Where did the term "chuckwagon" come from? Michael Knapp Somers, Montana Some say the term came from Charles (“Chuck”) Goodnight, who supposedly built the first meal on wheels—but that’s doubtful. The term dates from the late 19th century and is simply a compound word formed from chuck and wagon. “Chuck” had meant a piece of wood or meat since the 1670s, and it derives from “chock.” Chock referred to a lumpy piece of wood, which is pretty close to how chuckwagon food tast

August 2010
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Caught With His Pants Down?
- One Basket at a Time
- Rediscovering the O.K. Corral
- Buffalo, Wyoming
- Waddie Mitchell
- Equitrekking the American West
- A Cowboy Classic is Created
- Following John Wesley Hardin Across Texas
- A Cure for Baldness?
- The Myth of the Single Shot Kill
- The Genesis of Jeans
- From Baxter Black to the Powwow Idol
- “He’s No Parlor Car Artist”
- Lone Star Vodka
- Whatever happened to Johnny Ringo’s guns?
- A few years back, we visited a Kansas site called “Little House on the Prairie.”
- What does the word “tinhorn” mean?
- What can you share about Judge Roy Bean?
- Did trail drives ever intersect?
- Where did the term “chuckwagon” come from?