HISTORY OF THE DUROC 



hundreds of new men were laying the 

 foundations of herds which produced the 

 animals whose history leads so intimately 

 into the story of Durocs in Western ter- 

 ritory. It was also during this period that 

 the public sale idea of pure bred animals 

 was developed in the Duroc breed, and as 

 far as the writer is able to learn, this was 

 developed both in the West and in the 

 East at about the same time. One of the 

 first public sales attempted was at the 

 Iowa State Fair grounds in 1894, by J. H. 

 Lathrop, of Oxford Junction. He was his 

 own auctioneer, and compelled to stop 

 before the sale was over on account of a 

 lack of patronage. In the winter of '96 

 this same man had a closing out sale, the 

 average being about $35 or $40, the top 

 sow bringing $60, and purchased by O. S. 

 West, of Paullina, Iowa. Mr. Wm. Rob- 

 erts & Son had held some early sales along 

 about the same years between '96 and '98. 

 I think the first public sale of Durocs in 

 the central hog states, at least in Illinois, 

 was the same of Geo. W. Trone in 1896. 



^ In 1898, Mr. J. C. Woodburn, of Mary- 

 ville, Mo., held his first sale. In the East, 

 Morton & Co. lead with these public ven- 

 dues, and Dr. Burkhardt, of Cincinnati, 



