THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 23, 
i56 
THE STOCK YARD INDUSTRY OF 
CHICAGO. 
Chicago’s greatest industry is its live¬ 
stock trade, for that city is the greatest 
live-stock market in the world, with an 
annual volume of business of more than 
$600,000,000, or close to $2,000,000 a day, 
or $41,000 a minute. An idea of the 
magnitude of the transactions is given 
in the statement that through the year 
the average sales are more than 1,000 
carloads of live stock a day, whose aver¬ 
age value is over $1,000 each. 1 he sale 
of by-products of dressed beef and other 
animals, such as hides, soap and the like, 
largely increases these figures. 1 he live¬ 
stock dressing industry in Chicago was 
begun in 1848, and in 1864 the stock yards 
were outgrown and the Union Stock 
Yards & Transit Company was formed 
lv- nine of the leading railroads then en¬ 
tering the city. They subscribed $1,000,- 
000 and built yards having 120 acres of 
pens. The stock yards grew rapidly as 
the prairies of the West developed, and 
herds of steers multiplied on them. 1 hey 
now cover 520 acres and are being out¬ 
grown so that it must soon be enlarged. 
The stock yards to-day extend eighty 
city blocks south of Thirty-ninth street 
and take in a mile of land from east to 
west. Each of the pens is about 30 feet 
long and 25 feet wide, and is built with 
plank seven feet high. There are more 
than 13,000 of these, and each is paved 
with brick. In addition, there are great 
barns containing 8,500 pens for hogs and 
sheep, which cannot stand exposure to 
Winter cold. In each pen is a drinking 
fountain with running water and racks 
for hay. The stock yards contain 25,000 
gates, more than 300 miles of railroads 
run around and through the yards to the 
different unloading stations and to the 
packing houses, which are located together 
in the west side of the yards. 
The stock-yard company has nothing 
to do with dressing or buying of animals. 
It simply provides a place where the 
sheep, hogs and cattle may be kept until 
the packing houses are ready to buy them 
and until the shippers are ready to sell 
them. The stock-yards company alone 
employs 2,500 men, and these care for the 
live-stock and keep the yards scrupulously 
clean. Most of the cattle sold in Chicago 
come from the western ranches; they are 
sometimes driven for miles to get to the 
station where they are loaded. One car 
will accommodate 20 steers, 120 sheep or 
60 hogs, and a single ranchman sometimes 
will ship 1,000 steers at a time, filling a 
train of 50 cars, which two locomotives 
will pull, for live-stock trains travel al¬ 
most as fast as passenger trains, some¬ 
times averaging close to 60 miles an hour. 
The stockmen are given transportation 
to Chicago, and some of them ride to the 
stock yards with their cattle, but the 
majority stay at home. They telegraph 
ahead to their commission men at Chica¬ 
go that the cattle are coming, and these 
brokers sell the stock and remit. They 
are honest; in fact, the system is such 
that they could not get ahead of the 
drovers if they tried. If the cattle come 
from Wyoming or States farther west, 
they are 'stopped at feeding stations, 
where men are posted by the railroads to 
water them and give them hay. When¬ 
ever the train stops, a man goes along 
the cars to see that all steers are “up,” 
for if they lie down they are apt to be 
trampled to death. Arriving in Chicago 
the trains are switched from the railroad 
on which they come to the Belt Line 
Railway, which runs around the stock 
yards on the outer edge of the acres of 
pens, and pass over automatic scales 
which weigh the car and weigh it again 
on its return empty, so the freight bill 
may be made. The cattle are driven 
down to the pens, where the stock-yard 
company feeds and waters them, selling 
the hay by the 100 pounds at a price 
which makes it cost about 25 cents a day 
for each steer fed. In addition, there is 
a yardage charge of $1 a carload. 
After the cattle are in the pens the 
commission firm at the stock yards to 
whom they have been consigned takes 
charge of them. The buyers for the 
packing houses now come along. There 
are a score of them, and each rides a 
horse. They size up ■ the bunch at one 
glance, being ready to name a price as 
soon as they see them. The commission 
men know at once whether to accept or 
refuse the offer, and the deal is closed 
or dropped in a minute. If the first man 
does not take them, a buyer from another 
house will. The price depends most upon 
the quality of the stock, but a great deal 
depends, too, upon the supply, for if 
there are not enough for the day the 
price goes up. As soon as the sale is 
made the cattle are weighed on a scale, 
which makes four copies of this weight, 
one for the owner of the stock, another 
for the buyer, a third for the commission 
man and a fourth for the stock-yard com¬ 
pany, the price being indicated in case 
disputes arise. The greatest promptness 
is used in paying for the stock bought. 
The packing houses give checks at the 
end of the day and the commission men 
immediately remit to the owner, deduct- 
(Continued on next page .) 
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