The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-03-19
REFRIGERATOR CARS MADE =.
=. THE BEEF TRUST POSSIBLE
Development of the Chicago Stock Yards
--NIore Than a Billion Pounds of Dressed
Meat Leave the Windy City Annually.
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| Cnlcag0S meat industry had its real
origin in the refrigerator car, some
what more than n score of years ago.
The Capital Union Stock Yards Trans.
Ter Company was chartered in 1865.
and 1t soon grew to be an institution
of magnitude. But it could never have
been more than slaughterlng place
and market for Chicago and "clear.
ing house for live cattle destined for
other markets save for this invention.
a steer weighing 1900 pounds con-
| .ains about $50 pounds OF useful prod
uct. Only about 600 pounds of this is
| directly salable as meat. In shipping
,attle on the hoof it is necessary to pay
freight on the whole 1900 pounds. Abil.
| ity to slaughter in Chicago and save
the freight on GOO pounds gave the
! Western man an advantage the East
erners could not meet. The attack
on the Eastern market was begun in
Boston. That city was soon won over
entirely to the Western packers. Then
New York was invaded, and after that
the rest of the world was brought into
line. The Chicago slaughter houses.
htlt uouDitu uOuDltu uHulll. acre
after acre was covered with new build
lngs designed for use in the industry.
Thousands of men were put to work at
construction in Packingtown, which
was built on the western edge of the
stock yards. Other thousands went to
work in the cities which the packers
Invaded. building storage houses and
wholesale rl-pf Hl,S+ in ha to-,
cities. then in the smaller ones, until
wherever one goes to-day he finds
the Chicago dressed beef storehouses
close beside the railroad. And near
scores of lakes in Southern Wisconsin
may be seen the gigantic icehouses in
which ice is stored in hundred thou
sand ton lots to aid the refrigerating.
Refrigerator cars are expensive.
There are many trunk lines of rail
road running east from Chicago. and
no one Of them could afford to bui.d
and own enough refrigerators to carry
the output of the big packing houses.
The leading packers built the cars for
themselves, and. having the cars, were
able to ship by what line they would,
and charge the railroads a stiff price
for the rent of the cars. Competition
was found to be useful means of
keeping down freight rates, and the
packers used 1t freely. To-day more
than 10000 refrigerat tors are in use car
rying meat products from Chicago, and
nearly all of these belong to the pio-
neers in the field-"the Big Six" Ar
mour " Co. own more than 10000 of
them. Swifts more than half as many.
Upton, the Anglo-American, Ham
mond, Libby, each concern has its
own. There are others owned by the
railroads and by the smaller houses
and by special companies. which ac-
commodate those who have not cars
of their own. There are more than 100
firms engaged in the business of pack
ing meat about the Union Stock Yards.
though the six big ones have the bulk
OF the business.
CHiOAGo's GREATEST INDUSTRY.
Thus it is that oe all the beef slauch.
tered In this country more than forty
per cent.-nearly one-half, in fact
Is Killed in the packing houses about
the Chicago Stock Yards. In 1901
more than 5000, 900 cattle were shlpped
thither from every State in the Union,
and of these nearly two-thirds-a little
less than 2,OOO,O0O-were slaughtered
and dressed in the yards. Eight mil
lion hogs of 22,00O000 killed in the
whole country and 100000 sheep
shared their fate. as did nearly 20O. 1000
calves. a single railroad brought G7.-
900 carloads and others nearly as
many each.
These millions were not the lank. |
lonS-horned Texas cattle. that formerly |
met their death in Chicago, but blooded |
stock, mostly hornless, though number
ing many fancy short-horn, and they
reached the yards fat and sleek from |
the feeding farms of Iowa. Illinois,
Missouri, and, in fact, from nearly |
every part of the country.
Iowa. Nebraska and Kansas raise |
corn by millions OF bushels. The |
greater part of that corn they feed |
TO the cattle from the grazing country.
These corn-fcd cattle have made Amer.
lean beef famous. And in the dressing
"Hu sHippiuS Oh lnat peer at Chicago |
centres the labor of not only the herd
crs ofTexas and the short-grass coun.
try-all of Western Kansas and Ne.
braska-but the corn raisers as well,
who form middlemen between the
plainsmen and the packers.
Tho farmers are swiftly learning that
corn in the shape of good beef is worth
more than corn ON the cob. So not
only from the West, but from the
South and even from the East. fancy
cattle go to Chicago. 1t is not uncom-
mon for blooded COW or bull to bring
$4,000 at tho stock yards. Farmers
who ten years ago had not a beef
animal on their ground now number
their herds by hundreds. and have
found that small herd of fancy stock
can be raised and marketed pro1tahly
where the long-horn OF happy memory
would have been an utter failure. Ten
years ago the action OF the President
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