76 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



Swift had not yet discovered Chicago, and nearly every concern 

 then engaged in the manufacture of meats has since gone out 

 of business. 



Prior to 1870, the Chicago cattle business was almost ex- 

 clusively a matter of buying, selling, and shipping live animals. 

 Then there were no market papers to inform the producer of 

 the state of the market, and no well-organized commission 

 firms to attend to the disposal of his stock. The producer did 

 most of his own selling. There was danger of finding the mar- 

 ket glutted, or shipping facilities swamped. Since that time 

 a trade mechanism and a trade demand have grown up, bring- 

 ing a constant market and quick, sure sales for the cattleman. 

 The loss by wear and tear in shipment from farm to market 

 has been reduced to a minimum. 



In the early days it was all guesswork guesswork as to 

 how long it would take to reach the market, guesswork as to 

 the freight charges, guesswork as to promptness in handling 

 the stock by railroads, guesswork as to the condition of the 

 market, guesswork as to the price the animals would bring. 

 Luck usually counted for more in determining the profits than 

 did skill in the preparation of cattle for market. 



Founding of the Union Stock Yards. Prior to 1865, Chicago 

 had several stock yards of minor importance and located in 

 different sections of the city. The first was the old Bull's Head 

 Stock Yards, opened in 1848, at the corner of Madison Street 

 and Ogden Avenue. At this time Chicago had a population of 

 only 20,000, but was growing rapidly. In 1865, John B. Sher- 

 man organized the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company, 

 which purchased 320 acres at 39th and Halsted streets and 

 opened the present Union Stock Yards, thus laying the basis 

 for a greater live-stock trade at Chicago. In 1876 the Union 

 Stock Yards comprised 475 cattle yards, 675 covered hog and 

 sheep pens, 375 chutes, 15 corn cribs, and 10 hay barns. The 

 company owned and operated 24 miles of railway, had put down 

 several miles of macadamized streets and alleys, and installed 

 a drainage system. The market could then accommodate at 

 one time 20,000 cattle, 100,000 hogs, 15,000 sheep, and 1000 

 horses^in all, 136,000 animals. About one hundred com- 

 mission firms were then doing business. 



The Union Stock Yards today. The Union Stock Yard 

 and Transit Company receives, unloads, yards, feeds, waters, 

 weighs, and delivers or reships live stock, but neither buys, 



