Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-08-28
SOLD At AUCTION.
DISPOSAL OF CALIFAENIA FRUIT
IN CHICAGO.
Regular VeDdue Every Morning in
kinzie f.reet-Fruit that Comes
TO Chicago by Train Loads.
Chicago Herald. August 18th ]

Chicago Herald, August 18th
%eil, what is your bid, gentlemen?
W nat do lrcar? Sixty? Sixty is bid
-iixty sixty. Sixty-threel Sixty-foure
Sixty-fve is bidl Sixty-five !!
Is that TIE best Pm offered? Sixty-frel
DO l hear seventy? Seventy it is. Sew
enty-seventy-seventy. Seventy dellars
for fcrty crates of these choice neetsrines.
Seventy dollars"
And the tall man With the voice of brass
and the agility Of a squirrel lets his eagle
eye for one instant roam ever the crowd of
bidders. The survey satisfies him there is
no more to be gotten for the particular lot
he has on hand, and so he drawls out the
familiar "going-goiEg-gone," and tic
lot is Sold
1t is few rainutes after 9in the morn
ing, and the aucticneer is of the fire. of
r. NJ. Montgomery g. Co. He certainly
must be an ornament to his profession, for
his tongue is glib, his uterance piercing
and rapid and his instinct as to whether
higher figure might still be obtained
from any one III the crowd is unerring.
Swiftly, lot by lot, the whole trainful
of delicious California fruit finds takers,
and Chicago, for one day longer, at least,
is sure of her luscious dessert. What
enormous quantities of this frait have
been disposed OF, within less than an hour,
to this crowd of about a hundred dealers
and their agents Cars on cars of it
Each car containing 10000 pounds of
fruit. Think of It's For one days after
dinner relish Chicago requires a load of
100000 pounds Of fruit, grown 5000 miles
away by the shores of the Pacific and
hastened here, on the wings of steam and
across desert and treeless prairie, and
tracklcss waste, and snow-capped noun
tains within few days. There were sold
here by auction last week, for instance,
fortyi5wo carloads ofthis fruit, aggregatine
near 1,0o0,9e0 pounds. OF course, it is
nov the very height of the fruit season,
and for anotter month this astonishing
rate of dealings in California fruit will be
maintained. Then it will begin to drop
for another month, and by the middle of
October the'rGsh will be all over and done
with for this year, until next May the
cherries will again begin to arrive from
! that favored land which is blessed with
"The glorious climate of Californy.D
The scene where this fruit auction
takes place every day is that far-stretch-
ing building on Kinzie street, between
State and Dearborn, which is one of the
| freight depots of the Northwestern Rail
road. Thewhole thing is an innovation.
Acting under instructions from the Cali
| fornia Fruit Union, body comprising
| nearly all of the important fruit-growers
of that State, the Porter Brothers Gem
pany, wealthy corporation of fruit
| packers, of which James S. Watson, the
Secretary and Treasurer, personally super
| vises the daily auction, began on June
2lst last to hold every twenty-four hours
| these sales to the highest bidders of ali
the union fruit sent to Chicago, New York
and Boston, and the experiment has ad-
mirably succeeded. The masses of Cali
fornia fruit which are daily thrown here
on the market arrive generally in very
geod condition. The fruit is packed in
California with extreme care. 1t is then
put in specially constructed fruit cars, and
number Of those are made up into -spe-
cial fruit train. That train runs on regular
passenger schedule time to this city, but
ahead of the passenger train, so
as to make the trip in four and half days
What Is sent are pears, peaches, nectarines,
grapes, prunes, plums, apricots and cherries
They are of all varieties, of course, some so
good that they rank with the best fruit
this terrestrial sphere produces, some mid
ding, good deal even of poor quality.
Cfpeaches the smooth-skinned ones. hon
cred with the appetizing name of nectar
ines, rank highest in price, flavor and favor.
OF prunes and plums some new varieties
are now coming into the market, and the
| same is true of the grapes. The fruit all
comes IN boxes or crates, each containing
twenty or forty pounds. They are sold at
auction in lots not smaller than twenty
crates, except the peaches, for which the
minimum quantity is forty crates. The
sale is done at the entire and exclusive
risk Of the California Fruit Union, and the
railroad companies merely act as carriers,
being in any case-even if the contents of
an entire fruit train should, perchance,
become worthless-sure of their $500
freight per car. For that large sum is
the freight charge from California. But
though it sounds very large it is not
SO extravagant when one reflects that
the $500 are distributed on 10000 poands
of contents, making freightage of merely
= cents pound of fruit, not a large item
with this class of choice, high priced fruit.
And yet it will perhaps be wrong 10 refer
to California fruit hereafter as 'shigh-
priced" for this new arrangement, with its
effect OF supplying the eastern and central
market with steadiiy-fowing abundance
| has actually lowered the retail prices, and
may reduce them still further in the
future, while 1t has at the same time per-
| mltted the California fruit-growers TO count
with mathematical certitude on a fair cash
| return for their produce, for the transac-
tions are strictly c. o. D. When awhole-
| saler IN Chicago buys carload of Califer-
MIA assorted fruit, he being the highest
bidder, he pays spot cash for it, and the
amount flows, facilitated by telegraph or
mail atvices, almost Immediately into the
! pocket of the producer. Thus it will be
| seen that these auction fruit sales, being
good thing all around, have worked in
every way benefcially on all concerned
producer, middlemeu and consumer.
Chicago is'now the greatest fruit mar
ket in the world, said Mr.. Watson, the
Porter Bros Company representative.
"Where we get fifty carloads of this fruit
here they get but five in New York and
Boston. These auction sales here are at
tended as we'll by agents for wholesalers
| from towns IN radius OF hundreds of miles
from Chicago, even by agents for New
York and Boston parties. For it is fact
that California fruit bought by them here
may be az enee-sent by. express on to New
York and reach the market there sooner
and in better condition than if forwarded
direct by train. And New Workers have
caught on TO thft fact, YOU see. Auction
fruit sales, by the way, while new in Chi
cago, have been in vogue in New York for
twenty years The bnlk of tke green fruit,
| which means fresh or undried fruit, i'm
ported into New Nogl1 fromsthe West In
dies and the Mediterranean countries. has
been sold at pnhlie auction for that
length of time, and the system has been
found to be the most satisfactory.
Thus New York remains the greatest
distributing centes for bananas, pineap-
| pies, oranges, lemons, and nuts, bat Chi
cago has become the greatest market for