January 2026 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN 59 plenty of mutton and mint jelly, a “feast of quail,” two bears, sugar-cured venison with fine herbs, 150 possums with sweet potatoes, four buffalo shipped from a ranch near Cheyenne, five freshly shot elk from Routt County and, of course, large troughs of gravy. Chef Hill boasted that the result would be a meal “finer than the best hotels in the country can serve.” On the morning of the barbeque, the Rocky Mountain News reported, “A holiday atmosphere reigned in the city. The courthouse and local banks closed at noon, and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad operated on a special schedule, with trains departing for the stockyards every 15 minutes from Union Station.” The word had spread throughout the city of the free barbeque that would be held at the stockyards, and throngs of townspeople arrived at the site before the Stock Growers Convention meetings had adjourned. Before long, the crowd had swelled to more than 30,000 people. The extra security the police chief had assigned, along with a single railcar to serve as a makeshift jail for anyone who got too rowdy, proved woefully inadequate. The ropes that had been set up to control and guide the crowd were quickly overrun. To make matters worse, some of the ropes were terminated by being tied to the tables where Above: The newly completed Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Livestock Center at the National Western Stock Show will be the location of all livestock activities formerly held on “The Hill” during Stock Show. Photo courtesy of the City and County of Denver. Right: Poster for the inaugural National Stock Growers Convention, Denver, Colo., Jan. 1898. CONTINUED ON PAGE 60
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