Henderson arrived in Denver in late December, 1858 with a load of groceries from Kansas, consisting mainly of whiskey and crackers.

The story goes that Henderson, unable to afford hay for his oxen at the inflated prices in the mining camp, turned the team out on the prairie, expecting them to die during the winter. However, while out hunting the next spring, he found them on Bijou Creek, fat and well-fed on buffalo grass.

Henderson knew that the new settlements were hungry for fresh beef and with evidence that the area would support cattle, he set out to establish a ranch 15 miles north of Denver.

He is said to have bought an island in the Platte River for two barrels of whiskey. Some sources say he "bought" it from the Indians, others say it was from a French trapper who had a trading post on the island.

However Henderson came to establish himself on the land that later came to be known as Henderson's Island, the Missouri Republican in December, 1859 reported "Col. Jack Henderson of border ruffian notoriety has squatted upon a valuable tract of 320 acres on the Platte River 10 miles north of town and herds and stables cattle at a remunerating price per month. He has raised some 200 tons of hay worth $20 per ton, made a corral, or stacked fence, large enough to keep 200 head of horses or mules inside the picket bounds." By 1861, Henderson had 2,000 head of cattle and his ranch was a prominent feature on early maps of Colorado.

Goodnight originated the design of the well-known chuck wagon for the "long drive. " It was later manufactured by the Studebaker Company.

A Denver merchant, John Wesley Iliff and his partner A. Fenton, began to fatten cattle on the prairie near Fort Lupton in 1861, It was Iliff who was to become the "Great Cattle King of the Western Plains." When the Union Pacific Railroad was under construction in 1866, Iliff made arrangements to supply the construction crews with beef.

Iliff bought part of Goodnight's first herd in 1866 and continued the business arrangement until 1876. During that time, Goodnight sold Iliff nearly 30,000 head of longhorn. The cattle, delivered at Iliff's headquarters on Crow Creek, followed Box Elder Creek through what is now Adams County to where the creek flows into the South Platte opposite the mouth of Crow Creek.

When the first Colorado brand book was issued by the Colorado Cattle Growers Association in 1884, about half of the brands were on horses and cows in what is now Adams County.

The era of the open range was also ending. Barbed wire became economical after 1880. The Brighton Register in June, 1897 reported one of the last cattle drives passing north along the hills east of Brighton.

Portions of the Henderson area have been annexed by Commerce City, Brighton, and Thornton.