OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 179 



On his return from California, he had stopped for two days in 

 Milwaukee, then the prosperous gateway of the west. It was in 

 fact one of the principal stopping points for that grim variety of 

 Argonauts who were seeking the Pacific slopes or returning to 

 their homes with California gold in their pockets. Milwaukee 

 seemed the logical place to locate and he joined in a partnership 

 with Fred P. Miles on March 1, 1859, in the produce and com- 

 mission business. The enterprise prospered from the beginning 

 and soon handled a large volume of the smoked and pickled meats 

 demanded by travelers going to and from the coast. After three 

 years of this existence, Mr. Armour had become well known in 

 the business circles, and in 1863 he joined the packing firm of 

 John Plankinton, then the largest livestock industry in Mil- 

 waukee. The firm name became Plankinton & Armour, and 

 pork packing its chief business. The days were long, extending 

 from four in the morning until late at night, but the business 

 boomed. 



Following the Civil War, Chicago began to develop, and Philip 

 Armour watched carefully for expanding interests. He prevailed 

 upon his brother, H. 0. Armour, to open in New York the com- 

 mission house of Armour, Plankinton & Co., while Joseph F. 

 Armour took charge of the Chicago office. On Christmas day, 

 1865, the Union Stock Yards opened for business, and two years 

 later the Chicago house of the firm began packing hogs under the 

 name of Armour & Co. For eight years hogs only were handled, 

 but in 1875 Mr. Armour removed to Chicago and expanded the 

 business so that in 1878 they began killing cattle and in 1880 

 slaughtering sheep. In 1878 the refrigerator car was perfected, 

 and upon the refusal of the railroads to build refrigerator cars, 

 Mr. Armour built a fleet of his own. Business grew rapidly 

 since it had been previously impossible to eat fresh meat in the 

 "ofi^ season," and Armour & Co. developed as new fields of en- 

 deavor opened. 



