WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 149 



of each is preserved for examination. These have been ob- 

 tained from various north-western States, and by a close study 

 of them he hopes to trace out the exact course of their migra- 

 tion year by year. He hoped that in time some of his land 

 would be included within the city limits, and would sell for a 

 high price, in which case he would leave the rest as a zoo- 

 logical experiment station to the public. I made some sug- 

 gestions to him as to experiments in regard to instinct, hered- 

 ity, and evolution, which were much needed, and he said he 

 would take them in hand when his affairs were more settled. 



Sioux City had recently become a centre for agricultural 

 produce, and had a large pork-curing establishment; and as 

 in many other Western cities, there had been " a great boom 

 in real estate." Land two miles from the town, which was 

 bought three or four years back for ten dollars an acre, is now 

 selling at a hundred and fifty dollars ; while in the residential 

 parts of the city plots of one hundred and fifty feet square 

 sell for nine thousand dollars, equal to £1800, or about 

 £3500 per acre, and in the business part of the city twice as 

 much. 



One morning Mr. Talbot took me to see the pork-curing 

 establishment, where, during the season, they kill a thousand 

 hogs a day. The animals are collected in pens close to the 

 building, with a gate opening to an inclined pathway of 

 planks up to the top of the building. They walk up this of 

 their own accord in a continuous procession, and at the top 

 are caught up one after another by a chain round their hind 

 legs, and swung on to the men who kill, scald, scrape, and 

 cut them up ; all the separate parts going through the several 

 stages of cleaning and curing till the result is bacon, hams, 

 barrels of pork, black puddings, sausages, and bristles, while 

 the whole of the refuse is dried and ground up into a valuable 

 manure. The ingenuity of the whole process is undeniable ; 

 but to go through it all, as I was obliged to do, along narrow 

 planks and ladders slippery with blood and water, and in the 

 warm, close, reeking atmosphere, was utterly disgusting. My 

 friend was, however, quite amazed at my feeling anything but 



