A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



plant here, and, for a brief period, seemed to be doing an 

 extensive business. I do not remember how long it con- 

 tinued, but my recollection is that it was short-lived, and the 

 "big idea" upon which it was founded did not materialize. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that refrigera- 

 tion in natural ice or mechanical form is the under- 

 lying principle upon which the whole packinghouse 

 edifice has been built, and the failure to have a few 

 icing stations probably cost Texas the long wait until 

 Fort Worth came into the business. Who knows 

 what it may have meant to Denison and the cattle 

 industry ? 



C. E. Clapp of the Pennsylvania Railroad writes 

 from Chicago as follows: 



I believe it is generally conceded that the first attempt to 

 transport perishable property under refrigeration was in 

 1865, or ten years before the date given in your article. In 

 Andreas' History of Chicago, Vol. Ill, page 602, the story 

 is briefly told in the following language: "William W. 

 Chandler, general agent of the Star Union Line (the pioneer 

 of through freight business as now carried on), came to Chi- 

 cago in June, 1864, to assume the position he still holds. 

 He came from Cleveland, O., where he had been for nearly 

 twelve years previously connected with the Cleveland, Pitts- 

 burgh & Wheeling Railroad, nine years of that time as its 

 general freight agent. In March, 1865, Mr. Chandler ob- 

 tained permission of Wm. Thaw, the originator of the Star 

 Union Line, and its then president, to prepare thirty cars, 

 after a plan of his own, which he believed would prove suc- 

 cessful, and, if so, very valuable in the shipment of butter, 

 eggs, cheese, fresh meat, and other perishable commodities. 



[193] 



