THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
The Greater Omaha Stock Yards
and Its Development
Thomas Kilpatrick Co.
"That's All"
Omah Si S Exclusive
aseball
Headquarters
A Young Men's Store
Cigars, Candies, Sporting
Goods
Special leased wire for all baseball
and sporting events.
316 South 15th St.
EARL HIGGINS, Mgr.
Few people, In whatever walk in life, appre
ciate the slzo or importance of the South
Omaha stock yards. The the yarda are large,
that they cost a lot of money and that they
handle a great deal of live stock during the
course of a year, is about all that the average
citizen knows or thinks about what is really
the largest single Industry in the west, and
which has done more to develop the western
(ountry than any other single industrial
agency.
"With an investment of more than seven mil
lions of dollars, a million and a quarter of
which has been invested in improvements in
the past six years, the Union Stock Yards com
pany of South Omaha is the largest corpora
tion in Nebraska, aside from the railroads. It
has built and equipped the most modern stock
yards in the world a statement that will bo
certified by any man experienced in 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 received in one year. When the
company was first organized the west was thin
ly settled, and the promoters of the company
were dubbed "dreamers."
"How can these men expect to ever build
up a live stock market away out west, com
peting against Chicago, which has already put
its cinch on the live stock and packing busi
ness?" 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, and if they were "dreamers"
at least they had large dreams and then pro
ceeded with a determination to make their
dreams come true.
Second Largest Stock Market
South Omaha is today the second largest
live stock market in the world in point of total
receitps and the third largest packing center.
It is the great market to which men come inf
search of feeder cattle and sheep, and while'
othe. markets, considerably older, have re
mained at a standstill so far as growth is con
cerned, the South Omaha market has shown
a steady growth from year to year.
A few weeks, or rather a few months ago,
some of the large eastern markets were closed
because of the prevalence of the foot and,
mouth disease, but during the entire period
the South Omaha yards were open. There was
a reason for this. The South Omaha yards
have have been made as sanitary as human in
genuity could devise. But the company was
not content with every sanitary precaution
in the equipment of the yards. It went fur
ther. It placed an embargo against live stock
from certain sections, and it had a small army
of government inspectors on hand. The mo
ment a rumor came of a breaking out of the
disease within its territory, the company
rushed an inspector to the spot. The company
went before the live stock sanitary board and
secured a ruling compelling the railroads 1o
thoroughly disinfect each car immediately
after it was unloaded and during the whole
of the embargo not a head of live stock was
unloaded during the night. Unloading was
done during the broad light of the day, and
there was 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 company is spending money every day
to further increase the capacity and efficiency
of the yards. Within the last three years over
$300,000 has been spent inenlarging and im
proving the hog yards. These yards today
are of steel 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 and the plant is one that would
be appreciated by many a city of metropoli
tan 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 circulating through all the pens all
the time.
One of the remarkable features of the yarda
is the rapid growth of the horse and mule mar
ket. This growth has been so great that long
sincethe problem, of handling the business was
a hard one. Rut the enterprising management
has solved it by the erection of the largest
and best built barns in the world for keep
ing 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 mar
ket is the third largest market of the kind in
world. Present indications are that the year
1916 will see all records broken in this re
spect and the South Omaha horse and mule
market become nearly the largest in the world.
Same Charge for 20 Years
It i3 interesting to noto that while the yards
have been growing in size and improved in
every respect, and that while the general aver
nge of prices of live stock have been steadily
tending upward, the Union Stock Yards com
pany is today exacting the same charges
fixed twenty years ago. While everything that
the company must buy has advanced in price,
lis one commodity service has remained at
the same price although the quality of the
service rendered has been vastly improved.
The influence exerted by the South Omaha
stock yards upon the growth and delevop
nient of the west is too great to be measured
by the finite mind. Thirty years ago the
west was sparsely settled and only the far
seeing believed that in good time the whole
west would be settled up by th? prosperous
farmers and stock raisers. Then all live stock
had to he shipped to Chicago, and freight rates
were high, the service inadequate and the Chi
cago market in absolute control. The loss
from delays in shipping and shrinkage were
enormous. For a few years the South Omaha
yards furnished only a sort of "hesitating
place" for western shipments moving east
ward, then the growth of the feeder market
began. But the founders of the yards were
not content. They wanted to make it a final
market, so they set about solving the prob
lem. It -was finally solved by inducing several
large packing concerns to establish branch
packing houses at South Omaha, and with the
establishment of the packing houses the suc
cess of the enterprises was secure. The vol
ume 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 statistics of the Union Stock Yards com
pany for thirty-two years are of absorbing in
terest. During that time 121;.026,047 head of
live stock were received at the yards. These
receipts were divided as follows:
Cattle 25.333,695
Hogs 58,157,806
Sheep 41,757,567
Horses and mules 776,979
Total 126,026,047
It must not be understood that all of the live
stock received by the Union Stock Yards com
pany of South Omaha is sold to the packers
located there. Practically one-third of the
animals received are shipped out again.
Feeder cattle and sheep are purchased and
shipped out in enormous numbers, in fact,
being the third of the receipts which are not
purchased by the company. During the thirty-two
years the company has handled a total
of 2,987,128 cars of live stock.
Sixty per cent of the live stock receipts at
outh Omaha originate in Nebraska, the bal
ance coming from Colorado, Nevada, Iowa,
Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, Montana, Utah,
Missouri and Wyoming. The live stock raisers
of Nebraska received upwards of $65,000,000
for animals marketed at South Omaha during
1916. There are ten packing plants located at
South Omaha because of the stock yards,
and these plants, together with the stock
yards, represent a total investment of $25,
000,000, employ an average of 6,000 people and
pay in wages approximately $6,000,000 a year.
The packing industry represents more than
half of the total manufactures of Nebraska,
and exceeds the total gold production of the
United States and Alaska by more than $20,-000,000.
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