An early 20th century camp wagon portable pantry is the Victorian version of the modern travel trailer and motor home.

American interest in recreational camping, and the Victorian camp wagon and portable pantry, emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the last of the American “frontier” disappeared and a conservation movement to preserve America’s natural landscapes developed and grew. Legislation establishing Sequioa and Yosemite National Parks passed in 1890. In the following few years we see the beginnings of the National Forest Service under Gifford Pinchot, The Sierra Club led by John Muir, and the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt, who made conservation a priority in his domestic policy.

One group of Gilded Age New York City would-be campers decided to combine their idea of a cowboy cattle round up on the range with camping. Starting at first with pack horses, then with a mess cart, they eventually built a camping wagon, complete with luggage transport, a full portable pantry, and sleeping accommodations.

From NYC to horseback vacation on the range

The following is an article titled The Camping Wagon: A solution of the vacation trip problem with a maximum of change, comfort and fresh air, and a minimum of expense, written by John Carver, and printed in Pearson’s Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 1, from July 1905.

“A few years ago two young men, long time vacation cronies, found the vacation season at hand and with it a marked distaste for the conventional sea and inland resorts. Although residents of New York City had known the life of the range, the cattle country of the West, it was decided to try a trip something like a round up as the semi-annual gathering of range cattle is called. In place of the mess wagon that accompanies a round up party two pack horses were secured. These carried an appetizing lot of provisions including a variety of canned goods, army tent blankets, and slickers or raincoats. There was even an ice box in one pack. The camp furniture included the necessary skillets, kettles, knives, forks, spoons, cups and plates all of metal. The horses were western broncos bred to the pack and range costing from fifty to seventy five dollars each easily salable at any time. The saddles were of the California tree pattern weighing between forty and fifty pounds each high-horned and cantled and as easy as a rocking chair. From twenty to fifty miles according to road weather and inclination constituted a day’s travel. When the time came to go back to business each of the party found returning a wrench agreed that summer hotels and boarding houses should know them no more.”

Early Camping Cart

“By the time a new year had grown middle aged and the vacation problem again came up for solution, new ideas had developed in the minds of the pair who had tasted the joys of a saddle trip. It was determined to add a mess wagon to the outfit. Realization took the modest form of a two wheeled cart drawn by a single horse. There was no driver. The first day out the draft horse was led by one of the horsemen. By the second day he had learned to follow and the tow rope was dispensed with. The cart, almost as light as a sulky, proved ample in size for the transportation of blankets, an army tent and cooking utensils. Other material comforts were made possible by the cart and altogether it was voted a marked improvement over the pack horse the next vacation time drew near the happy effect of previous trips resulted in a deluge of applications from friends of the pioneers for permission to join the coming expedition.”

The First Camp Wagon Portable Pantry

A larger party meant more camp equipage and for this reason it was decided that the two wheeled cart should be succeeded by a four wheeled mess wagon driven by a cook who could act as driver and guard camp when the others were off on side trips. A 60 covered delivery wagon and five horses at a total expense of not over three hundred dollars were purchased. The cook was engaged at a dollar a day. The commissariat and camp equipment were the same in character as those of the previous year with the addition of folding army cots. This expense was really less important than it seems for horses and wagon could be sold again for nearly as much as the original cost. The trip with the four wheeled wagon was a marked success.

As time went on the party grew and presently the delivery wagon was found insufficient.

Perfection: the Victorian Camping Wagon with accommodations for baggage, sleeping, and a camping pantry

“So it was determined to build a mess wagon planned on lines suggested by utility and experience. The eventual result of this determination was a wagon believed to be the most complete and the only one of its kind in existence. Its original cost was 500 It has a light express running gear with a platform spring. It is with three poles so that it can be driven with a team three horses abreast or four in hand. It is ten feet long six and one half feet high in its center and seven feet wide. At the base of the wagon’s interior are six lockers each of the capacity of a medium sized dress suit case. In these the personal belongings of the party are stored doing away with that ogre of a camping trip baggage that must be carried by each one.

Sleeping arrangements are ingenious. Iron rods reach from top to bottom of the wagon’s interior. On each side and at the end where the driver’s seat is located are two light frames, berth shaped, made of gas tubing, with canvas stretched across the tubing of each. These frames are so arranged that they slide up or down on the iron rods. At various points in these rods holes have been drilled, those of one rod being exactly opposite those of another. Iron pins fit into the holes and this makes it possible to regulate positions of the berth frames. Six persons are thus accommodated in the wagon’s interior but this is not the limit of the sleeping accommodations. Snugly rolled and resting next to the roof on each side and at the rear end of the wagon are sheets of canvas. These side sheets, when unrolled and pegged down tent fashion, each make a shelter eight feet deep and the length of the wagon. The end sheet furnishes a shelter ten feet deep and a little wider than the wagon body itself. In this manner it is possible to furnish accommodation for fifteen persons. If necessary canvas and wagon can be joined and the entire shelter rendered storm-proof.

The mess feature of the wagon is revealed by loosening a catch at the rear which releases the big tail board which drops down until it extends horizontally on a level with the wagon being supported in this position by chains dependent from the top on each side. The dropping of the tail board reveals four deep shelves on which is stored an ample supply of provisions. Flanking the shelves on both sides are narrow wings or compartments, five feet high and eight inches wide, also shelved. In these can be stored such foods as it is advisable to isolate. When the tail board is up the mess compartments are snugly guarded from wind and weather. Two sliding doors on the opposite side of the compartment give access thereto from the wagon’s interior, a feature appreciated in times of storm.

Below the mess is an ice box large enough to contain a considerable quantity of ice and perishable provisions. Built into the bottom of the wagon is a tool box in which ordinary carpenter’s tools and others necessary to make repairs to the wagon are carried as well as a spade and an ax. There is another box in which oats are stored and on pushing aside a small door a little chute is revealed through which oats pour until the desired quantity is obtained and the sliding door closed.”

Camping with the wagon and its portable pantry

“It is not hard to imagine the pleasure of a wagon trip under such conditions. Eight persons form the ideal party, each preferably mounted. Rarely a day passes in which some butter, eggs, milk, ice and fresh vegetables cannot be obtained. Camp is pitched wherever desire indicates.  Ordinarily it is unnecessary to ask permission to occupy a camping place but if it is considered advisable to be formal, a courteous assent almost invariably follows the request. Trespass laws are not to be reckoned as among the obstacles to a successful wagon trip. In a properly organized party each individual has his particular duties and these passes in which faithfully executed make the burden light. There should be no laggards when the morning call of riders up sounds and six o’clock is a good hour to be in the saddle.

The routine, once learned, of pitching camp is not hard. There are no unwieldy tent poles and the bracing of the canvas sides is child’s play. Meals are speedily prepared. Two iron uprights and a crosspiece of iron strung with hooks attached to stout rings make the finest sort of camp cook stove when snugly ensconced in a heap of burning brush wood The pots and kettles depend by their handles from the hooks while skillets and frying pans can be utilized in the good old way.

So far as the matter of cost of a trip of this sort is concerned it is regulated by size of the party the number of days the trip continues and the general from both interior and exterior of the box below wishes of those most concerned The longer the trip the less the average daily cost per capita. For a party of eight the expense everything included will average from 1.50 to 4 per day each. A fair average total expense for a party of eight on a twenty days trip would be from 12 to 15 a day. This means living on the fat of the land. Such a trip is practical and productive of marvelous dividends of health, strength and the joy of living.”

Tips for stocking the portable pantry and camp wagon and recipes for camp meals

How to Cook in Camp, by Katherine Chandler, printed in the May 1903 issue of Country Life in America.

“For a party among the several essential elements in a successful camping trip none is more important than good satisfying meals. How to achieve these when far from a market and when hampered by the lack of regular cooking appliances is being solved each year by the increasing number of campers. As the weight and size of articles count in the packing and carrying of a camping outfit the needs of the culinary department must be planned to reduce these to the lowest terms”

Cookware

“For a party not larger than eight,  three iron saucepans, two iron frying pans, a strong coffee pot, three large cooking spoons, a large fork, a butcher knife, a pancake turner, and a large dishpan are all the cooking utensils needed to get along comfortably. The best stove is simply two long pieces of iron with jointed ends that stick into the ground. Three kettles at a time can fit between the irons and when not in use the stove folds up into a small bag.

Stocking camp foods

“In choosing the food the purveyor must consider not only its compactness for packing but also its nutritive qualities and the amount of time it requires for cooking. When a party returns hungry and tired from a glorious tramp thirty or forty minutes after reaching camp is the longest time the campers should have to wait for dinner. With foods manufactured as they are to day and with a little practical forethought it is an easy matter to select the proper foods”

Bread and pasta

“In breadstuffs we find galetta a hard Italian loaf the best. When soaked and heated it tastes quite like French bread Our next choice is hardtack the modern variety being quite unlike the objectionable cracker fed to poor Jack by the early marine novelists. It is both nourishing and toothsome and we enjoy it daily for the luncheon carried from the permanent camp. The self rising pancake flours make a good breakfast bread. As there is a difference in brands they should be tried at home and a preference discovered. If one needs other breads than these use a little folding tin oven with sloping sides and open front which bakes by reflection can be taken. But biscuits entail carrying four and make more trouble than they are worth. Any cereals one likes are good both as plain mush or when fried in bacon grease. Cornmeal is particularly palatable fried and it can be easily cooked the night before on the campfire. The praises of macaroni or spaghetti for camping cannot be oversung but the purveyor must see to it that they are fresh when bought as they cook more quickly than when older. We like them best prepared in a semi Italian style. Put the paste in salted boiling water and let boil for twenty minutes. Strain. Stir in pepper canned tomatoes which have been heated finely cut cheese and bacon grease. There is never a granule of this dish left sticking to the pot and by the way it is served on the table in the pot as all our dishes are.”

Rice and beans

“Rice cooked as the Italian Swiss prepare it makes a good solid meal. In some hot bacon grease put one onion cut fine and sufficient rice for the party. As all the grease is absorbed add half a can of tomatoes as this is absorbed add enough hot water to prevent burning. Add salt and pepper. Keep adding hot water by degrees until the rice is cooked. Another rice dish that is more palatable than plain boiled is made by stirring in a half can of tomatoes and some finely cut cheese after the rice is cooked. Of course campers could not get along without beans. We prefer the medium sized pink ones and always prepare them Mexican style. The beans must be soaked in the morning and cooked on the campfire in the evening of the day before they are to be eaten. If they are old and so are long in softening add a pinch of soda. When they are to be served put on a large frying pan with bacon grease. When the grease is hot put in the beans by spoonfuls without their moisture and sprinkle in some pepper. As the grease is absorbed add by degrees the water in which they were cooked. The result is so far above the ordinarily served beans that after the first taste the party will clamor for more “frijoles.”

Bacon, dried beef, soup

“Bacon will always be a prop to the camp kitchen. Even if one never tastes it during the housed months of his life he is sure to relish it when living outdoors either as a separate dish or as an appetizing flavor to starchy foods. Dried beef makes a good breakfast dish and canned meats of every variety one likes must be taken. Usually when laying in supplies no dependence should be laid on prospective game or fish but if it be secured it will always be a welcome change. The soups that come in powdered form are easiest for carrying. There are many varieties today but we like best a marrow fat pea that comes in bags shaped like sausages. It is prepared under the auspices of the German Government for the army and is economical both in cost and in time of preparation”

Fruit, nuts, and hardtack

“Too much stress cannot be laid on the point of having plenty of caked chocolate nuts, raisins dates and dried apricots, pears, prunes, peaches, and apples. The chocolate dates or raisins and nuts added to hardtack will suffice for a man’s appetite for a midday lunch. The dried fruit should be prepared the day before it is to be used. Soak in the morning and cook on the campfire at night. Sufficient for two meals is enough to cook at once both for the purpose of variety and because storing accommodations are missing.

If the meals are planned systematically and each member of the party give assistance whether in carrying wood, getting water, macaroni cooking, or dishwashing, the disagreeable features of camp life will be banished and among the pleasantest memories stored up for the winter will be the social cooperation and gratifying success of the culinary department.”

For a similar camping wagon pantry, see the Edible Pantry post on the cowboy pantry aka chuck wagon.