Omaha daily bee., 1914-10-04

or Omaha was n feed station for cattle
in transit Today the linton Stock Yards
stands as possibly the finest example OF
live stock equipment and service in the
United States. barring no other market.
Chicago, II is true. handles larger
volume Of business. but Chicago has not
the steel and concrete double decked
sheep and hog pens the Union Stock
Yards OF South Omaha has. Neither
has Chcago or any other market the pure
water supply that the Union Stock Yards
Possesses; nor are cattle handled more
CNpcdiuously clswhcrc than here In South
Omaha, bringing TO the farmer price
just a. sreat as that obtained In Chi
cago with lesser cost ot transportation
by reason OF the short haul
Thirty Years OF Growth.
The Union Stock Yards Of today was the
dream OF such men as William A. Paxton.
who saw the necessity for middle kround
or market in the Missouri valley where
the stock raisers of the west could meet
the feeders OF the corn belt and the pack
ers and distributors OF meat on "a bas q
that would prove profitable to all. Pax
ton and his companions realized what
such a movement would mean TO Omaha,
served as II was by network Of rail-
roads. and lying on the banks OF the
Missouri river with broad navigable
channel to the Mississippi and the opcn
sea ON the south. The dream of Paxton
has only partially been realized after
thirty years, yet Il has blossomed into
reality whose net results in dollars and
cents challenges the fabulous output OF
Ormus and OF Ind. In 1884, when the
Union Stock Yards was started the total
number of all kinds of live stock handled
in the year did not exceed a hundred
thousand. Last year the number OF all
kinds OF live stock handled by the yards
amounted to almost 100000 head, and in
the thirty years the total number handled
amounted to more than li7,OOOOOO head.
Try to compute that In dollarsl
Growth Due 90 Industry.
Nor can you value the Union Stock
Yards by the amount OF money invested
in It or realized upon IL. You must con-
slider the thousands and thousands of
men and women brought to Omaha by
reason of the live stock market. You
must stop to think of the millions OF
dollars of taxable property directly at
tributable TO the location of the Union
Stock Yards at South Omaha. Its bene-
fits and effects can be seen in the inn
mense packing houses that have been at
tracted here In order TO be contiguous to
the stock yards. Its beneficent influence
on the industrial community of Omaha
and surroundings is well nigh incalculable
from a standpoint OF the present or visu-
allied In the dimness of the future
Thousands Of men find employment at
the Union Stock Yards and the packing
houses Thousands and tens OF thousands
OF strangers. cattle dealers and farmers
come here to sell their live stock and to
buy food and clothes In the omaha mar
kets as q result OF the location of the
live stock market at this point. Real
estate in Omaha and for a radius of 800
square miles about Omaha has been in
creased in value because OF the Union
stock Yards and the packing houses de-
pendent on 1t. Not in the same way, OF
course. or in the same measure. But the
nearer the farms and ranches are TO the
Union Stock Yards and the live stock
market. the more valuable they are as
feeding lots for cattle, sheep and hogs.
To the management OF the yards must
go a great measure OF the praise that has
of the business have not only kept up with
the times, but have forged little ahead
of the procession and so the live stock
market of South Omaha and the Union
Stock Yards are still in period of virile
development after thirty years while tho
same time has witnessed the rise and de-
cline OF other great live stock markets
OF tho country.
Something of n Busy Place.
Steadily the work of building and in
crcaslng the facilities Of the Union Stock
Yards goes on under the efficient d.
rection OF e. T. Buckingham, the present
general manager. The yards comprises
property valued at more than four mil
lions OF dollars. A Live Stock Exchange
building. a bank second to none In the
middle west section, an administration
building whence emanates the power and
energy that radiate throughout the whole
institution Hundreds OF cattle pens con.
creted and supplied with the purest water
in the world, double decked sheep houses;
hog sheds which are steadily encroachng
on the building area Of the yards, viaducts
and covered ways leading to and from the
great packing houses. the greatest and
most modern horse market I'm the world,
printing plant and a modern garage, n
restaurant and two buffets, hundreds OF
offices where millions OF dollars change
I