The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1867-05-03
The Great Bovine City.

Nihrch tciis now tnrcc hundred tnOus-
and cattle per annum, and a million
and half of hogs, sheep and calves
are received, lodged, entertained, and
despatched, at Chicago;
"Out on the Hat prairie, four miles
south of the city, and two feet below
the level Of tho river-part Of that
eight miles which our traveller found
under wa'efiu 1888 may be seen the
famous Stock Yards, styled in one of
the Chicago guide books The great
Bovine City of the world, Two mil
lions Of dollars have been expended
there in the construction Of n cattle
market The company owning It have
now nearly Il square mile of land SAG
acres of which arc already enclosed
into cattle pens $50 of these acres
being hoorcd with plank. There is
at the present time pen room for 90,
600 cattle, $4,000 hogs, and 10000
sheep, the sheep and hogs being pro
yided with sheds; and no Thursday
has passed since the yards were opened
when they were not full, Thursday
being tie fullest day. This bovine
city OF the world, like all other prairie
cities, is laid out in streets and alleys,
crossing at right angles The proec-
tors have paid New York the compli-
ment of naming the principal street
Broadway. It Is a mile long and sew
enty-aye feet wide. and is divided Ivy
a light fence into three parts, SO that
herds OF cattle can pass one another
without mingling, and leave an unob-
structed road for the droyors. Nine
railroads have constructed ranches
to the yards, and there is to be ca
nal connecting it with one of the forks
of the Chicago river
Nothing is more simple and easy
than tho working of the system of
these stock yards. The sum of anguish
annually endured in the United States
will be greatly lessened when that
system shall prevail all along the line
from the prairies TO the Atlantic. A
cattle train stops along a street of
pens; the side of each car is removed;
a gently declining bridge woos the
living freight down into clean plank
ed inclosure, where on one side is u
long trough, which the turn of n
faucet fills with water, and on the
other side is n manger, which can be
immediatelI filed with hay. While
the tired and hungry animals are en-
joying this respite from the torture of
their ride, their owner or his agent
finds comfort in the Hough House,
ESQ named from one Of the chief pro-
motors of the enterprise handsome
hotel of yellow stone, built solely for
/ the accommodation of the cattle men
and capable of entertaining two humid
red of them ut once A few steps
from the hotel is the Cattle Exchange,
another spacious and elegant edihce of
yellow stone, wherein is a great room
for the chaffering or preliminary
'gassing, las the drovers term it) OF
buyers and sellers; also bank solely
for cattle mems use, with a daily bust
ness ranging from one hundred thons-
and TO five hundred thousand dollars
also Il telegraph Office, which reports
FROM time to time, the price of beef,
pork and mutton in two hemispheres,
and sends back to the cattle markets
of mankind the condition of affairs in
this, the great bovine city Of the
world.
The 'gassing' being accomplished
the cattle men leave this fine Exchange
and go forth to view the cattle which
have been the subject of their CONVEX
sation, and they move about in the
midst Of these prodigious herds. and
inspect the occupants of any particu-
lar pen, with as much ease as lady
examines pictures in a window. The
purchase completed, the cattle arc
driven along through opening pens
and broad streets, to the yards ad-
joining the railroad, by which they
are to resume their journey. On the
way to these yards, they are weighed
at the rate of thirty cattle a minute
by merely pausing in the weighing
pen as they pass. The men return to
the Exchange, where the money is
paid, all the cattle business being done
for cash; after which they conclude
the affair by dining together at the
hotel, OF Mt ain excellent restaurant in
the Exchange itself In this elegant
Exchange two classes of cattle men
meet--those who collect the cattle
from the prairie States--Texas, Mis-.
souri,, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois
Iowa, Wisconsin, and those who dis.
tribute the cattle among the Eastern
cities. One of the potent eivilizers il
doing business on the grand scale
BY means Of this Cattle Exchange q
repulsiye and barbarizing business is
lifted out OF the mire, and rendered
clean, easy, respectable, and pleasant
The actual handling and supervision
of the cattle require few men, who are
themselves raised in the social scale
by being parts Of great system
while the controlling minds arc left
free to work at the arithmetic book
keeping of the business. We remem-
Der with pleasure the able aud polite
gentlemen, the necessities of whose
business suggested this enterprise,
and who now control il. The economy
of the system is sonthing worth con-
sideration. The design of the direc-
tors is to keep the rent Of the pens at
such rates rs to exactly pay the cost
i. 1 1. 1