302 AT THE SIGN OF THE STOCK YARD INN 



that would keep until used. The hour for the begin- 

 nings of the modern packing plant had therefore 

 struck. 



JOHN PLANKINTON was operating in a small way 

 at Milwaukee. Young ARMOUR became his junior 

 partner. This was in 1864. The business pros- 

 pered. Meantime, Chicago loomed larger and larger 

 on the map. The lake-carrying and the general 

 outfitting trade began centering there, and in 1870 

 ARMOUR & Go. entered the field of pork-packing at 

 this point. For the first eight years the business 

 was confined to pork-packing, and the immediate 

 effect of this large buying was a pronounced stim- 

 ulation of stock-keeping throughout the cornbelt. 



The Union Stock Yard Co. had commenced 

 operations in 1865. Other men of enterprise and 

 vision saw the dawn of a wonderful era of expan- 

 sion in food production in the central west. Gus- 

 TAVUS F. SWIFT and NELSON MORRIS, giants both in 

 the making, began about 1875. Mr. ARMOUR started 

 killing cattle in 1878 and sheep in 1880. The 

 open ranges of the arid west were by that time 

 becoming the seat of extensive grazing operations, 

 and Mr. ARMOUR, his colleagues and followers, now 

 feeling assured of steady supplies from farm and 

 ranch, began developing new markets in all direc- 



