A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



It is especially interesting to quote P. H. Tobin, 

 manager of the Crystal Ice Co., Denison, Tex., con- 

 cerning what appears to have been a well-defined 

 attempt to start a packinghouse near the source of 

 supply in 1874. With him I was put in touch by 

 Warren V. Galbreath. From several letters received 

 from Mr. Tobin I quote: 



In the early '70s — 1874 or 1875 — there was a packing- 

 house at Denison; there was also a number of refrigerator 

 cars, twenty-two, I think, numbered in the 6400's of the 

 "Katy" (the Missouri, Kansas & Texas) railroad. They 

 were all painted white, and had an icebox run in the middle 

 on the top of the cars. The railroad boys feared that the 

 seven crews running out of here would be reduced to one 

 run a week, as we were putting from 16 to 20 slim cattle, 

 all wearing horns, in a car, and the slaughtered product 

 would make a big reduction. The business failed because 

 there were no re-icing stations until Kansas City or St. Louis 

 was reached. The packing business at Denison was started 

 by T. L. Rankin and a Mr. Bushnell, who were supplying 

 natural ice out of Hannibal, Mo. Mr. Rankin put in a 

 little four-ton ice machine in 1876 in the Compress Building, 

 and I was leased with the building. We sold ice at 5 cents 

 a pound at the plant, and went "broke." Mr. Rankin was 

 persistent, and came back to Denison in 1880 to erect an 

 ice plant. 



Mr. Tobin also sends me a letter, written to him 

 by R. S. Legate, president of the National Bank of 

 Denison, from which I quote: 



I came to Denison in the fall of 1874. The Atlantic and 

 Texas Refrigerator Car Co. was operating a slaughtering 



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