The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-03-19

iduS lIulu tue west, 10 Uc uulOuucui
fed, watered. rested and sold at the
yards. thence to be dispatched East or
| slaughtered for local consumption.
| The value of the cattle handled in
| creased in eight years from Sl0,000000
| to three times that sum. Last year
15,000.000 animals, with a value of
| S2S3,000,000 were handled In the
yards.
To-day the cattle sheep and hogs
travel Chicagoward at express sched.
ules, in palace stock cars" and it is
no remarkable achievement for a man
to land Il herd of 1000 animals in the
yards in a single day. so that they
may be disposed OF at once at "the top
of the market" The old way of send.
ing in cattle and taking the best price
obtainable has passed. To-day the
farmer watches the price of beef, and
when it goes up rushes his cattle at
limiteb train speed to the yards and
sells out before the drop comes.
For the handling Of these cattle the
original 300 acres has increased to 500,
4j0 acres of which is paved. most of
1t with brick. In these clean, brick.
paved pens (Which number 10000
there are twenty-five miles of water
trough. There are $50 miles of rail-
road track in the yards. four miles OF
unloading platform with chutes. TWEEN.
ty-five miles of street, ninety miles of
water and fifty of sewer pipe. 10000
hydrants and water works having
six artesian wells running down 225O
feet into the earth and supplying
100000 gallons of water a day.
FOUR STEERS BILLED EVERY MINUTE.
The day has gone when the leading
packers are willing to give out figures
which Will show the extent of the enor.
nous business which they are carrying
on. The statistics which follow, how.
ever, are from recent authority, and
represent the second largest of the
establishments making up the so-called
Big Six" The buildings occupied by
the firm, and which are in the heart of
"Packingtown," cover siXty-tive acres
of ground. They range from one-story
sheds to eight-story smokehouses and
'"iN'VuSNS' anu hSSltSuJt LOU utIt5
of floor space. This company employs
1S,433 men, to whom is paid q weekly
wage of more than 100000.
In one year this firm handled in Chi.
cago 1,437,S44 cattle, 2,G5S,951 sheep
and 3,92S.659 hogs. Much of the prod,
uct of these was consumed in Chicago.
being carried out from Packingtown
in tln nnllpsc St. % III,
run from the warehouse to the city
by day and night. One hundred and
seventy thousand six hundred and
eighty-four carloads OF dressed beef
ana other meat products We're shipped
from the city, much of it for Eastern
consumption ard export. Nearly 500
carloads a day were shipped by this
one firm of the Chicago packing houses.
The largest single days killing by this
hrm was 5j,140 animals-10.973 cattle,
lG911 sheep and 7,25G hogs. In the
| enormous cold storage house which ad
joins the abattoirs is room for the car.
| casseS of 15,11G cattle, 1SG1O sheen
and 47,4G0 hogs.
The complete slaughter and dressing
Va q SiNNi III luIS IDuSt-lIDIl INC
time 1t is Knocked in the head in the
pen till 1t has been beheaded. hung up
by the heels, skinned, guttod, split,
washed and passed on to the cooler
takes thirty-nine minutes. Cattle are
slaughtered in the ordinary course of
business at the rate of 240 an hour. OF
four every minute. Hogs are killed
and 1ppS.pI
From the time that the porker is
shackled by the hind legs and hosted
on to the trolley till he has run by the
sticker. been cleaned, dipped in scald,
Ing water, split and trimmed till he is
in temperature Of thirty-elght dc.
grees and slowly hardening Is ONLY
thirty-two and half minutes. From
600 TO 100 hogs are slaughtered every
hour at Swlft's. Sheep take two min.
utes longer than hogs for killing and
dressing, and 620 are handled every
sixty minutes.
AS the business of pork and beef
packing has Increased the tendency
has been TO narrow the work of each
man down to some single act. Time
was when the butcher stuck the knife
in the pigs throat. hung him up, gutted
him, and by dcft strokes OF many kinds
reduced him to marketable shape. To.
day ever hog passes 80 men, each of
whom has one thing to do in the pro.
cess of dressing. One cuts away the
hench bone, another odd bits of hair,
and another the leaf" Another splits
the back bone. another divides 1t into
halves and another washes it with hot
water. This single firm sells annually
more than 100000 hams. most OF
which are from the Chicago house. 1t
Kills small proportion Mt Omaha,
Kansas City and st. Joseph.