john illif

• Colorado Territory was created


  1861
• There was a great demand for meat in Denver City, but until 1870 it had no railroad connection
• His business started poorly in 1861 he sold his herd for $500 as they were thin and were exhausted from the drive to the railhead
• In Colorado gold prospecting and mining settlements were growing as well as the demand for beef
• Illif's business strategy

  1. Fatten the cattle on the grasslands

  2. Drive them a short distance to the mining towns where they would fetch full price
• Illif bought land for a ranch near Denver, Colorado


  1866
• By 1870 he had built up a huge herd of 26,000 cattle on 16,000 acres using the homestead act not exactly legal


  1870
• Customers

  • Mining towns
  • Union Pacific railroad builders
  • Government for Indian reservations
• He became Denver's first millionaire
• John Iliff realised that if he could keep a herd of cows on the Plains, he could supply beef to the Colorado mining towns without having to drive the cattle up all the way from Texas
• He won a contract to supply beef to 7000 Sioux Indians. He became Denver’s first millionaire


  1872