Interview with Elmo Klingenberg concerning his experiences as President and General Manager of Fort Worth Stockyards Company in Fort Worth, Texas. Klingenberg discusses his family background, dairy farming in Washington County, Illinois, his experiences teaching in a one-room school in Washington County in 1935, his military service during World War II, his employment with United Stockyards Corporation and his placement as a management trainee at the Fort Worth Stockyards in 1946, and his promotion to yardmaster in 1953. He also talks about stockyard activities in the early 1900s, the geographical area served and the volume of business, cattle transportation by rail and truck, meat packing operations in the stockyards, the Fort Worth Livestock Exchange, and the "private treaty" arrangement between buyers and sellers. Klingenberg describes the livestock auctioning process, the stockyard's sources of income, waste disposal, the duties of the personnel, the volume of livestock sold at auction, the weighing and feeding operations, price controls during World War II, and remodeling the stockyards facility in the 1960s and 1970s. He also comments on Niles City and its incorporation into Fort Worth, his appointment as President and General Manager in 1971, the company name changes, the union activities at the stockyards, trends in livestock operations in Texas, his civic activities, and government regulations.
