Thanks for checking it out! So, potatoes are interesting. Certainly there are cowboy cooking recipes that use potatoes, and they do have a relatively long shelf life, although not as long as we might think especially in warm conditions. Potato water (yep, you read that right) made from potato starch was a base for a lot of cattle drive soups and stews to provide the energy and nutrients you mention. And when the cowboys were on the ranch in the bunkhouse, potatos were always a welcome dish!

The thing about them, though, is the weight and density make them less than optimal to carry in the chuckwagon for several months. Dried beans and beef jerky are much less dense, so a 50 pound bag of beans or a can of jerky was preferable to a 50 pound bag of potatos because Cookie could get more meals out of the beans and jerky. Not disimilar to dried meat being preferable to uncured meat from a weight and shelf life perspective.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of a good potato! Be safe.