Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-06-11
G0THAMS BIG MARKETS.
WHERE THE PEOPLE DERIVE
THEIR FOOD SUPPLIES.
Fish, Flesh, Fowl, Fruit and other
Garden Truck at Wholesale and
Retail.-Types of Traders


As the / ,75O, 600 people who inhabit
Manhattan Island are Ike other human
beings, addicted to three square meals a
day, it is by no means strange, says a
New York Letter to the st. Louis Globe
Democrat, that several great markets have
sprung up to supp y their wan s. Each
of these markets is di tinguishcd by
peculiar features. Fulton is pre-emi-
realty fish-market, and any one who
see State Fish Commissioner Eugene
Blackford, twice millionaire, in the
very act of dissectiug fish, with knife in
hand, sleeves rolled up, and covered with
scales from head to foot Union Market
is babel of tongues, where old clothes
as we'll as article of food are offered for
sale. Jefferson and Centre Markets are
merely local depots of supply.
But Washington Market still remains
to be mentioned, than whi, h there could
perhaps be no more completely perfect
| illustration of the many sided activity of
the American metropolis. 1t is, par eX-
cellence, the grand source of food supply
of the city of New York, both in the
wholesale and the retail lines. Like the
city, its prototype and exemplar, the
market never sleeps, and no sooner does
one day close than another begins. Oc-
| cupying space of three b 'ocks square,
between Fulton and Barclay streets, it
has grown outward and westward until
it extends into the North River, and
boats can unload at the very point where
their cargoes are wanted. Within this
comp paratively small space is crowded all
that can satisfy the hunger of the laborer
or tempt the appetite OF the most fastidi-
cratic spot in the world, the common
point of meeting of all classes whom mo-
tives of curiosity and business draw to-
gether. Here, indeed, extremes meet.
and no extremes could be further apart.
Just before midnight profound
silence reigns through the spacious quar-
ters, silence broken only by the noises
of the night which is the life of things
as day is the life of beings. But even at
this hour the North and East River boats
have begun to bring over hundreds of
wagons from Jersey and Long Island,
and these rumble along the streets as they
find their way to the common mart to
take their accustomed places of waiting
for the ma ketmen to buy their loads.
All are sooa there, and several hundred
wagons, each in charge of silent and
sleepy driver, form line on Greenwich
street. A delusive calm prevails, and he
who saw the loaded vehicles and motion
less teams for the first time would
imagine that the place was abandoned to
horses and vegetables. But let him act
on the idea, and attempt to help himself
from one of the wagons, and instantly
the head of a wakeful watchman would
pop up to convince him of his mistake.
On the stone steps at one of the en-
frances to the market there sits through
the small hours of the night an old
woman, Of withered face and bent figure,
whom the chill, damp air of the May
night does not prevent from catching
maps while waiting for purchasers of her
small stock of dandelions gathered the
day before in Central Park She and
her family, by working from s "A. NJ. to
4 in the afternoon, can pick three SIX
cts, which it takes till 10 o'clock at night
to clean. The days prodnce sells for
$3.50. Such is the life of the dandelion
woman.
! Wholesalers are the first to buy their
+ stocks, and these are followed by the
! hotel and restaurant men in quest of
their days supplies. Close upon their
heels come the retail butchers and gro
GERS also in quest of stocks. AS 6
o'clock approaches the way is clear for
the small purchasers in the retail line
simultaneously bawling calves and blcat-
ing lambs are being unloaded from the
boats and driven in wagons to abattoirs
for slaughter, while in the inclosed spaces
of the west market hang hundreds of
beef and veal cal ca sses ready for sale
AS the retail customers come in, vege-
tables are temptingly arranged on the
counters. and the butter from the tubs
cut in quarters, and these again into
thick slices. The meat man trims his
roasts and addresses himself to possible
customers in voice characterized by
ravishing cadences attainable only
through the possession of native genius
supplemented by long and assiduous
practice.
Curious and interesting as is this grand
temple of purchase and sale in its in
terror, its approaches are even more SO.
Crowded along Nesey street are small
vendors of the finest bric-a- brac, most
probably obtained from "fence," and
their frequent expulsion by the police
is only followed by their speedy re-
appearance. There are also inviting dis
plays of old clothes which have all but
lost the power of cohesion.
The market has made millionaires, both
throu gh its buyers and its sellers. Smith
& Mcneil Washington Market Testaur-
ant buys its supplies by the car load
For years the Long Islander and Jersey
man asked for nothing better in the
season of them than n strawberry short
cake aud cup of coffee, and the NAM
moth bakery where they were made
turned them out by the cartload.
Liquids, too, were in heavy demand,
and ten fortunes have been realized out
of those market sa 'oons, which have ex-
listed less by the grace of the Board of
Excise Commissioners than by the sutIer-
ance of the police.
In the long period that has elapsed
since its establishment the wholesalers
have gradually appropriated so much OF
the river as to pass the State line, and
the city was compelled to acquire title to
the land at co of $6, 900. For years
the Dock Department has sought to oust
the malketmen from the place they built
up to make room for more piers. But to
do this would cost million Of dollars,
and the city now realizes $120, 1000 in
revenues from the stands in West Wash
ington Market. The annual fees from
the retail marLt amount tn S95 000 So