The Railroad Transported Stock
When the railroad arrived in Denver in 1870, stockmen quickly took advantage of this new mode of transportation. In an effort to keep animals from being trampled or injured, hands often rode with their stock. This also ensured that the railroad stopped for stock to be watered and exercised. It isn’t surprising that they built the stockyard so that animals unloaded from the rail cars directly into pens. At the 1906 National Western Stock Show, there were 50 carloads of feeder cattle, eight loads of fat cattle, seven loads of breeding heifers, 11 cars of fat lambs and five of hogs. Lambs and fowl also arrived by rail.
