Birth of the National Live Stock Association and a BBQ for the ages
It’s the wild and woolly 1890s, and the West is wilder than a bronco with a burr under its saddle. Cattle rustlers are running amok, fences are getting cut and ranchers are squabbling over land rights. But wait! Who’s that riding over the horizon, ready to save the day? It’s a couple of livestock bigwigs from the Denver Chamber of Commerce and Trade Board, Charles F. Martin and John W. Springer, with a hustle that could sell ice to Eskimos, and they’re calling for a National Stock Growers Convention in Denver. Their plan? To wrangle every livestock producer from sea to shining sea into one big, beefy organization!
And so, from January 25-27, 1898, Denver became the epicenter of a barnyard revolution. For three whole days, more than 2,000 cattlemen, ranchers, and assorted varmints jawed about interstate trade, public lands, and those dastardly packer trusts. But the real meat of the matter was forming this grand “association of associations” to represent keepers of every kind of critter from cattle to chickens. The National Live Stock Association of the United States was thus formed with John W. Springer as its first president. By the time the dust settled, this beefy behemoth boasted 53 organizational members, represented 5,000 producers with 9 million head of stock, and was sittin’ pretty on a combined investment of $300 million. Talk about your cash cows!
Before we move on, that wasn’t just any old livestock club – it was the granddaddy of ’em all! Since 1898, they’ve been through more name changes than an outlaw on the run. They went from National Live Stock Association to American National Live Stock Association, to American National Cattlemen’s Association, to just National Cattlemen’s Association, and finally, in 1996, they became National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. They’ve weathered economic busts, world wars, droughts, you name it! Today, the NCBA has over 25,000 individual cowpokes and 60 state and breed affiliates. They’re the biggest, baddest voice for the U.S. beef industry, making sure Uncle Sam and the rest of the world know just how important cattle are.
So, that’s the story of how a bunch of ranchers created a beef empire and it goes to show the pen is mightier than the branding iron. But there’s more and I’m about to serve up a sizzling slice of cattle history that’ll make your taste buds tingle and your eyeballs pop! To celebrate this momentous occasion, the newly-minted National Live Stock Association, they wanted to throw the grandest shindig Denver had ever seen.
They planned a Feast of Game for which they rustled up 20,000 pounds of prime beef and planned to feed 12,000. They hired none other than pitmaster Columbus B. Hill, “the most famous barbecue cook in the West,” and came up with a spread that’d make even the most jaded cattle baron’s jaw drop: bear meat, spiced with South American bay leaves so exotic they probably had their own passports. Sugar-cured venison with herbs so fine they could’ve been plucked by angels. Mutton slathered in mint sauce greener than a tenderfoot cowpoke. And the pièce de résistance? Possum cozied up with sweet potatoes, a combo so outrageous it’d make a coyote howl. Chef Hill boasted the food would be finer than anything served at the best hotel in the country. But this fancy feast went all wrong and we’re about to describe a BBQ so wild, it makes a rodeo look like a tea party!
Ink slinger William Byers and others had been promoting this shindig like it was the Second Coming. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad was dropping off hungry passengers every 15 minutes. Suddenly 30,000 ravenous Denverites descended on the place like locusts on a wheat field. Faster than you can say “pass the hot sauce,” this BBQ turned into a regular Donner Party! The actual convention delegates? They didn’t even get a whiff of the grub. Before the first plate could be served, the crowd went full Hunger Games. Tables were flipped, equipment was crushed, fights broke out over brisket. People were snatching hunks of beef like it was the last food on Earth. Cops were swinging clubs at men, women and children. This was an all-you-can-eat nightmare! It was bedlam!
The aftermath of this culinary catastrophe was uglier than a mud-caked longhorn. The News, always ready to stir the pot, blamed the whole shebang on poor planning and handing out tickets in the city’s slums. They huffed and puffed: “The game fields of the West were ransacked to secure material for a menu such as kings might rejoice at; the viands were cooked after the manner that has made cooking an art and the result turned over to be fought for by hoodlums who would consider pork and beans—and beer—a delicacy.”
Well, butter my biscuit! Seems like they thought their fancy feast was too good for the common folk. But in the Wild West, when you ring the dinner bell, you’d better be ready. In the end, this meat-fueled mayhem goes down in history as the Great Barbecue Riot of 1898. Denver’s reputation as a cattle capital survived, and they even planned another shindig for the following year. Guess they figured lightning (or in this case, flying food) doesn’t strike twice!
Sources
ArchiveGrid. “National Cattlemen’s Association records, 1898-2018.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/24686676
Archives West. “National Cattlemen’s Association records, 1898-2018.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv771392
Colorado Encyclopedia. “The First National Western Stock Show.” Accessed February 18, 2025. http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/first-national-western-stock-show
Colorado Encyclopedia. “William N. Byers.” Accessed February 18, 2025. http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers
Colorado Railroad Museum. “Dining on the Rails August 2022: Barbeque.” August 10, 2022. https://coloradorailroadmuseum.org/2022/08/10/dining-on-the-rails-august-2022-barbeque/
DiningOut. “Introducing The Colorado Barbecue Pit Master No One Remembered.” September 19, 2024. https://diningout.com/introducing-the-colorado-barbecue-pit-master-no-one-remembered/
KUNC. “A barbecue historian champions a forgotten Colorado culinary hero.” December 5, 2024. https://www.kunc.org/podcast/inthenoco/2024-12-05/a-barbecue-historian-champions-a-forgotten-colorado-culinary-hero
KUNC. “A forgotten hero of Colorado barbecue history is about to get some overdue recognition.” YouTube, September 6, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkPR5RPduR4
Miller, Adrian. “A Profile in Barbecue: Columbus B. Hill.” Adrian E. Miller, June 10, 2019. https://adrianemiller.com/a-profile-in-barbecue-columbus-b-hill/
Miller, Adrian. “COLORADO BARBECUE LEGEND COLUMBUS B. HILL TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE AMERICAN ROYAL BARBECUE HALL OF FAME.” Adrian E. Miller, August 19, 2023. https://adrianemiller.com/colorado-barbecue-legend-columbus-b-hill-to-be-inducted-into-the-american-royal-barbecue-hall-of-fame/
Miller, Adrian. “Columbus B. Hill BBQ Hall of Fame Speech.” YouTube, October 6, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JvHANxhD0c
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “History.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://www.ncba.org/about/history
National Cattlemen’s Foundation. “NCF History.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://www.nationalcattlemensfoundation.org/about
Nebraska State Historical Society. “William N. Byers.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://history.nebraska.gov/publications_section/william-n-byers/
Shore Heritage. “William Newton Byers – Our Family Heritage.” Accessed February 18, 2025. http://www.shoreheritage.com/notes/byers02.html
