130 American Cattle Marhcts and ilia Dressed Beef Trade. 
help, its waters finding their way down the Mississippi into the 
Gulf of Mexico. Geographically, however, the situation was 
good, and the town rapidly grew, and was doing a flourishing 
trade before many years had elapsed. It commanded the Lake 
trade ; its vessels spread their " white wings " over the great 
unsalted seas of the American Continent. Then came the steam- 
engine and the propeller of to-day. Just about the time 
Chicago got its name, George Stephenson was perfecting his 
railroad schemes ; and Chicago, far away in the West, was soon 
to become almost the mightiest monument ever erected to his 
supreme genius. As all roads led to ancient Rome, so to-day 
do all the great railroad systems of the country (except in the 
South) lead directly or indirectly to Chicago ; and with this 
advantage, and the control to a certain degree of the Lake trade, 
it is little wonder that this point became the centre of the cattle 
business of the continent. There are, of course, other markets, 
but they are either adjuncts to a great extent, or they draw 
their supplies from this great central mart. In the East we 
have New York, Boston, Albany, Buffalo, Pittsburg, and the 
various large centres of popiilation. Those points, however, 
draw their extra supply from Chicago, not enough of local stuff 
coming to hand to meet the demand. North, West, and South, 
we have St. Paul — as yet a very small market, but destined to 
grow — Omaha, Kansas City, and St. Louis. Of these, Kansas 
City is far the largest, having cut off a great deal of trade that 
in past days flowed to the last-named town — in fact, so much is 
this the case that St. Louis has ceased to be an important factor 
in our great cattle markets. The business of the West and 
South, so far as cattle are concerned, is centering in Chicago, 
Kansas City, and Omaha. The two latter are feeders of the 
former, although Kansas City, from its location, commanding to 
a great extent the trade of Kansas, the Indian Territory, New 
Mexico, and Texas, mast some day be a formidable rival of its 
present leader. 
The statistics on page 130, drawn from official records, will 
be of great interest. 
From these facts many lessons can be gleaned. We see that 
in 1865, just after the close of the War, the Chicago market 
became one of public record. During the above year a Charter 
was issued by the State of Illinois to the Union Stock Yard and 
Transit Company, allowing them to conduct their business. It 
would be waste of space to go into the nature of the Charter and 
minutiae of the business during the past twenty-three years, save 
to say that, as will be gathered from the statistics, it has had a 
Bteady flow of success. 
