Cattle Town

For much of its early history, Denver was a livestock town as much as a mining or railroad town. In eighteen eighty-one the Denver Union Stock Yard Company was founded, and the yards opened in eighteen eighty-six along the South Platte River, where three major rail lines ran side by side. That combination made it a natural hub for cattle, hogs, sheep, and horses.

By the early nineteen hundreds the operation covered more than one hundred acres and handled hundreds of thousands of animals a year. Out of this industry grew the National Western Stock Show, first held in January of nineteen oh six under a circus big top with three hundred fifty-one animals. Permanent facilities went up in nineteen oh nine, and the show soon accepted entries from around the world.

Today it runs sixteen days every January, recognized as the world's largest stock show by the number of animals, with more than twelve thousand head moving through the gates each year. A rodeo runs alongside the livestock competition, drawing competitors in roping, bull riding, and barrel racing. The surrounding complex has been modernized, but the event remains the same essential thing it was in nineteen oh six: a working celebration of western ranching, held in Denver, in January.