Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-11-14
THE HUNTERS MARKET.
Chicago the Biggest Game Mart II
the World.

greatest market for game and poultry
in the world. New York has been left
far in the rear and even the old and
much more populous centers of the old
world, London and Paris, are far sur
passed by us, says the Herald of that
city,
TO begin with the biggest. the Chi
cago market shows venison, an telope,
jack rabbits, German and English hare,
opossums, bears, and squirrel in uulim-
tied quantities in the course OF a sea-
son. or game birds we have partridge,
prairie chickens, pinnated grouse wild
ducks OF score OF varieties, wild pig
cons, wild turkeys, snipes, woodcock.
reed birds, ana quail. OF late years
the sp lrrow has likewise been found
to furnish Il juicy morsel-a fact which
will go a great ways toward silencing
the detractors Of this pugnacious little
bird.
Venison is brought to the market
during the fail and winter to the tune
of million pounds and more There
are days when 10000 pounds of it
arrive in Chicago. About twO-thirds
of this juicy me { is consumed here
mostly in restaurants and hotels
while the other third is sent on farth-
CIR. The price paid for it here is be-
tween 124 and 20 cents. 1t is shot
mostly In the pineries of northern
Michigan. Wisconsin and Minnesota,
and because it can stand a weeks or a
fortnight's transport without deterior-
ating in quality and marketableness, it
is about the safest game TO handle.
Antelope and mountain sheep from the
Rockies find ready takers here, but the
supply of this game is scarce and
forms but an incidental feature. Wild
rabbits OF all kinds shot and shared on
the prairies in this and other states
west as far as Dakota are II much
sought after article OF diet. Their
tender meat is transformed into stews
and roasts, and is liked by nearly
every class of our cosmopolitan popu-
lation. After the first fall OF snow and
during the whole OF December,
January and February the supply of
rabbits in this market reaches daily
average of 1900 to 1900. Bear
is not nearly so plentiful, and game
dealers say it is merely a question of
time when Brother Bruin will disap-
pear entirely from view, for he is rap
idly becoming scarccr and scarcer, and
advancing civilization will drive him
to inaccessible Businesses. On the
other hand, though its consumption is
confined almost altogether 10 one class
of our citizens, the colored one, the
opossum makes his appearance here
more and more numerOusly every
year, a proof OF the fact, if one were
needed. that the Chicago darby can af-
ford any luxury his heart or palate
bankers after. No less than five hun
dred opossums arrive here often on
single day, being gobbed up within
an hour after exposure on the streets.
Squirrels, with meat of nearly the
same flavor and delicacy as that of the
quail, likewise sell we'll in Chicago,
and about Christmas time thousands
OF these whilom nimble and lusty little
fellows are exposed for sale.
OF game birds, the prairie chicken
is by all odds the best, so far as num-
bers sold is concerned. Although
during the cold season as many 10 $780,
600 to |, 100000 are disposed OF, the
supply does not equal the demand, the
bird becoming scarcer of late in DallO-
ta Missouri and western Iowa. Since
they come with every year from a
greater and greater distance, prices.
too. are rising every season.
Ducks of all kinds, tame and wild,
always find ready takers. Game ducks
are shot in largest quantities in tho
lake districts north of here, as well as
on the bayous of Louisiana, Florida
and Mississippi and the lagoons and
swampy shores of Texas. Often they
fall so much in price-due to the in
creased supply they become
cheaper food than tough beefstcall
from Texas steer, and even the poor
er paid mechanic or laborer can afford
to purchase them. There are days
when they bring but Is cents a dozen
on South Water street, while they
never rise beyond $3.50 or $3.50 a doz-
Ell. The finer favored and rarer
varieties OF the game duck, such as
the teal, red-head, canvas back,
fetch prices usually ranging be-
tween 81 and $12 per dozen. The
highest price paid for ducks this year
was $22 the dozen.
Partridges, another table delicacy,
are consumed in this city, between
September and January, at the rate Of
200 dozen daily, while about two hum
dred and fifty dozen are daily sent east
from here. to New York, Philadel-
phia, Boston and other towns. Quail,
delicately favored bird, though much
smaller than the partridge. is shot or
shared by the thousands every fall at
tie time of the southwark migration.
The California quail, which sports u
funny-looking little bunch OF feathers
on top Of its head, is, perhaps, the
most valued OF all. II is sent in from
California during the winter months.
as we'll as from neighboring states and
territories. In this city alone about
500 dozen per day are eaten during tn e
fall months, while about five thousand
dozen are sent TO eastern epicures.
Snipc-that is, the larger variety of
this birds rather rare and is sold t
the rate OF So per dozen. OF the thous-
ands which are brought TO market here
during the season. probably 20 per
cent is sent on to furnish food for the
eastern millionaires.
Poultry, it is needless to state, is
raised for the market and shipped 70