The daily morning oasis., 1919-12-31
IMPROVEMENTS
IN KANSAS CITY
STOCKYARDS
New And Enlarged Railway
Facilities;-- Greater Area
In Stock Pens, With Far
Better Arrangement; and
Many Betterments.


Many Betterments.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, Dec. 31.-In
striking contrast to the service rem
dered by some of the public service
corporations during the past few
years, our attention has been called
to the Kansas City Stock Yards.
About six years ago, when the pres
ent management took charge of the
Kansas City Stock Yards, it found
many changes and added improve
ments were necessary to create an eff.
ficient and modern, up-to-date plant,
and it Immediately took up the great
task of preparing plans and making
its arrangements for the complete rel
building of the yards.
Terminal facilities are the base of
service and it was around this point
that the reconstruction began but op-
position from the railroads and some
Of the stock men, who, perhaps, did
not thoroughly understand the situa-
tion, was forthcoming. For about two
years, some of the railroads blocked
the proposed Improvements but in 1916
the management of the Kansas City
Stock Yards sought and obtained from
the Public Service Commission of Mis-
souri,, a franchise for a connecting
railroad in the Stock Yards. This gave
them the right of eminent domain
but, before it was necessary to assert
that right, the railroad companies
yielded the disputed points. During
the two years of controversy, the
Stock Yards Company promised the
stockmen of Kansas and Missouri, if
they were permitted to make the i'm
provements contemplated, a Stock
Yards plant that would be the most
modern and up-to-date of any in the
country, and one that would be cap
able of rendering good service at all
times-and here is what has been
done:
All obstancles were finally
smoothed away and the plans for re-
construction of the yards we're COM
pleted late in 1916. Early in 1917
work was begun but the great fire
Of October 10th, 1917, wiped out rs
acres of the cattle yards and COM
pletely destroyed the two-story frame
hog house. The big movement of grass
fat cattle was in progress, and the
destruction of cattle pen space had
to be replaced before the other i'm
provements could be continued. So
that it was early in 1918 before the
bulk of the improvements were well
under way.
Nineteen-eighteen and nineteen
nineteen, the war period, were the
years of big building and fulfilling of
promises at the Kansas City Stock
Yards. Scarcity Of labor, high prices
and scarcity of material were met,
and 1919 closed with the Kansas City
Stock Yards the most modern, largest |
and most up-to-date stock yards in
the country. Promises to the stock
men Of Kansas and Missouri have
been more than fulfilled. In the past |
two years, more than two million dol
lars have been expended in the new
improvements. Some things accom-
plished were:
Completed new four-story concrete
hog house, approximately one-half |
mile long and 260 feet wide, capacity
$4,000, the largest hog house in the |
world.
Cattle yards completely rebuilt and
arranged Systematically.
New scales located in fire-proof
houses.
Railroad facilities entirely rebuilt,
and arranged so that North Side |
lines (Mo., Pac., K. C. Southern, Wa
bash and C. G. W. unload at docks
Immediately adjacent to the hog house
and cattle yards and the long drives,
originally so Objectionable to the live
stock shippers, eliminated.
Some of the items that entered in
to the construction are:
Two miles of reinforced concrete |
unloading docks.
Thirty miles of fences.
Eighteen miles of hay hangers.
Four miles of concrete and wooden
viaducts.
Two miles of main sewer line.
Two miles of water line.
Ten miles of railroad tracks.