Recollections of "Old Timers" 125 



office, we shipped them. In about four days the returns 

 came, netting us 70 cents per dozen, about the lowest 

 price we ever got. They explained that the pigeons 

 had been poorly handled or they would have brought 

 more. This was thirty-five years ago, and these were 

 probably the first pigeons shipped from this State to 

 New York. 



We have shipped thousands since. They would 

 probably average $2 per dozen. We have sold them as 

 high as $3.75 per dozen and have seen them quoted as 

 high as $6 per dozen. A pigeoner from Pennsylvania 

 told us he shipped two barrels at one time and got $5.50 

 per dozen. We caught 2,400 one week, having them 

 all on hand at one time. We got a market report from 

 New York where they were quoted at $6.50 per dozen. 

 We packed and shipped ours as soon as possible. When 

 they reached market they sold for $1.50 per dozen. 

 The army of pigeoners had struck a big nesting In the 

 State of Wisconsin the same week we caught ours, and 

 they shipped them to market by the wholesale. The 

 market dropped from $6.50 to $1.25 in one week. 



The pigeon business was very profitable for men 

 who were used to it, and there were probably from one 

 to three hundred men in the trade. When the pigeons 

 changed their location, the pigeoners would follow 

 them, sometimes going over a thousand miles. 



When this army of men had good luck they would 

 ship them by the hundreds of barrels. Probably 



