Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1900-11-24

refrigerator cars. Each Of these cars VIII
hold about 1000 birds II packed closely
In barrels, SO that at least 1900 cars are
required for Transporting turkeys to their
destination. II placed end to end, line
| OF these cars would be over twelve miles
long. Figurativcly, therefore, q solid
phalunx Of turkey twelve miles long. I'VE
feet wide and six feet high rushcs along
In search Of hungry diners. Nearly as
many men rs there IRE turkeys are re-
quired to handle this immense amount Of
poultry, and the cubic contents OF the
mass Is very nearly foot to each bird,
or. more accurately, 1,0OO,SOO feet. II
piled together In the same proportion.
| these turkeys would make column eight
times as high as the Washington monu.
mcnt. and a pyramid made Of them would
look well beside the ancient piles OF
Egypt. They would probably weigh mp.
ward Of $4,000 600 pounds.
TO kill q few million turkeys and ship
them thousand miles to market 10 no
light task, and the old.fashioned methods
Of handling and marketing have had to
give way to newer and more elaborate
arrangements.
The great majority Of the turkeys con.
sumed by the American people are pick
cd up on the poultry farms by buyers
who give their whole time to this work.
They are gathered ut the nearest stations
and shipped In carload lots to the poultry
factory which the buyer represents. The
use Of the word factory In connection
| with poultry Il apt to convey o peculiar
idea. but In this case It refers only to
| q shed-like structure, half open on the
,tJa, la, .,htol, h< htrsls N snronn for
market.
The birds are stored In a big shed from
which narrow passageway, just wide
enough to admit them In single Alc, leads
to the factory proper. A driver stationed
among the birds keeps steady line
travelling along this chute and prevents
them from becoming wedged In BY crowd
Ing. At the end Of the passage, where
II opens into the factory, stands q man
who holds In ono hand . sharp knife that
looks like diminutive Ice pick. Al each
bird marches through It 10 seized by this
man, who quickly dispatches 1t by .
single blow on the head. He throws the
dead birds 10 q heap at bis side. and
thence they are carted away to the
scalding room. From the scalding tanks
the birds travel on to another room.
where deft hands and plenty Of cold run.
ming water thoroughly cleanse them.
] Next they are laid out on long blocks Of
| leo until thoroughly cooled. when they
are packed with Ice In barrels; the bar
rels are covered with ordinary bagging,
and as soon as weighed are ready for
shipping.
Though this Il the ordinary proceeding.
the turkeys which travel to quick mar.
kets are sometimes dry picked and do
not pass through the scalding tanks q,
all. Under this treatment they will keep
longer, without icing. than when they
have been sca!ded.
From the factory the dressed turkeys
are shipped In refrigerator cars to their
destination In the big cities. Some idea
of the extent OF the trade In dressed poul
try may be gained from the statement
that for the eight or ten weeks OF the
holiday season the receipts In New York
City alone run as high as $4,000 cases per
week. Each case or barrel contains
about 200 pounds. so that this means
something like 100000 pounds OF poul
try per week. When one comes to null.
tinly this by the number Of big cities, he
realizes how capacious Is the American
man for such delicacics as these.
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