ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 267 



as far ahead as it now is. Perhaps they did all they 

 could profitably at the time but the fact remains 

 that never again has the swine industry come so near 

 to compassing the local demand and the hope of 

 exports as it did just before the overland railway 

 opened in 1869. This thoroughfare not only opened 

 the way for the expansion of the packing industry 

 of the Middle West to get its raw material in the 

 beef and mutton line from the growing range industry 

 of the farther west but it opened the way also for 

 a freer westward movement of pork products of the 

 Mississippi Valley states and acted as a safety valve 

 against over-production for eastern consumption. 

 California, having the largest population of the 

 Pacific Slope states, was the main objective and was 

 prospected for several decades by eastern packers as 

 an outlet for pork products and not as a new produc- 

 ing field for them. More recently, however, their 

 views and policies have changed, and with free invest- 

 ment and purpose toward local production by well 

 equipped packers seems to lie the present prospect 

 of supplying local consumption of pork products 

 and of out-shipments in all directions. 



Such an achievement is, however, still far from 

 attainment. Though some packers are making what 

 they call their "best brand" from selected California 

 grown hogs and claim that such hogs are as good as 

 can be grown anywhere, there is a large importation 

 of pork products from the eastern packing centers 

 and large quantities of live hogs are brought from 

 adjacent states for slaughtering. During the World 



