Going North in a Norther

My wife, Linda and I were just in Santa Fe, New Mexico for Christmas (2015) and returned to a blizzard (by our estimations) in El Paso, Texas.  We traveled a little bit in rain mixed with snow and nearly freezing temperatures and after we got home the rain began to turn to snow and overnight we got a bit over 8" of snow.

This scenario got me to thinking about the drovers on the great cattle drives and how they were hell bent to get their "cow hunts" over within a timely fashion so that plenty of time would be had to get their beef to the Northern markets before winter.There were many things that played into the timing of the start of the drive and the cowboys knew of nearly all of the dangers lurking around each bend or over every hill.  The conditions were bad enough during thunderstorms and the inevitability of stampedes.

Too, were the problems of Indians wanting beef because the white man had destroyed their hunting grounds and depleted the buffalo herds.  Another danger was the possibility of a late Norther that could bring  snow and freezing temperatures. Or if they got started to late they ran into the possibility of an early winter storm.  It was these possibilities that got me to thinking what little comforts they actually had on a trail drive.

A good cook was paramount in the necessary comforts for the cowboys because a good meal was one of the very few comforts they had and many times this particular comfort was in short supply. The meals mostly consisting of beans and bread.  The main stay was coffee, and the cowboys sought this "shot of adrenaline" anytime there was a campfire when the chuck wagon stopped at noon or in the evening....and certainly all night for the those on night watch. And it goes without saying the cup of Arbuckles with breakfast was the way to start the day when it would be as much as two hours before daylight. So the comforts were few and far between when it cam to meals and even more so when the drovers tried to get that little bit of sleep at night. (As a side note, notice the water barrel on the side of the wagon in this approximate 1880+ photo. There was a lot of discussion in the ACWA sanctioning as to whether the water barrel was ever on the outside of the wagon.)

I got to thinking about how miserable a cowboy would be in a situation where he had to deal with thunderstorms and rain.  It becomes more difficult to imagine how completely miserable he must be with very little clothing to protect him from the elements and certainly not much of a way to get dry after getting soaked during a rainstorm.  Taking that thought a bit further, how did they actually deal with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall.  Many of the cowboys only had a canvas sleeping bag with a few sugans to help ward off the cold.  The probability of having a tipi was pretty remote in most Southern camps and the only "roof" over his head at night was the thin layer of canvas bedroll.

Are you imagining this scenario of being freezing cold, wet, sleeping on the ground with nothing to warm you but a couple of blankets?  I began to imagine long years ago how utterly tough these cowboys were in dealing with the elements.

During the time our CALK chuck wagon was competing in cook off's and on some ranches in  places like Capitan, Lincoln, Clovis, Hobbs and Ruidoso, New Mexico and several places in Texas like Dryden our crew was sleeping in the cowboy tipis.  There were times we had to deal with the weather in rain, wind, snow and freezing temperatures as low as 18 F.  We complained like crazy but usually it was for a short while and we would have a change of dry clothes and a place where we could get warm within just a couple of days.  The boys on the trail drive were out there for 2-3 months depending on where their market.  Do you get the picture?

Tough Sum Bitches and I believe it gave them every right to celebrate and let their hair down at the end of a long cattle drive........don't you?

Calk Brisket

5-28-14

There are as many BBQ Brisket recipes as there are “Carter’s Little Liver Pills” (of course most of you have never heard of CLLP’s but some Boomers and beyond might get a chuckle).  I thought I would write a blog about the way I do my briskets.  Now this is somewhat related to chuck wagons in that beef or cattle were driven up the trail and briskets come from cattle. I feel like that is close enough to chuck wagon’s that this blog would be ok.

 Thinking about the price of briskets these days would astound the cattle barons of yesteryear.  A flat brisket is a trimmed brisket, sometimes called the point and it sells $5.87 per pound compared to the untrimmed that is priced at $2.89.  My consideration for using “flats” is the amount of fat and unusable portion just about equals the difference in the two prices.  Now think about this proposition:  the price of beef on the hoof was easily equal to today’s price for one brisket.  So when someone says “Some things never change”, you can tell them the price of beef surely has changed in the last year to say nothing of the last 125 years.

My friend Skip Clark was in need of about 40 lbs. of brisket for a party he is hosting on Saturday and I agreed to cook the meat.  The number of guests expected is to be in the neighborhood of 75.  I vowed many years ago to never cut to close on figuring the amount needed so I use the formula of ½ lb. of uncooked meet per person, plus a little bit.  In this case we purchased 41.3 pounds at $5.87 per pound for a total of $243.00.  Additionally I needed a gallon of Cattleman’s BBQ Sauce, Montreal seasoning, and crushed red chile pepper, mesquite wood,  a bbq pit, utensils, a pan, and approximately nine hours to complete the task. 

The cooking began on Wednesday at 9 am when I built a mesquite fire in my bbq pit.  It takes about 45 minutes to burn down to coals and then they are spread across the floor of the pit so the fire will be directly under the meat. 

The brisket usually has a little thin gristle and should be trimmed off along with just a small portion of the thickest fat.   I trim and prepare the meat while the wood is burning down and apply a liberal amount of Montreal seasoning and crushed red chili pepper (like what you put on pizzas).  When the mesquite wood has turned to chucks of coal the meat is placed on the pit fat side up.  Now there are some “Q” ologists  that say the lean mean will not absorb any of the fat drippings because the texture of the meat is too tight and it will just merely run off.  (a Q ologist is one who knows his business about BAR BE “Q”.  Wrong!  If you cook a brisket with a lot of fat still on the meat it will definitely obtain a taste that is drastically different from one that has been trimmed of all the fat. 

I try to keep the pit temperature around 250 degrees and sometimes it will vary between 200-300 degrees.   I add a small piece of mesquite about 2” x 10” to keep the temperature consistent.  Once the meat has been placed on the fire (I put mine on at 10 am) I will turn it over ever thirty minutes for a total of four hours.  I mix the Cattleman’s sauce 50/50 with water and using a plastic squeeze bottle squirt the sauce on to the briskets beginning with the third turning of the meat and then again every thirty minutes.  I sometimes add the same seasoning to the sauce that I put on the outside of the meat.

The next step is sometimes called the Texas Crutch and it is simply a way to cut down on the amount of time it takes to get tender brisket by sealing the meat and allowing it to steam itself.   I have an aluminum pan with a lid which is actually an Army field oven pan and I use it instead of wrapping the briskets in tinfoil.

 The trouble with tinfoil is if it obtains a puncture while turning all of the juice will run out and you will be left with a very dry piece of meat.  The aluminum pan takes care of that worry.  I have also used the heavy duty tinfoil pans to “steam” the briskets and just add a sheet of heavy foil across the top to seal the meat. The down side of using the Texas Crutch is that the tough exterior of the brisket is now very soft.  If you want a hard outer crust you can place it back on the fire to get the crust back…but it will be at the expense of cooking out some of the moisture.  I like them fine with a soft exterior and don’t get many complaints.  Those that do complain, well they are only able to complain once.

I place the briskets in the pan until a BBQ fork will easily puncture the brisket which is about 3-4 additional hours….sometimes less.  There are a lot of elements that can change your cooking time like wind, rain, snow, type of wood, cut of meat, distance meat is from fire, etc.

After seven hours the brisket was almost falling apart tender.  Skip is going to serve the meat on Saturday so I have to hold the meat over and will deliver it to him on Friday.  He is going to serve the meat chopped.  I have decided that I will bag the briskets in heavy zip locks and keep them on ice until I chop it up and deliver it on Friday.  He will reheat the brisket in an electric food warmer. I might add here, if you have time the briskets are a whole lot easier to chop when they are warm.  

I enjoy doing the briskets because I can open up my “cook shack” which is an outdoor wood burning stove enclosure.  This day my wife Linda and I had breakfast burritos I made on the stove along with some percolated coffee.  While all the “goings on “ are going on I am playing a little Ray, Willie, Darrell, Johnny, and Mike (did you figure out what all the last names were?) music on the stereo.  As they say in some circles “It don’t get no better than this.

Goodnight & Loving at Fort Stanton Live

Charles Foxwing Goodnight

Oliver Loving

CHARLES GOODNIGHT

PARKER COUNTY-TEXS

I UNDERSTAND YOU WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH FORT STANTON –(STOP)- I CAN MEET YOU AT FORT SUMNER IN JUNE –(STOP)- WILL TAKE FIFTEEN OR TWENTY DAYS –(STOP)-GOOD WATER AND GRAZE THE WHOLE DISTANCE-(STOP)-YOU CONTACT FORT STANTON TO SET UP CONTRACT –(STOP)-OLIVER                             

                                                                                                                                                                      6:45AM

TRANSLATION IN DEPTH…. Charles, I know you may find this telegram troublesome( Charles could not read or write) maybe your friend Molly can help you out.  I understand from your wire that you want to go together and take some beeves down to Ft. Stanton in July.  I can meet you in Ft. Sumner the first of June and gather up what we need since we both have a large number just getting fat and sassy because they didn’t take what that asked for the last time.  I figure it will take us 15 - 20 days.  We will follow the Pecos River for about 75 miles south then cut over to the west and pick up the Hondo River and follow it for about fifty miles then we will head north for the last 20 or so miles along the Rio Bonito.  We should have good water and grazing the whole way.  Will you wire the commander at the fort and see how many head he wants us to deliver?  Depending on what he says we can get what boys we need to get the job done.

Gathering up some necessary hands…..

Wokiyaka Casmu Sunka

SUNKA SANDOVAL

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

NEED SCOUT FOR MONTH JUNE AND  JULY (STOP) CHARLES GOODNIGHT AND MYSELF  TAKING BEEVES FROM FORT SUMNER TO FORT STANTON (STOP) WE EXPECT TO HAVE COMANCHE AND RENEGADE PROBLEMS (STOP) WIRE ME IF YOU CAN JOIN US AT SUMNER MIDDLE OF JUNE (STOP) PUTTING TOGETHER HANDS RIGHT NOW (STOP)

OLIVER                                                                                                                            7:40 AM

This is the next message……………..sent by way of  Wells Fargo Stage Lines

Charles Goodnight

Parker County, Texas

We have about 490 head of beeves at Fort Sumner that the Quartermaster didn’t pay us for the last time we delivered.  It seems as though we will continue to supply the Fort with beef since the Navajo have not taken to well to farming.  There are several thousand Indians, mostly Navajo at the fort and they are growing restless by the day.  Word has it that several of the young bucks have acquired horses and left the res at Fort Sumner.  We can continue to supply the fort with beef as long as we keep up a good relation with the Quartermaster.  What beef they have right now should hold them until September.  If it is ok with you, maybe we can get a similar unwritten contract with Fort Stanton over in Lincoln County.  What I was thinking was we could take the 490 head to Fort Sumner to Fort Stanton mid-summer and take care of their need.  I understand that there are a number of buffalo soldiers at Stanton and will be there for some time. I am a little concerned about the raiding of some renegades and also the young bucks from the reservation at Sumner.  The blamed Comanche are a concern too, but not so much the Mescaleros …they seem to mind their own business   .  I wish we could get our hands on some of those Henry's we have been hearing about. I understand you can put a handfull of cartridges through to Henry in less time than it takes you to spit.   Maybe we will get lucky and will have enough jingle in our pockets when we get back to Weatherford that we can pick up enough of them that will allow us to sleep better at night.

Oliver

The telegrams and Stagecoach letter are about a cattle drive by Loving and Goodnight after they had delivered 2000 beeves to Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1866.  According to the history books in June of 1866 Goodnight and Loving partnered up to make a cattle drive to western markets.  They were hoping for a big demand from settlers and soldiers on the western front for their beef.  Biggest of which was for the fort to supply beef to the Navajos who had recently been placed on a reservation near Fort Sumner.  If all this panned out then the drive would be profitable for them.  As it turned out Goodnight returned to Texas with approximately $12,000 in gold to buy more cattle. Loving went on to the railhead in Denver, Colorado with the remaining cows and calfs that the fort was not interested in purchasing at 8 cents a pound. According to our part of the re-nactment at FORT STANTON LIVE, Loving and Goodnight embarked upon another venture to Fort Stanton to supply the fort and settlers with some of the beef that they left on grazing land near Fort Sumner.

Larry Pope

My wife, Linda,  and I have been going up to Lincoln County New Mexico for a few years to the festivities at Lincoln and Fort Stanton and  have enjoyed the outing very much.  As I have mentioned in the past we are even writing a book called Forts, Farbs, and Phantoms about some strange happenings at the fort….but that is, as they say, another story.  This story is about participating in the festivities you can find online called Fort Stanton Live.  There are several companies of soldiers both Union and Confederate as well as buffalo soldiers and some other soldiers depicting other wars in the 1800’s.  This particular period is around the 1860’s, so there will be some Civil War re-enactments as well as representations of life just after the War Between the States.

A while back it occurred to me that the Fort Stanton Live July 12, 2014 would indeed be a possibility for setting up my chuck wagon and doing something completely different from what my friends and I would ordinarily do at a cook-off or some other setting.  This event would have the participants be “in character” the whole time.  Well I thought that would be very interesting and would require a good bit of research pertaining to the time period of 1866.  Again, I was thinking….which is sometimes dangerous….that it is entirely possibly that Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight could easily have been at Fort Stanton to deliver some beef because they were doing that exact thing at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.  So the research began looking into what was going on “in the day”.  I thought about the telegraph and how it was used back then because I wanted to send a telegram to my partner, Charles Goodnight, but realized there must be some etiquette when sending a telegram.  They charge by the word and if you were to write “10^th” you would be charged for 3 words.  It would be cheaper to write “tenth”.  There are some many other tricks to keep the cost down.  I tell you this just to let you know that researching is sometimes fun and you find out a lot that you don’t or didn’t know.  For another instance, the Henry repeating rifle was invented in 1860 and there were 900 made between 1860 and 1862.  Another tidbit was that Charles Goodnight could not read or write.  He mostly used his wife as the person to cipher what he needed to communicate.  Charles’ first wife Mary, as Charles called her, and known to everyone else as Molly, met Charles in 1864 and they were married in 1870 and they had no children.

Laundress-Ann Marie 

In the time sequence of Goodnight and Loving the famous cattle drive they made blazing the Goodnight-Loving Trail occurred in 1867.  And don’t forget that Lonesome Dove, the Hollywood movie, was also based on this same drive.    Our re-enactment occurred in 1866 and again history has a little hiccup in that Goodnight invented the chuck wagon by redoing a Studebaker wagon and outfitting it with a box on the back that the cook would store all of his necessary cooking items.  The glitch in the re-enacting history is that the wagon was a John Deere and not a Studebaker and since history doesn’t say that the chuck wagon was used first on the Goodnight-Loving trail we insist that this trip from Fort Sumner to Fort Stanton was a trial run to see how it worked out and what things would be necessary to have on the wagon. 

We have talked about the food we would fix, but first I thought that Charles, Oliver, Bill, nor Sunka would have been the coosie for this re-enactment so something must have happened to the cook.  Yes, an unfortunate accident happen after a storm had occurred on the upward reaches of the Pecos River and it was on a pretty good rise.  Everyone waited several hours for the water to go down and growing impatient they decided to cross.  The chuck wagon was the first to cross and the force of the water spooked the team and turned up river and the current slammed against the side of the wagon throwing Jebediah into the water.  He quickly  grabbed hold of a spoke in the front wheel  and was pulled under the water, the wheel stopping on his arm. There were out riders with ropes tied onto the wagon but they couldn’t let loose of the ropes or the wagon would have gone over on top of Jebediah.  Before any of the other men could free him, he had drowned.  It was a tragic accident but that is the reason we are doing our own cooking.

Now for cooking and what we might have to eat while at the fort.  Possibilities are: beans, bacon, venison, redeye gravy, Johnny cakes, eggs (chickens at the fort), tomatoes, and smoked meat.

Charles’ chuck wagon would not have had all of the stuff that is on my wagon so I began to eliminate all unnecessary items like:   “table legs” for the serving tables, most of the fly poles, chairs, water hose, pan liners, trays used for staging chicken fried steaks, breast collar on water barrel, unnecessary pots, pans, and coffee pots, and propane lanterns.  I did a quick inventory of the hot and cold blast lanterns and did some maintenance on them to get them burning somewhat efficiently.  Nearly all of the Dutch ovens were eliminated. 

The water barrel, according to Wikipedia, “was attached to the wagon” so mine will be held onto the side of the wagon but first needed a good soaking since it would probably be the only water we will have to use while at the fort. 

I knew we would need to refrigerate some things like the venison, eggs, and a few other things so I needed to build something that would hide an ice chest.  Off to Academy where I purchased a medium sized cooler and took it home for measurements.  Soon the wooden box was built which now resembles a tomato box.  I had recently redone an Arbuckle’s box so it will be used to “hide” a few other items.  Since we may be giving away some food items I thought we would need a place to store some paper plates etc.

Now let’s see, we will need enough cooking iron to feed about 12-14 cowboys so I added a 16”, 14” and a 12” Dutch oven, one bean pot, one coffee pot, two small frying pans and an enamel kettle.  

The sleeping arrangements will be cowboy tipis with cowboy bedrolls so I needed to remake my bedroll so that it would function as one and not just a prop.  Sharpening the axe will come in handy when the wood needs splitting.  We will be using the chuck wagon coffee grinder so we will need to restock the coffee beans.  I still have to go through the chuck box itself and remove all of the non- period spices and aluminum untensils, coffee mate, sweet and low, etc.  Now it is beginning to look like a real trail wagon.  I just wonder what all went through the mind of Goodnight and his cook as to what should be taken on the wagon.  We still sit around the fire and debate this topic.  Basically every wagon that went up the trail was constructed differently and contained the things that were important to that particular trail crew. 

I am looking forward to doing this “in character” re-enactment and I hope you are getting the idea of a little special fun we are going to have at Fort Stanton, New Mexico.  Come on out and join us.

Arizona Hoorah

The Southwest chapter of the American Chuck Wagon Association held a Hoorah on March -21-24, 2014 just outside of Ft. Thomas, Arizona at the end of Poverty Flats Road at the home of John and Sandy Sullivan.  President Russ Richins, of the Southwest chapter, was on hand to help with the organizing of the various events scheduled throughout the three day event.  The ACWA president-Wayne Calk, Administrative Assistant-Nancy Sparks, and three board members-Dave McDowell, Kathy Christianson, and Glenn Moreland were present.  
                                                                               

The Hoorah began three years ago in Ft. Thomas, Arizona as a way for chuck wagon owners and ACWA members could come together to celebrate the chuck wagon heritage while getting to know each other under circumstances other than competitions.   Clearly the gathering has grown from a little over 20 the first year to over 60 this year.  Chuck wagon aficionados traveled from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Washington, and Colorado to participate in what is turning out to be a shining star in the American Chuck Wagon Association. 

As we arrived in Thacther, Arizona the first stop on Thursday was at Brashas’ Grocery Store where manager, Edmundo Lopez provided the event with nearly all the groceries we needed for the event at Poverty Flats.  The amount topped the $500 mark.  Edmundo was such a fine gentleman as was his assistant.  We are humbled by his extreme generosity and will be forever in his debt for kindness.  We wanted to be able to display a sign showing that he was the sponsor for the event and invited him to attend and he said that all he wanted in return was a group photograph to place upon the wall of his office. 

A small group of folks arriving on Thursday made a short trip over to Safford, Arizona to enjoy the fine steaks at the Copper Steer Steak house. This is the only time that we have when “someone else” serves the food.  Our meal planning begins on Friday and the Arizona sunrise is nothing short of spectacular.  Of course with the full complement of cowboy tipis, flags from around the US and also a windmill to help serve as a backdrop didn’t hurt.  Steve and I were up early with our own little campfire and coffee pot gurgling…we were ready to start the morning.  It wasn’t long before many of the camps were up and attum, ready to see what else the day would hold for this group of friends and strangers.  I think it can easily be said that is wasn’t long before there were no strangers…only friends.  

Friday began with some hot steaming cowboy coffee, as you would expect.  Some of the guys were rushing around loading some poles for a project back in El Paso.  Many of the folks were beginning to arrive about mid-morning and the lunch preparations were underway with Steve Woods from Denton, Texas, Bob Sparks from Brownfield, Texas and myself making Pico de Gallo to go with the marinated and grilled flank steak to be served on a flour tortillas.

As folks got their camps set up they immediately got their “swap meet” stuff lined out on the ground or table like fire iron, coffee pots, ovens, lanterns, dippers, knives, steak turners, harnessing components, cookbooks, pots, pans, three tined forks, and a lot more.  The quality of the items were really good and many good bargains could be had if you were quite enough to pick them up before someone else got to the good stuff. 

The time frame for Friday was to have everything at Poverty Flats set up and ready so we could journey down the road to Pima, NM by 4 pm for the Vaquero gathering at Gummer’s Camp.

Randy and Rhonda Hawkins hosted the Friday night event, at their home in Pima, Arizona, in honor of the Vaquero.  It was explained at the supper--it was with much indebtedness to the Vaquero that we owe for the many cowboy ways we learned from them.   To the Vaquero—We Salute You!

Randy and Rhonda Hawkins at Gummer’s Camp Western Town provided a Mexican meal highlighted by their Tapatias.  Randy gave everyone a guided tour of his western and chuck wagon collectables.  Their backyard is the location of the western town of which they are quite proud. During the meal we were entertained by a most capable group of musicians led by their fiddle player.  I apologize that I didn’t get their names but they were indeed quite good and entertaining. 

Saturday morning began with coffee and with Dave McDowell from Chandler, Az preparing donuts, Scottish scones and Welsh Cakes.  Martin Winslow from Cortez, Colorado was cooking the donuts (folks sort of hovered around the donut bowl and ate the wonderfully hot pastries)  and Rodney Carriker, also from Cortez, served as the fireman for the whole event having coals ready for whatever it was that was being prepared.  I might add that there were a few folks mentioned who were sort of responsible for preparing certain meals or side dishes, but all of the rest of the people in attendance fell in and offered their assistance from everything to washing dishes to making the fire.  That makes it a Fun For All!!! 

As the clock ticked, it came to pass that the black powder cannon demonstration and “front end loaders” didn’t get to do their thing because of some personnel glitches.  As it turned out we spent time with Dave McDowell leading a discussion on the timeline of certain spices during the cow camp era.  He explained that oregano, garlic, chilies, bell peppers, mustard seed, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, vanilla, and lemon extract were available along with various sweeteners like loaf sugar (cones) and molasses followed by syrup.  Corn was the most plentiful after the Civil War but flour, baking powder (Saleratus) and yeast was also available.   Canned goods were available in 1865 and the most common were corn, tomatoes, beans, pineapples, strawberries, cherry, peach, oysters and lobster—costing from 50 cents to a dollar per can and were sold in cases of 24 for $12-$15 per case.  By 1870 United States canners were producing 30 million cans of food per year.  The most common on the chuck wagon were tomatoes but the prairie supply points often stocked canned oysters and sardines, potted chicken, deviled ham, as well as cheese and crackers. There are other categories that Dave covered that can be obtained through the ACWA May 2014 Newsletter. 

John Sullivan, Sandy Sullivan and Randy Hawkins worked off and on during the morning prepping for their wheelwright demonstration that was to occur after lunch. 

Bob and Nancy Sparks gave a historical accounting of the chuck wagon and discussed in detail the many things that chuck wagon judges (both have judged many chuck wagon competitions) look for when judging the wagons for competitions. Using a sample judging sheet, they went down the list talking about all the items on the “check sheet”.  There was enlightening and interesting commentary from the Sparks’ as well as Kathy Christenson and Glenn Moreland.  Some “new” wagon owners got many of their questions answered. 

Russ Richens, from Phoenix, AZ, was busying himself with the hot dog preparations and cooking up some more of the skirt steak while Rex Dalton, from Cortez, CO, was making up two batches of Pico De Gallo, one with green chilies and the other with Jalapenos. 

The fire was hot and the wagon wheel tire was in amongst the coals expanding so that John, Randy and Sandy could set the tire on a butcher knife wheel during their wheelwright demonstration.  The tire spokes and fellies had been put in place and the procedure for doing so was talked about by John. He explained that tire had a section of it taken out to better fit the outside measurement around the wheel.  The setting of the tire didn’t go so well and it was determined after a couple of tries that further adjustments would have to be made before the final fitting.  The demonstration outside of John’s wagon barn was informative as well as enlightening because of all of the close tolerances. 

The American Chuck Wagon Association held a meeting to discuss the possibilities of the ACWA sanctioning chuck wagon cook-offs and ultimately culminating in an ACWA Championship Cook Off.  Some of the pros and cons were discussed as well as some issues such as the fairness of someone who is really far from most of the cook offs being held.  The ACWA announced an upcoming meeting in Abilene, TX to discuss the topics further. Also discussed at the Hoorah was the implementation of the ACWA Awards Program.  Awards discussed were:  Pioneer Award, Western Heritage Award, Rookie of the Year Award, Youth Award, and the Hoodlum Award.  Much discussion occurred around the need for wagon recognition and it was brought forward that the award might include the whole wagon camp.  We took that information and promised to present it at the Abilene, TX meeting.

During the calendar year I was contacted by the Bethany Braley, Executive Director of the National Day of the Cowboy organization that the ACWA had been selected as one of their recipients of the Cowboy Keeper Award.  Beth asked when would be a good time that she might be able to present the award in person.  I suggested the Hoorah and she was excited about the possibility of attending.  Many times when a distinguished award is presented the presenter does a brief fanfare and the award is handed over, BUT not this one.  Beth did an amazing amount of research in recognizing the ACWA accomplishments and goals of preserving the Chuck Wagon Heritage.  It was with honor that we, the board of directors of the ACWA, accepted the award by such an eloquent delivery by the Executive Director.  Thank you so very much National Day of the Cowboy for this honor.

Grant Smith from Alma, New Mexico was on hand to give a demonstration of his exceptional Dutch oven pie making skills.  As you can see by the picture the crust isn’t your ordinary pie crust.  Grant went through the steps of creating the masterpiece.  He had his cookbooks for sale that included many outstanding recipes and “tricks” that he has learned from cooing with Dutch ovens for 60 years.  And speaking of cookbooks, there were at least 5 other chuck wagon cookbooks for sale.

Several appetizers were being enjoyed while preparations were being made for the New Your Strip steaks, chicken, baked potatoes, salsas, frijoles and several desserts.  Socialization or as some would call it…bsing was at a high pitch.  Rex Dalton and Joe Cannon had some wonderful tales to tell and were quite memorable, like the “this is gonna hurt” and the “breaking of 28 mules” and one that Joe Cannon told last year was about the “neighbor’s dog”.  You just had to be there to appreciate the humor in the stories.

Later in the evening, around the big campfire, the group was entertained by two local musicians (didn’t get names) with Glenn Moreland setting in and singing some songs.   It was a nice culmination for the evening.   Several individual campfires burned late into the night kindling the fire of old and new friendships. 

John and Sandy were up early preparing their Mountain Man breakfast which was a combination of eggs, cheese, sausage, onions and other ingredients.  Not much need for breakfast to be announced…as everyone was ready to indulge in the smells coming from the central fire pit.  And, as has become a tradition at Ft. Thomas, a cowboy church service. 

This summarizes THE HOORAH at Ft. Thomas, Arizona.  When it was begun three years ago, we didn’t know what was going to become of the future of the “get together”, we just knew that it would be fun and a chance for folks to come together in an environment without a competition.  The organizers feel that the Hoorah has served the purpose and has paved the way for others to step forward and organize a gathering in other areas.  The next event—The Chuck Wagon Rendezvous-- will be in Bennett, Colorado at Lost Creek Farms on May 4-6, 2014 followed by another one in Sat the Three Hearts Ranch on September 12-14, 2014 in Fredericksburg, Texas. 

See ya on down the trail!
Wayne

Get Your Hands...and Feet...Dirty. Build Your Own Horno!

El Camino Real Historic Trail Site--Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

This blog is one of those that I mentioned about taking liberties with "Chuck Wagon Musings", in that it has to do with cooking and the period of time that we were using the chuck wagons....just not wagons per sae. You will notice the Dutch oven in the opening, so...... there you have it, the connection to the chuck wagon.

What the heck is an horno you ask?  It is an outdoor oven built from Mother Nature’s materials....clay!  It is also a cool looking structure you can find all over the southwestern part of the United States.  They can be spotted around Native American establishments or communities.  It is basically an oven and can be used to cook a variety of things ranging from bread to meat, and of course a more modern dish like pizza.  Just about anything can be cooked in an horno that you ordinarily cook in a conventional oven. The fact that you use your hands--and feet to mold the clay into shape for construction of the oven is also rewarding.  I might add a warning here that you should be prepared to spend some time digging the mud out from underneath your fingers and toes because there will certainly be a lot lodged under them.  Or maybe it would just be easier to get a manicure and pedicure.

Saydbea photo from Flickr

I think it is particularly rewarding to be able to construct anything that serves a useful purpose, and I find this adobe structure especially fun when company comes over. Several years ago my wife Linda and I decided we wanted an horno (earthen oven) in our back yard, so I started looking for written material on the subject.  We found that Adobe Architecture by Myrtle & Wilfred Stedman was mostly about adobe home construction; however the last few pages were dedicated to The Indian Oven.  That part was a running dialogue by Eva and John (pueblo Indians) with diagrams by Myrtle Stedman on how to construct an oven.    The original article (1969) was the first of its kind, and this Adobe Architecture printing was in 1978.

Having read this article and anything else I could find that gave me information about adobe, I decided to embark on my first horno.  I called my friend Skip Clark who had done extensive work in refurbishing the Socorro Mission in Socorro, Texas located just a few miles from our home as well as the old jail in San Elizario, Texas.   I enlisted his help, promising him Indian bread and a cold Tecate beer with fresh limes as his pay.  He readily accepted and we started on the project.  After locating the business of Señor De La O, an “adobero” in Anthony, New Mexico,  we took my old trailer, made a couple of trips back and forth on the interstate, and brought back enough adobe bricks for the oven.  I made a couple of trips because I was also making a banco (bench) and a kiva fireplace in another part of the yard.  

A lot has been written about the proper orientation of the horno to make best use of the prevailing winds and such.  For me, the location was simple because I had just one place that it could be located, so I didn’t think too long about details, like the direction of prevailing wind.  Some printed material more recently published such as Build Your Own Earth Oven, by Kiko Denze offer specifics such as which direction to face the door of the oven and the types and composition of the adobe.   He also discusses other excellent information as to how one can utilize a sand mold and how to use cobb (wet mud) instead of adobe brick.  I located an area in the back yard and decided to face the opening of the oven towards the southeast, not because of any profound reason, or suggestions by noted authors, but because it faced the grape arbor and the bunkhouse and that location seemed to be the best visual location to build.  And besides, I’m probably not going to be cooking in adverse weather to begin with.

I had a design in mind with a ledge all the way around the oven that could be utilized as a seating area in case anyone wanted to visit and watch as bread was being baked in the oven.  (Pretty exciting stuff don’t you think?) This seating area was to be about five feet across, and the oven was to be ABOUT four feet in diameter.  With those two features in mind, Skip and I began laying the adobe in a circular pattern up to a height of about 16 inches.  Then we back filled with dirt and rock and firmly compacted the center portion and wet it down so it would be good and stable and hopefully not settle too much.  After letting it dry we added a flat course of adobe that would become the floor of the horno.  When the floor was completed, we filled in all the cracks to make a very smooth surface, letting it dry completely before adding another thin layer. 

At this point we were undecided as to whether we should lay the adobe flat to make the walls the width of the adobe or to lay the adobe on the edge and make the horno the thickness of the bricks.  We decided to lay them on the edge because it would take fewer bricks using this method.  The trick in using this method was the adobe had to be leaning to the inside and their position had to set with wet mud. To achieve this we leaned one brick against one placed perpendicular to it to keep it from falling over.  We continued in this vein until the bottom course was done from one side of the door opening around to the other side of the same opening.  The next step was to fill in all of the voids at the ends of the bricks and to mud the bottom inside edge to give it a extra strength.   Then we waited until this course was dry enough to support the weight of the next course and followed the same method of laying a course of wet mud, then setting the bricks in a leaning fashion which is already at a pretty steep angle because the dome has to be formed with a third course of adobe.  The last part was the actual key that becomes the uppermost part of the dome or ceiling.  It is sort of tricky here and all the voids must be filled to give it the necessary strength.  If you lean on it the wrong way the dome will collapse.  

It is important that you make a smoke hole.  This can be done in many ways. You just have to keep in mind that it will need to be open when you are burning your wood and closed once you put bread into the oven and seal the door.  I had an old ball and chain that we once used in a Celtic festival.  I just made a hole and filled in around the ball up to the half-way point, and it was easy to set into the hole and seal off the heat.  Once everything was good and dry I added a coat of cement plaster over the outside of the oven.  This sealed up and protected the mud from water invasion.

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men don’t always go the way you want them to.  I guess somewhere along the line I failed to read that using cement was not advised.  You see, when the cement expands and contracts it tends to crack the surface.  The water invasion occurred very slowly, sort of like a sneak attack.  At first just a few cracks appeared, and then some pieces began falling off.  You get the picture.  It was still strong enough to support my son’s 6’3” friend on top of the horno.  He told me later that the top of the horno was his favorite location when they would have their “dart wars” in the back yard.  It was a few years, maybe three or four before the collapse of the horno.  It was during the summer of 2006 when we had monsoonal rains, and the water invasion was complete, and the horno was for what the bell tolled.  We went out one morning with our coffee cups in hand heading for the bunkhouse, and we saw the horno was nothing but a heap of clay. Only the bottom course of bricks was still leaning and still standing.  As is said at funerals-ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and now horno back to dust.  This horno was now history

It was before I had a camera phone when we built the first horno and I can't find any documenting pictures of it.  The base that is pictured above is all that remained of the old oven.  I did save the clay and reused it addiing straw for strength.  All of the pictures after this point are from the "new build".  What was fascinating was the mechanical wonder that Mr. De La O engineered to make his adobe making business move into the 20th century.  It truly is a wonder when you stop and think...the adobe has been made totally by hand since Biblical times so his invention is a giant step forward.  There is a separate hopper for mixing the clay 

and various stablizing agents such as portland cement, straw, animal manure, etc.  Then he backs up to the hopper and a conveyor delivers the adobe to his adobe making machine.  He or one of his sons can then drive to the drying area where the machine exudes the adobe into the molds and then deposits the adobe block out onto the ground for drying.  Quite unique....V-8 engine and other various smaller engines to deliver power to the various mechanical systems.  So the adobe is real old school with a new twist.  I like to think that my abobe oven is the horno that O built! 
 This is a multiple post for the adobe oven, so stay tuned for the next installment...