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About The Alliance herald. (Alliance, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1902-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1916)
i JUNE, 111 Omaha Live Stock Market The Union Stock Yards Home Interesting Fact, Historical and I'reHenl, Concerning Ne branka'M largest Industry Few people, In whatever walk In life, appreciate the size or Import ance of the South Omaha Stock Yards. That the yards are large, that thy cost a lot of money and (bat they handle a great deal of lire stock during the course of a year Is about all that the average citizen knows or thinks about that Is really the largest ningle industry in the went, and which lias done more to develop the western country than any other sin gle industrial agency. With an Investment of more than .seven millions of dollars, a million und u quarter of which has been In vested in improvements in the past six years, the Union Stock Yards Company of South Omaha, Is the largest corporation in Nebraska, aside from the railroads. It has built and equipped the most modern stock yards In the world a state ment, that will be certified by any man experienced stock yards matters and in the short space of thirty two years has built up the largest live stock market in the west, and the second largest live stock market in the world in total head of stock re ceived in one year. When the com pany was first organized the west was thinly settled, and the promoters of the company were dubbed "dream ers." "How can these men expect to ev er build up a live stock market away out west, competing against Chicago, which has already put its cinch on the liVe stock and packing business?" That was the query propounded when the promoters of the South Omaha Stock Yards first set to work. But those promoters had several things In their favor. They had pluck and confidence, und if they were "dreamers" at least they had large dreams and then proceeded with a determination to make their dreams come true. South Omaha is today the second largest live stock market in the world in point of total receipts and the third largest packing center. It is the great market to which men come in search of feeder cattle and sheep, and while other markets, considera bly older have remained almost at a standstill bo far as growth Is con cerned, the South Omaha market has shown a steady growth from year to .year. Kanitary Stock Yards A few weeks or rather months ago, soiiih of the large eastern markets were closed because of the preval ence of the foot and mouth disease, but during the entire period the South Omaha yardi were open. Thaw a ratfea fee tkls. Tka $euU $m & m , , j. -v . , , Sk v , ' . rz: j 1 1 . ' ' -..,- ....... , , - - 1 i , I,, ., Partial View of Union stock Yard at South' Omaha ! ?lfT, '3 - " f ' --; Omaha yards have been made as san itary as human Ingenuity could de vise. But the company was not con tent with every sanitary precaution In the equipment of the yards. It went further. It placed an embargo against live stock from certain sec tions, and It had a small army of gov ernment Inspectors on hand. The moment a rumor came of a breaking out of the disease within Its terri tory, the company rushed an Inspect or to the spot. The company went before the live stock sanitary board and secured a ruling compelling the railroads to thoroughly disinfect each car Immediately after it was un loaded, and during the whole of the embargo not a head of live stock was unloaded during the night. Unload ing was done during the broad light of the day, and there were almost as many Inspectors on the Job as there were animals to be unloaded. The result of this careful precaution was that not a single infected animal reached the yards. The compnny Is spending money every day to further increase the ca pacity and efficiency of the yards. wttnin the last two years over 1200 000.00 has been spent In enlarging and improving the hog yards. These' yards today are of Bteel and concrete, and are admittedly the finest hog yards in the world. The yard water system begun a little over two years ago and but recently completed, cost more than $265,000.00 and the plant is one that would be appreciated by many a city of metropolitan size. It furnishes the finest well water at a good pressure; drawn from gravel strata, to every point in the yards. and through a gravity system and perfect sewerage fresh water is cir culating through all the pens all the time. One of the remarkable features of the yards Is the rapid growth of the horse and mule market. This growth has been bo great that long since the problem of handling the business was a hard one. But the enterpris ing management has solved it by the erection of the largest and best built barns in the world for keeping and selling of horses and mules. These barns, built as a whole, cover a total area of 294,201 square feet. A paved try-out track in front of the barns contains 20,458 square feet. Today the South Omaha horse and mule market is the third largest market of the kind in the world. Present indi cations are that the year 1916 will see all records broken in this respect and the South Omaha horse and mule market become nearly the largest in the world. It Is interesting to note that while the yards have been growing in Blze and improved In every respect, and that while the general average of prices of live stock have been stead ily tending upward, the Union Sotck Yards Company is today exacting the airnt afcariu fixed tweaty years ago, WhlU mrytkini that the coajpauy 000.00 has been spent in enlarging Anally solved by Inducing several must buy has advanced In price, Its one commodity service has re mained at the same price altho the quality of the service rendered has been vastly improved. Helps Develop the West The Influence exerted by the South Omaha stock yards upon the growth and development of the west is too great to be measured by the finite mind. Thirty years ago the west was scarcely settled, and. only' the far-seeing believed that in good time the whole west wpuld be settled up by the prosperous farmers and stock raisers. Then all live stock had to be shipped to Chicago, and freight rates were high, the service inade quate and the Chicago market In ab solute control. The loss from delays , In shipping and shrinkage were enor-1 mous. For a few years the South ; Omaha yards furnished only a sort 1 of "hesitating place" for western shipments movftic eastward, then the growth of the "f eder" market be-j gan. But the founders of the yards were not content. They wanted to make It a final market, so they Bet about solving the problem. It was finally solved by Inducing several large packing concerns to establish branch packing houses at South Oma ha, and with the establishment of the packing houses the success of the enterprise was secure. The volume of business transacted by both the stock yards and the packing houses at South Omaha exceeds a quarter of a billion dollars a year. The statis tics of the Union Stock YardB .Com pany for the thirty-two years are of absorbing interest. During that time 126,026,047 head of live stock, val ued at approximately $2,844,000,000 were received at the yards. These receipts were divided as follows Number Value Cattle Hogs 25.333,695 $1,457,000,000 58,157.806 1,163,000,000 SheeD . . 41.757.567 146,000,000 78,000.000 Horses & ' Mules . 776,979 Total 126,026,047 $2,844,000,000 It must not be understood that all of the live stock received by the Un ion Stock Yards Company of South Omaha is sold to the packers located there. Practically one-third of the animals received are Bhlpped out again. Feeder cattle and sheep are purchased and shipped out in enor mous numbers, in fact, being the third of the receipts which are not purchased by the packers. During the thirty-two years the company has handled a total of 3,119,759 cars of live stock. Sixty per cent of the live stock at South Omaha originate in Nebraska, the balance coming from Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, Montana, Utah, Missouri and Wyoming. The live stock raisers of Nebraska received upwards of $60, 000,000 (or animala marketed at Seuth Cotki duriaf lt. There. are ten packing plants, together with the stock yards represent a total In vestment of $25,000,000, employ an average of 6,000 people and pay in wages approximately $6,000,000 a year. - The pocking Industry repre sents more than half of the total manufactures of Nebraska, and ex ceeds the total gold production of the United States and Alaska by more than $20,000,000. Dawson Breeders and Feeders Dawson county is on the border line between what Is commonly known as the farming and stock raising parts of Nebraska. Altho both farming and stock raising are carried on to a greater or less extent in every part of the state, there Is a large portion in which not enough corn is grown to feed out the cattle that are raised, consequently the dis tinction above mentioned. Dawson county raises cattle and the corn and alfalfa to fatten them. B. J. Atkin son of Cozad, one of the leading farmers of that county, recently ship ped three loads of fat Shorthorns to market, mostly of his own raising and feeding. C. II. Brasch of Far nam is another Dawson county feed- er. He recently shipped to market thirty-five head of cattle which aver aged 1,386 pounds and brot $10.15. He bot these cattle on the South Omaha market December 3, and put them on corn and alfalfa. At the time he bought them they weighed 1,018 pounds and cost $6.50. Greeley fount y Market Toppers Greeley county is another of Ne braska's farming counties cot far from the great ranch country portion of the state. On June 6, a car load of Hereford steers, shipped by Ed. Leonard, topped the 8outh Omaha market at $10.80, the highest price ever paid on that market up to that date, altho it has since been passed. The cattle were raised on Mr. Leon ard's Greeley county farm. Speaking of them he, said: "They were pretty fat in the fall, bo I gave them enough alfalfa and good prairie hay during the winter so they would hold their flesh until spring. In April I start ed to feed heavier, giving them ear and shelled corn and about the mid dle of May 1 fed bran and oil meal. They rounded out Into fine shape by the end of the month and I got them to market as soon as possible." "Free Party" Didn't Suit Him. William had been to several birth day parties, always taking a present to the little hostess. When his birthday arrived his mother told him he could have a party, but nothing was to be said about its being his birthday. He pouted a while and then said: "I do notcara tor a party jt I have u fcavt m party." . -.T7 III Icluamacltrrtiw eyiaetu vrr ,. vVniffv9l . ima