plane, and hammer for party
    200 feet three-eights-inch rope
    8 lb. of pitch and 5 lb (2.3 kg). of oakum for four men
    Nails, five lbs. each of 6,8,10 and 12 penny, for four men
    Tent, 10 by 12 feet (3.0 m × 3.7 m) for four men
    Canvas for wrapping
    Two oil blankets to each boat
    5 yards of mosquito netting for each man
    3 suits of heavy underwear
    1 heavy mackinaw coat

Every gold rusher hiking up the Chilkoot Trail had to carry this (over several trips usually) or the Mounties would turn them away at the Canadian border.  This was a successful attempt to prevent starvation in the mining camps. 

[BadWind]

My Grandpa worked the wheat harvests at the turn of the last century, he commented on the food as being the same as on cattle drives (which he also did, KS to Colo-Wyo) mostly beans with beef or pork, steamed/boiled potatoes, bacon (old style dry cure bacon) country ham, rice soup or rice pudding, sourdough bread or biscuits, and coffee 5 times a day....
as for storing beans and rice, I still do it the way he taught me, spread out grain in the sun all day then put your grain in a TIN can (old 5 gal lard pail) put 8 whole bay leaves on top and put on the lid... it works for several months.. Chuck-wagons would use up thier food well before it went 'bad'

[Oregon Bill]

Bad Wind, that's an interesting post. Wonder if the bay leaves were intended to discourage insects.

[Delmonico]

Bad Wind, that's an interesting post. Wonder if the bay leaves were intended to discourage insects.

Yep, they've been used that way for centuries.