Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



91 



canned and the remainder put down in barrels and tierces. "Large as 

 these beef-packing establishments are," writes Macdonald, "the pork 

 packeries throw them far into the shade." He reports ten times as 

 many hogs slaughtered at Chicago in 1876 as cattle. 



The history of the meat business is closely interwoven with the 

 history of the live-stock markets, the two enterprises being mutually 

 dependent upon each other. The Chicago market benefitted not only 

 from its location and shipping facilities, but to a great extent also be- 

 cause of the large packing interests which centered there. That 

 part of the yards where the group of packing plants is located is 

 called "Packingtown." Some fifteen or more companies operate the 

 numerous plants in Packingtown and immediate vicinity. 



The numbers of cattle and calves slaughtered by leading Chicago 

 packers in 1921 and 1922 were as follows: ^ 



Chicago slaughter of cattle and calves by leading packers 



The refrigerator car. — There have been three eras in the evolution 

 of the American meat industry: (1) The era of pickled meats, such 

 as hams, pork products generally, and salted beef; (2) the era of artifi- 

 cial refrigeration and the refrigerator car; (3) the era of complete 

 utilization of by-products. The supremacy during the first era was 

 first at Cincinnati, but it shifted to Chicago in the early sixties. In 

 the early days, packing houses were operated only during the winter 

 months, and no meats were packed in summer until large chill rooms 

 were made possible through successful artificial refrigeration. In 1875, 

 Philip D. Armour erected in Chicago the first really large-scale chill room 

 in the world, although small ice boxes had previously been used by others. 

 As early as 1868 a refrigerator car had been invented, but it was not 

 until 1869 that the first through-line railroad was opened between 

 Chicago and New York so that cars of western meat could be shipped 

 through to eastern markets without unloading en route. In 1869 the 

 first consignment of dressed beef was shipped from Chicago to Boston, 



1 Drovers Journal Year Book of Figures for 1922. 



