The picture in my mind today is as vivid as when I first saw it over 50 years ago. I had attended the Chicago stock show and upon leaving well after dark, I headed north out of the Amphitheatre parking lot to get on Exchange Avenue. In the process I passed by the old Stockyard Inn and glanced up to a 3rd floor window where I noticed the warm yellow glow of a single light illuminating the portrait of some distinguished gentleman from long ago. I would soon learn that this portrait was just one of nearly 300 that made up the collection known as the Saddle and Sirloin Gallery. This unique group of portraits had been established in 1903 to honor people who had made a significant impact on the livestock industry over the years past. In this little article I would like to give a brief overview of three members of this elite group who either involved Shorthorns in their operations or made an impact on the breed by other means. My biggest challenge has been to condense the lives of three men who lived big into a few paragraphs and still express the scope of their accomplishments.
Felix Renick
1770-1848
Felix Renick was born near the Potomac River in West Virginia, an area that was considered the western frontier at that time. Besides the typical hardships of frontier life his family experienced brutal murders and kidnappings by the Shawnee. Despite these tragedies that would cause most to retreat to safer environments, Felix did the opposite and set out as a young man to explore the Ohio territory. After a thorough investigation of the future state, he finally settled in the Scioto River Valley near the present day town of Chillicothe.
Felix soon embarked in the cattle business and developed a reputation for quality cattle that were driven overland to the markets in eastern cities like Philadelphia and New York. The genetic makeup of these cattle was primarily a combination of English and Spanish longhorns. The amount of Shorthorn blood involved at this point if any has been disputed by the statements of Renick’s contemporaries. Renick soon realized that there was room for even more improvement in his cattle and he began to investigate other breeds that might augment his breeding program. This involved correspondence with leading cattlemen on both sides of the ocean and led to the decision to make a trip to England to import improving cattle. In 1833 an importing company was formed and shares were sold to approximately 30 of the leading cattlemen in the state and even a few government leaders who could see the value in agricultural progress. The following year Felix Renick accompanied by two other shareholders set off for England, their only charge to purchase cattle regardless of breed that would improve their herds. After a careful study, visits to many English herds, and knowing the traits they wished to strengthen in their own cattle, the decision was made to come home with all Shorthorns. In October 1836 at the Renick farm, these imported cattle were sold in the first known purebred livestock sale in the US. These cattle were widely dispersed throughout Ohio and Kentucky and some of the most famous Shorthorn cow families like the Rose of Sharons and the Young Marys were established from cattle purchased in this sale.
In 1922 the Ohio Shorthorn association dedicated a monument on the site of that original sale commemorating the occasion. The monument has since been moved but is still located near the old Renick farm at Chillicothe.
In later years Renick continued in his forward thinking and was quite active in various businesses and public endeavors. He was named president of a railroad, the Plymouth Turnpike, and made a board member of the Ohio Historical Society to which he had made important contributions including maps of Indian villages he had drawn on his first scouting trip of Ohio. Renick met an untimely death at the age of 77. While waiting on a ferry, a supporting timber for that ferry fell on his carriage and crushed him to death. In 1903 Renick was rightfully honored as a member of the first class inducted into the Saddle and Sirloin Gallery.
Conrad Kohrs
1835-1920
The look on the Librarians face told me I needed to refine my search or it wasn’t going to be a good day for anyone. A few years prior I had made a visit to the Grant-Kohrs Ranch at Deer Lodge and had purchased and read the Kohrs autobiography. That book covered his life through the year 1900.Intrigued by what I had read, I was at the Montana State Library in Helena this day hoping to learn something about the last 20 years of his life. Based on that facial expression received from the Librarian, I decided to narrow my search to the period of 1916 to 1920. I stared in disbelief as 6 big rolling files were brought out to the research table I was to use.
Known as the ‘’Cattle King of the Northwest’’, Kohrs ran large herds of cattle in 5 states and Canada. Estimates of his cattle numbers ran between 35 and 40,000 head during the peak years of his operation. His business was vertically integrated from seedstock to finished beef products and he was involved in the banking and mining fields in a big way as well.
At the age of 15 Kohrs left home and went to sea and had it not been for an injury suffered at sea he might have become a shipping magnate. During his recovery from this injury he stayed with a brother in New York city and when able worked in a butcher shop. This would prove to be valuable experience for Kohrs in the near future. As time went on Kohrs began to hear the stories of the gold strikes out west and soon headed there to make his fortune.
It didn’t take long for Kohrs to figure out that there was more money to be made supplying the miners than in the small scale mining he was able to accomplish. Armed with an old saw and bowie knife he hired on as an assistant butcher. His boss recognized his business abilities and Kohrs was soon managing this shop. It was not much longer before he became owner and Kohrs developed a chain of butcher shops to serve the various mining camps in western Montana. As his business grew Kohrs found himself spending more and more time procuring cattle and he established herds of cattle at various locations to supply the growing demand from his shops.
Eventually the mining boom faded and Kohrs closed up his butcher shops but continued to build his cattle operation. This began an era of large cattle drives to the nearest rail heads for shipments to the Chicago stockyards. As he entered this new phase of his business, Kohrs established a high grade unregistered Shorthorn herd to supply improving bulls to both his own herds and other western ranchers. When this herd was sold a short time before his death this herd numbered over 600 head and sold to one rancher in Alberta. Later a purebred Hereford herd was established as well. Kohrs was impressed with the first cross of these two breeds but less so with subsequent crosses most likely due to the diminishing hybrid vigor, and he remained a staunch believer in the Shorthorn breed.
There are so many stories that could be told about the life experiences of Conrad Kohrs, many that I am sure formed the basis for a lot of Hollywood westerns. The rolling files I mentioned earlier were loaded with a wealth of sound business principles, breeding program guidelines, and many mentions of close friends including a U.S. president. Kohrs was a cattle baron but he did not fit the stereotype. From his own meager beginnings he could empathize with the down and outer. A case in point would be the time Kohrs was making an inspection of one of his ranches. The ranch foreman rode up and informed Kohrs that a local homesteader had poached and butchered one of his steers. Kohrs took off in his carriage and headed for that homestead. As he approached he could see the poverty in front of him as well as a hide clearly bearing the CK brand. The homesteader and his family came out of their shanty and Kohrs got right to the point.”Did you shoot my steer?” ‘’Yes, replied the homesteader. ’’Why did you do that?” ‘’We were hungry’’, replied the homesteader. At this point Kohrs stood up in his carriage and in a loud voice exclaimed,’’The next time you get hungry shoot another one! ‘’
On the cover of the Kohrs biography there is a picture of a herd of 3500 plus Shorthorn steers being readied for shipment. A painting had been made of this picture in the early 1900’s and given to the Saddle and Sirloin club where it was displayed until it was apparently destroyed in the 1934 Chicago Stockyards fire.
William Van Natta
1830 -1911
In west central Indiana about 25 miles southeast of where I am writing this, there is a little town known as Earl Park. This town is significant for a couple reasons. First, this area is the eastern most point of what the early French explorers named the Grand Prairie. This contiguous prairie covered parts of four states terminating in central Nebraska. Earl Park is also the point where three large cattle ranches covering over 80,000 acres between them came together. These herds operated for most of the 19th century and ran 2000 mother cows each. One of these owners was Moses Fowler. Fowler was quite an entrepreneur and owned many businesses. One of the keys to his success was the practice he had of finding qualified people to run each of these operations. William Van Natta was tapped by Fowler to run his ranching operations.
Over a period of time Van Natta began to notice the occasional Hereford influenced animal that showed up from time to time would excel in the feedlot. This intrigue led to further investigation and ultimately resulted in the establishment of a purebred Hereford herd under the name of Fowler and Van Natta. Over 100 animals were imported from England to establish this herd and it soon became one of the leading lights in the young Hereford breed in America. An advertisement boasted of carload sales to Wyoming of over 200 bulls in one shipment and the herd began to dominate in the show ring as well.
Upon the death of Moses Fowler, Van Natta purchased much of the partnership breeding stock and continued on under his Hickory Grove Stock Farm name. Van Natta was instrumental in forming the Hereford Association and became its second president. Due to his success in the Hereford breed Van Natta became a much sought after cattle judge and with that point made we can now make our Shorthorn connection.
At the 1904 Chicago International Shorthorn show, Van Natta was part of a three member judging panel placing the classes that day. As the aged bull class entered the ring a white bull immediately caught his attention. I can imagine the thinking as a breeder producer, Van Natta saw this bull as an animal that could improve the short comings of the breed at that time, although it was maybe not the perfect animal to fit the mold of the day. His dismay was quite apparent when he discovered the other judges had chosen another bull; in fact he was so upset he refused to sign off in the Judges book. Think about how many collectors items there are that are valuable for not having a signature. If you dug hard enough, you might be able to find the name of the bull that won that day. Van Natta’s bull, the incomparable Whitehall Sultan, dominated the Shorthorn breed for the next 50 years and once again made the Shorthorn breed a player in the U.S. commercial cow herd.
Chicago to Louisville
In January 1977 I Iearned that the Stock yard Inn in Chicago was to be torn down. At that time I only lived about 35 miles away so I decided to go and see it one last time. It had been closed for a while so you can imagine my surprise when I walked up to a door and it opened. I took the liberty of walking in and spent the next couple hours wandering through the old building. The portraits were gone but the old clock in the Lobby had yet to be removed. It was eerie walking down the long dark halls as I imagined what stories could be told if those old walls could talk.
Flash forward to the year 2008. I was on my way back to Illinois after delivering a mare to Kentucky to be bred. Knowing the Executive Inn in Louisville was to be torn down that year, I decided to stay one last night there and tie into their famous brunch the next morning. The Executive had been the Shorthorn Headquarters for many years during the North American Stock Show and had an old world flavor to it much like the old Stock Yard Inn.
The next day before leaving I decided to walk across the street to what was then called the Executive West Hotel. When the Saddle and Sirloin Gallery was moved from Chicago to Louisville there wasn’t room at the exposition center for all the portraits to be displayed so a fair number were on display at this hotel. As I walked down the long hallway where they were displayed, I started to keep my eyes open for a particular portrait. Most of the newer inductees were located here and a person who had a long term association with the breed recently had his portrait added to the gallery. I made one trip down the hallway without finding the portrait in question. I decided to make one more pass thinking I had simply overlooked it. Walking down the hall the second time I soon ran out of portraits. With no sighting, I decided to continue to the end of the hall to the double doors that led out to the parking lot. As I reached for the door handles, for some reason I turned around and saw to my left an open alcove area that apparently served as a janitors station. As I looked into the room I saw it! There on the far wall of the closet, nicely centered over a janitors sink and garnished by mops and brooms was the missing portrait. (He was a former executive secretary of the ASA, and based on my limited exposure to him I believe he had probably crossed someone, and I don’t believe the location was a random janitorial decision).
The end.
Author Profile: Gary Kaper
Gary is a Registered Shorthorn breeder located in Watseka Illinois. He started his herd in 1973 and today the entire herd traces many times to the original cows purchased at the herd’s beginning. Over the years semen and breeding stock from this herd have been sold into 21 states, Canada, and Australia. Data collection has always been a priority and over the years several performance awards recognizing maternal efficiency have been received by individuals in his herd. In his “spare time” Gary is an avid Shorthorn historian.