USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume I > Part 58
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John W. Prowers brought his herd of a hundred cows to Bent County in 1861. L. A. Allen, of Missouri, hearing of the success of Prowers in the stock-raising business, induced a fellow-Missourian, Solomon Young, of Independence, to back him with 700 head, which reached Fort Lyon in 1863. Lucien B. Maxwell's herds were later transferred from the Greenhorn to Bent County. William Kroe- nig, who had settled on the Las Animas grant, and his fellow stockmen brought their cattle to the Arkansas and made heavy sales to settlers. The settlers after 1865 came in flocks and practically all went into the stock-raising business. The range cattle trade reached its height in the early '8os, and here as elsewhere its decline was rapid.
Among the earliest ranchmen in Eagle County using the grazing ranges were Henry Hermage, Robert Matthews and W. E. Frost, who began cattle raising on Brush Creek; W. W .. Livingston, R. M. Sherwood, C. M. White, C. B. Stone, J. L. Howard, on the Eagle; F. M. Skiff, Frank Doll, A. F. Grundel, Casper
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Schumm, on Gypsum Creek; W. H. Harris, Robinson, Thomas O'Connell, Luck- singer Brothers, H. B. Gillespie, on Roaring Fork.
In 1891 the wool clip of Elbert County was 628,540 pounds from 87,000 sheep. The extent of the grazing industry in this county, which is now but a small part of its original area, was in 1900 nearly a million acres. It is still, however, one of the most profitable cattle-growing counties in the state. In 1874 L. F. Roberts, A. J. Redford and H. C. Hall, together with Samuel E. Wetzel and S. P. Williams, had herds of 25,000 at the head of Beaver Creek. About 1876 J. W. Bowles and W. L. Campbell located cattle ranches near Yuma, in what is now Yuma County. J. P. Olive went into the cattle business near Wray in 1877. Thomas H. Ashton, W. Newell, William Lauver, J. R. Porter and C. D. Thompson followed. This, however, was even until 1881 a danger section, for the Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Sioux made raids on cattle, despite the punishment administered at Sand Creek.
The beginning of the cattle-raising industry in Gunnison County dates from the establishment of a "cow camp" in 1869 near the present site of Gunnison. This was used to supply the Indians at the Cochetopa agency. It was not given up until 1873, when the Utes were transferred to the Uncompahgre reservation. Gradually the excellence of the country for grazing purposes brought a great number of ranchmen to the region and the industry has been on the whole more profitable than the mining of Gunnison County.
When John W. Iliff, of Denver, died in 1878 the Iliff cattle holdings were perhaps the largest in the west. It was said that he could travel over the coun- try from Julesburg to Greeley and always eat and sleep at one of his own ranches. In 1880 the Iliff executors sold $250,000 worth of beef without making much of an inroad upon the Iliff herds.
Finis P. Ernest came to Colorado in 1875 from New Mexico, where he had in four years gathered a herd of 6,800 head. He bought enough water front at Deer Trail to control practically 1,500,000 acres. In 1884 he sold $200,000 worth of beef and declined an offer of $850,000 for all his holdings.
R. G. Webster began in 1872 with a small herd of twenty-five head near Den- ver, and in 1884 sold out his interest for $135,000. George A. Benkelman began cattle raising on the Kiowa east of Denver with a hundred head in 1868. In 1884 he owned 8,000 head. Alfred Butters was another of Denver's early cattlemen who realized a fortune in live stock.
Dennis Sheedy of Denver was another speculator of those early days. In 1873 he was far-seeing enough to bring in 1,500 head of steers at panic prices, and sent them into winter quarters near Fort Lyon, on the Arkansas, realizing a fine profit when they were sold in prime condition.
M. J. McMillan, secretary of the Bent and Prowers Counties Cattle and Horse Growers' Association, whose association was first formed in 1870, has written a history of his organization. From these records it is learned that the actual work of the society began with its reorganization in February, 1874, when a big meeting was held at Las Animas.
At this time "mavericking" and cattle stealing was indulged in to a very great extent. Some of the largest cattle raisers recommended a vigilance com- mittee and a trial by cattlemen and the penalty for stealing cattle was to be death. Cattle raisers were present from New Mexico and from the Dry Cimarron; from
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Las Animas County and from Kansas. After holding nightly meetings for nearly a week it was decided not to resort to extraordinary measures but to punish of- fenders by legal means. Large rewards were offered for the conviction of guilty parties but without satisfactory results. At the meeting in February an organi- zation was effected and the following named persons were elected officers: John W. Prowers, president; H. S. Holly, vice president ; James C. Jones, vice presi- dent ; Mark P. Price, treasurer; R. M. Moore, secretary.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the association to prevent it, illegitimate brand- ing of calves and stealing of cattle was carried on and it was not until the spring of 1884 that the association succeeded in convicting anyone. At the spring term of court in that year eight persons were sent to Cañon City for stealing cattle and horses, their sentences ranging from three to eight years. This sweeping conviction struck terror to the hearts of the cattle thieves and since then com- parative peace reigns.
With the windup of the Prairie Cattle Company in 1917, there are no more big herds left in the valley. This has been due to the coming in of settlers who have gradually extended their fence lines farther and farther away from the river on each side, reducing the amount of available range to a point where the running of big herds was no longer practical.
The trail no longer exists, and the ranges that had in those days grazed from 200,000 to 400,000 cattle are today being occupied by the stock farmers and herds of from 50 to 150 head, and even smaller. In these late days the stock association has become a strictly business organization. It is maintained prin- cipally for the purpose of cooperating with other associations throughout the state in protecting the cattle industry as a whole.
IN THE UNCOMPAHGRE
T. W. Monell has written thus briefly the history of the "Cowmen in the Uncompahgre":
"In the early days the cattle herds were run in the mountains in the summer time, where the grass was more abundant and nutritious than along the rivers in the bottoms, while the families were left in the valleys. During those early years the cattle were forced to rustle for themselves during the winter months, but gradually, as safety was assured, the farmer came in and took up the winter ranges of the cowmen. At first it looked like a hardship to the cattle owners, but it has proven the greatest indirect blessing the live stock business could receive. It did not take the cowman long to discover that it paid him to purchase hay from the farmers and feed his cattle during the winter, and thus there was cre- ated a demand for the alfalfa crop, which became the chief cattle feed.
"The coming of the farmer sounded the death knell of the 'longhorn,' which, up to that time, had been the principal class of cattle run in the mountain ranges. The stockman soon found that it did not pay to put good feed into the long- legged, long-horned animals, and they began to improve their herds. Better bulls were in demand, and the place of the longhorn was speedily taken by the improved breeds of Shorthorns, Herefords, Red Poll, Polled Angus and Galloways, pro- ducing a beef animal at one year of age which equalled or excelled the longhorn at four years of age.
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"Inhabited by the Ute Indians until the '80s, the valleys of the Muddy and Paradox, tributary streams, were first located and settled by the cowmen, James P. Galloway, coming from Del Norte, and Thomas Ray, from Utah. These nien, with their families, opened the great Paradox Valley in West Montrose County. Coming in by way of Sapinero, the Hartmans, Creighton, Savage and Collins de- veloped the Muddy country. The cattle they took out from this country and their stories of the possibilities of the Uncompahgre Valley liad many settlers ready to rush in before the Indians moved out. O. D. Loutzenheiser, one of the original Packer crowd, began dealing with the soldiers in the valley and estab- lished probably the first herd there with James A. Fenton and J. W. Smith close to him. The real cow business, however, was outside the Indian lines. R. H. Blake, the Warners and J. W. Tripler were located on the San Miguel River near Naturita. With the removal of the Indians and the opening of the valley to settlement a great influx of all classes of people began.
"True to their instincts, the cowmen became the real developers, growing feed in the valleys for winter use and grazing their cattle during the sunimer in the mountains, using only the best bred bulls. It was natural that, in a short time, this valley should have a national reputation for the quality of its beef cattle. The winter feeding of the cattle herds so enriched the soil of the farms that the agricultural production exceeded from four to seven times the average of the United States.
"It was soon discovered that the soils of this section were rich in mineral salts, but lacking in humus and nitrogen, and had growing on them the essentials to make perfect crops, i. e., alfalfa.
"All of the farmers of this section who have made state and national repu- tations for the production of wheat, oats, barley, beets and potatoes were orig- inally-and many of them are yet-in the cattle business. Some of the most successful bankers and business men of the county started in the cattle business. A few years ago Al A. Neale, of Montrose, brought honor and credit to the entire State of Colorado when he won the grand championship at the International Live Stock Exposition at Chicago two years in succession with his splendid Shorthorn calves, and the fourth time he exhibited he won the purple ribbon again."
IN THE ROARING FORK VALLEY
Among the first to engage in the cattle business in the Roaring Fork Valley was John C. Eames, of New York. He came into the valley with a herd of cat- tle purchased near Denver, in the spring of 1880. The Roaring Fork and its tributaries, Crystal River, Frying Pan, Sopris Creek and others, provided an ideal grazing country for cattle, and about the summer of 1882 quite a number of settlers came in and went into the cattle business in a small way. Among them were A. B. Foster, M. H. Mclaughlin, M. L. Shippie, Horace Gavin, S. P. Sloss, G. W. King, C. H. Harris, Fred Light and B. Bourg. Most of these pioneers met success in a small way from the beginning, and, with the exception of a few of them, are still located in the valley and are classed among the suc- cessful men in the cattle business.
About the summer of 1883 Ed Banning of Carbondale drove in a bunch of
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cattle from the Eastern Slope and located in the valley. About the same time J. W. Zimmerman, James T. Dalton and H. B. Gillespie started in the business.
During the summer of 1885 or '86 Reef and Nuckols brought in the first large herd of cattle to this section. They were southern steers and were grazed upon the ranges in this section, and used to supply the. mining camp of Aspen with beef. Later this firm moved their cattle north of the Grand River and were extensive cattle producers for a number of years.
Eugene and Lloyd Grubb acquired a ranch on the Crystal River near Car- bondale in 1885. Later Lloyd Grubb secured a ranch of his own east of the Roar- ing Fork, which he sold a few years ago at a good price and moved to California, where he is now located. Eugene Grubb still continues on his fine ranch at the foot of Mt. Sopris.
THE COMING OF THE HEREFORD
T. L. Miller of Beecher, Illinois, the dominant spirit of the Breeders' Live Stock Association (the forerunner of the American Hereford Cattle Breeders' Association), is probably the man entitled to the credit of introducing the first Herefords into Colorado. There are no available data to establish the exact date when the first Hereford made its appearance in this state, but it was probably about, or just before, the year 1870. Mr. Miller sold three Hereford bulls in 1873 to John Zweek of Longmont, Colorado. In 1874 he shipped more Hereford bulls to Denver, which were sold to Colorado ranchmen. Wherever tried the Hereford blood made good and became popular from the very first on the Colorado ranges.
Perhaps the leading herd of Herefords in the state in 1893 was George H. Adams' herd at Crestone, in the San Luis Valley. He operated a very select registered Hereford herd on the Baca grant of very high quality, in addition to a large grade herd. In 1898, to improve and increase his already noted herd, he attended the memorable sale of C. S. Cross of Sunny Slope Farm, Emporia, Kansas, where 144 head of imported and home-grown registered Herefords sold for an average of $407 per head. Mr. Adams bought twenty head of the best females in the sale, at an average of over five hundred dollars per head. In the fall of the same year he was one of the sixteen exhibitors at the Omaha Expo- sition, which was the largest and best display of its kind ever seen in the United States up to that time. The first list of members published in the American Hereford Record was in Volume 5, published in 1886. There were something less than three hundred and fifty members in all the United States and Canada at that time. Of this number the following were listed from Colorado: Elliott & Company, Del Norte; Ewart & Hart, Estes Park; A. D. Gifford, Loveland ; A. D. Hudnall, West Las Animas; W. E. James, Estes Park; J. W. Prowers, Jr., West Las Animas; R. M. Moore, West Las Animas; P. J. Pauly & Son, Estes Park, and E. R. Sizer, Wigwam-nine members. In 1900 this number had in- creased to twenty-six members from Colorado. The last list contains the names of ninety members who have registered or transferred Herefords since January 1, 1914.
THE NATIONAL LIVE STOCK SHOW
It was a little over nineteen years ago that the first event which led to the final building of what is now known as "The National Western Stock Show"
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took place. In the fall of 1898 some of the stockmen who lived around Denver decided that, as the National Live Stock Association was to hold its second an- nual meeting in Denver, there should be some kind of an exhibition of live stock, and, accordingly, committees were appointed and plans were made for "The National Exhibition of Range Cattle," and on January 24, 25, 26 and 27, 1899, this first stock show was pulled off at the Denver Union Stock Yards. The show consisted entirely of feeder cattle in carloads, and some thirty-five loads of very good cattle, as cattle ran in those days, were on exhibition, and all kinds of pre- miums were contributed by Denver merchants and others, together with some special silver medals, which were awarded to the lucky exhibitors.
In 1905, when former Governor E. M. Ammons became the president of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association, he made a strong plea for the establish- ment of another stock show, and during that summer and fall the matter was taken up by officers of the association, committees were appointed, the hat was passed for subscriptions, and in January, 1906, the "Denver Fat Stock and Feeder Show" was held.
Within a very few weeks after this first successful show several meetings were held, and it was decided to incorporate the Western Stock Show Associa- tion, with these charter members: E. M. Ammons, F. W. Boot, Clyde B. Ste- vens, W. L. Carlyle, Jose P. Adams, Fred P. Johnson, William M. Springer, Harry Petrie, L. F. Twitchell, A. J. Campion, John H. Fesler, C. E. Stubbs, J. F. Vallery, E. Bosserman, Gordon Jones, John Grattan and I. N. Moberly.
The new brick barn and the big tent were used to hold the exhibits of indi- vidual and breeding animals, and the carloads were placed in the pens in the stock yards, as before. The second show was an even greater success than the first, and upon its conclusion immediate steps were taken to make the third show even larger.
For the third show the stock yards company erected a large shed for stabling the cattle and built an open frame stadium, enclosing a large amphitheater, and over this was placed the top of the big tent in which the second show had been held.
Strong pressure was now brought to bear upon the stock yards interests to construct such suitable buildings as were really necessary to make this annual midwinter exhibition more comfortable. Negotiations with the stock yards company resulted in an agreement that if the show association would agree to put up a guarantee fund to warrant the continuance of the show for at least ten years the company would erect an amphitheater sufficient for the requirements of the exposition. This was promptly agreed to.
The fourth annual show opened in the new building in January, 1909. In addition to this monster amphitheater, which had cost the stock yards company over two hundred thousand dollars, the only other buildings were the two-story brick barn and the frame shed erected the year before. This proved sufficient, however, and the fourth show was the real thing in stock shows, and from that time on the great National Show at Denver was an assured institution. At the fourth show the National Western Horse Show became a settled department of the annual exhibition, and for the first time the association was able to hold night shows at which the fine horses from all over the United States were ex- hibited in harness.
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For the fifth show the stock yards company yielded to the insistent demands of the stock show association for more buildings, and erected a three-story barn and club house. At the fifth show the two upper floors of the new building were used for cattle and the bottom floor for horses.
From that time on there has been a steady development in the annual ex- hibition. The feed and forage exhibit which was added at the fourth show de- veloped into a great agricultural exhibit. At the sixth show the poultrymen came into their own with a National Western Poultry Show, and at the ninth show dairy cattle made their first appearance, together with a baby health con- test, and the show had become a great midwinter fair.
THE STOCK YARDS AND THE PACKING INDUSTRY
The first cattle brought into Denver were driven to the old Bull Head corral down on what is now known as Wazee Street, between 16th and 17th streets. As the town grew, other yards were built at Broadway and Cherry Creek, along in the early '70s. Later on the yards were crowded out to 35th and Wazee streets, where is now located the Colorado Iron Works. This was the first place in Denver where cattle were unloaded from railroad cars. The further exten- sion of the city lines forced the yards out still farther to a point about a quarter of a mile south of the present location, which new location was soon outgrown. John Clough, who bought and traded in cattle, had become interested in the yards at this time. He bought some ground from J. Farley on the present site of the yards and put up some pens along the bank of the South Platte in 1880. The Union Pacific built into the yards immediately, and the Burlington followed in the early part of 1882.
The first incorporation of the stock yards was in 1881, under the name of the Denver Union Stock Yards Company, by John A. Clough, Jacob Scherrer, F. P. Ernest, J. A. Cooper, J. M. Wilson, William B. Mills and Samuel E. Wetzel. In 1885 the yards were taken over by the Kansas City Stock Yards Company and reincorporated as the Denver Union Stock Yard Company. This was really the first important event in connection with the yards, and drew attention to the fact that there might be some future to the business of the yards in Denver.
About this time George W. Ballantine became associated with the company as general manager and continued as its active head for twenty-eight years, re- tiring from the presidency in January, 1915.
Live stock markets are plants of slow growth and cannot be expected to develop faster than the country which they are designed to serve. Some slaugh- tering was done nearby. Smith Brothers were among the first, with a plant located about where the present Smith Brothers' plant now stands, and were the first to kill hogs, shipping them in from eastern Nebraska and Missouri River markets. Walters & Aicher had a small plant across the river from Smith Broth- ers. Hoffer Brothers built a slaughtering place about on the present site of the Swift plant, and near that Pete Schaefer had a little place.
Hoffer Brothers' plant was taken over by Burkhardt & Mills along about 1881, and was run for awhile by them and became known as the B. & M. Packing House. About 1880 Andy Campion became interested with Mills in the plant. and it continued to be operated as the B. & M. Henry Gebhard was more or
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jess interested in the slaughtering business, having been for a short time con- nected with the B. & M. concern, and conceived the idea of building a plant of his own. He succeeded in interesting George Benkelman and Alfred Butters in the proposition, and together they established the Colorado Packing & Provision Company, which was opened for business in 1892. This was the first big boost Denver received in the packing line, which gave the industry a start and kept it going.
The packing industry got another big lift when Charles Boettcher and Col. D. C. Dodge, in 1903, built and opened for business the plant of the Western Packing Company. The Coffin Packing & Provision Company, of which W. N. W. Blayney is now the president, was organized in 1904, and its business has grown abreast of the market.
Up to the time the Colorado plant was opened the demand for killing stock at the Denver stock yards was only nominal and no real market could be said to exist, but with the demand of the Western Packing Company added to that of the Colorado plant an interest was created which led to the purchase of both plants and the stock yards property by the National Packing Company.
While the live stock and packing industry in Denver showed very substantial growth from 1906, when the National Packing Company became interested in Denver, the greatest evidence of permanent development has been apparent since the big firms of Armour & Company and Swift & Company took over the pack- ing plants of the Western Packing Company and the Colorado Packing & Pro- vision Company and became directly identified with the market in 1912.
ON THE WHITE RIVER AND ON THE BEAR
In the '70s the Indian Bureau drove a herd of cattle to the White River agency to supply beef to the Utes, using only the increase for that purpose. Not alone was this need filled but the cattle became the nucleus of other herds in the Snake River country. The rich grasses of the White River country soon gave Denver its best beef, save the corn-fed, which, of course, was always superior. The Snake River beef was often on the market when Plains cattle were too thin to kill.
The "Bear River" cattle also soon commanded a premium on the Denver market-and this meant practically all of Routt County-that is the Bear River valley and the tributaries. In the early 'gos the stockmen had already become powerful and when in 1894 a "sheep" invasion was threatened from Wyoming there was a determined movement to stop it. But this was no sooner settled when the old fight between the range man and the settler began. Perhaps the largest herds were known as the "two bar" outfit, owned by Ora Holey, who has since sold his holdings, and today the Careys have the largest and finest herds.
It was the custom before the advent of the railroad to trail the herds through Egeria Park on their way to the lower ranges and return them in about three summers, in prime condition. Cattlemen say that grass in the Aspen groves was high enough to hide cattle, and that as soon as the snow started to melt in the spring cattle could get enough grass on the bare patches to keep them going until new grass came. The early range is now fenced in.
Alex Gray, John Trull and Jerry McWilliams have done much for the indus-
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try by their importation of pedigreed Shorthorns. But the Careys, on their model ranch below Hayden, have sold bulls all over the west from their fine Shorthorn herd.
Among the pioneers who have developed the industry in that country are the Dunckley Brothers, the Male Brothers, Mark Choate, Arnold Powell, Riley Wilson, W. E. Wheeler and Dave and Franz Chapman.
STOCK RAISING IN THE SAN LUIS VALLEY
Coronado in 1541 was perhaps the first man to carry domesticated cattle into this region. In 1765 Ribera came with a few head, Escalante too, carried some live stock into the Rio Dolores and Gunnison country. It is quite certain that many of the herds of "wild horses" and of Indian ponies are the direct de- scendants of horses that escaped from the Rio Grande communities in New Mexico. The cattle too strayed and soon joined and were "eugenically" swal- lowed up by the buffalo herds.
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