T1JK OMAHA SUNDAY BEE
and regulations of the exchanges i
governing market transactions, there'
is guaranteed to the shipper a prompt
and safe return on the stock which
he takes or sends to market. At the
modern market all cattle, hogs and
sheep are sold on the basis of cen's
per pound and all transactions are
for cash considerations; the modern
live stocK market is a cash market
where the farmer may sell his stock
promptly the day it arrives, and by
3 o'clock in the afternoon receive the
proceeds in cash or take a draft on
his home bank for the amount.
During periods of financial depres
sion, such as were experienced in the
panic of 1907, when business con
cerns all over the country temporarily
suspended cash payment, when you
could not even draw your own sav
ings from the bank, there was no de
viation at the live stock market from
the cash basis, and the packer paid
out the real money for the cattle,
hogs and sheep he bought. In thej
earlier times mentioned the animals '
as a rule were "dollared off" as in- i
dividuals and there was frequently
more haggling over the price of a
single "critter" than is now seen in
the sale of a dozen carloads of cattle,
and the seller was not sure then that
he would ever get his money.
Establishing or Uestern Markets
Yet those markets, primitive as
they were, were exerting an influ
ence for development of the live
! "" rnf' 1 "if
ltii .ui lit. tin... ""
This Picture Shows South Omaha at the Time the Stock Yards Were Established
coast in 1869 and the Burlington
and Northwestern companies were
projecting lines out into the state.
Chicago was becoming prominent as
a primary market for all kinds of
live stock and P. D. Ar lour was
prospering in the pork-packing bus
iness, while George t. Swift and
Nelson Morris, buyers and shippers
of beef cattle, were embaYking in
the dressed beef trade. Mr. Armour,
stock industry in that part of the through the P"011 f the refriS
country accessible to them. As tne
railroads pushed out into the in
terior better facilities were provided
for reaching the markets and the
hardships formerly experienced be
gan to disappear and new markets
were established convenient to new
producing territory. Thus came
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, In
dianapolis and Chicago, all lending
encouragement to the live stock bus
iness in the west. Railway lines
were moving across Illinois into
Iowa and Missouri and these states
were settling rapidly. In 1867 the
Northwestern road built into Coun
cil Bluffs, with the Burlington fol
lowing closely. The Pike's Peak
rush had brought many people into! there grew up a market for the cat-
erator car, made it possible to ship
dressed beef, pork and mutton, as
well as other meat food rroducts, to
distant consuming centers with
safety and more cheaply than the
live animals could be transported.
From the advent of the refrigerator
car may be said to date the develop
ment of the world-wide trade of the
packing houses. The growth of the
packing industry soon became the
marvel of the commercial world and
the market a permanent and active
agency in the advancement of the
live stock interests of the west.
Omaha an Ideal Location
The yards at Kansas City were
opened for business in 1871 and
the Territory of Nebraska, where
they settled along the Missouri and
in the valleys of the Platte and Elk
horn. In 1867, with a population
of about 50,000 reople, Nebraska
was added to the galaxy of promis-
tle of Texas and the southwest. Ne
braska and other states west of the
Missouri river were becoming largely
engaged in stock raising, Nebraska
having at about this time a little
more than a million cattle and
ing western states which invited the'nearjy a million and a half of hogs,
energetic and ambitious settler to ' Stockmen were clamoring for a
their fertile valleys with assurance i nearer market for their live stock
of reward for his industry. The and complaining of the long jour
Union Pacific's overland route was ! neys necessary to reach Chicago and
completed through Nebraska to the i eastern markets. Omaha offered an
ideal location for a live stock mar
ket as the natural gateway uetween
the new producing sections of the
wtst and the consuming centers of
the east, the importance of which
location has been more and more
emphasized as the years have come
and gone in the settling of the west.
In 1884 the stock yards were estab
lished on the site they now occupy,
around which has irown up the
thriving city of South Omaha, inci
dentally with the great market which
now makes it famous in tne r;aim
of commerce.
Stock raising and feeding in Ne
braska and the west received a new
impetus and the development of the
market was rapid Indeed. Other
markets were started throughout the
west, and though they have had a
favorable influence in their immedi
ate localities, it has not been so em
phatic and widespread as that of the
South Omaha market; nor have they
achieved the importance which the
Nebraska market enjoys as a live
stock market and packing center.
How Nebraska Has Grown
At the time the market was es
tablished at South Omaha Nebraska
stood tenth in hog-raising; today it
holds fourth place," and only a few
thousand animals behind the third
state. At this time Nebraska was
reported to have 1,500,000 of cattle,
while in 1907 it boasted nearly
3,500,000 of cattle, and this year
nearly 3,000,000, with a decrease in
the United States of 14,000,000 of
beef cattle since. 1907.
Fifteen millions of cattle, or 40
per cent of the total supply of the
United States, are in what are now
known as the northwestern states,
or that territory west of the Missis
sippi river and north of the southern
boundary line of the states of Kan
sas and Colorado, while 50 per cent,
or 30,000,000, of the hogs of the en
tire United States this year are in
the corn-growing states of Nebraska,
Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, South Da
kota, Minnesota and Illinois, and 50
per cent of the sheep are in the ten
states west and northwest of Omaha.
This immense territory has been de
veloped to its present state largely
through the influence of the modern
live stock market.
The Packer Doing His Part
The packer may now be said to
have made the possibilities of stock
raising and feeding practically un
limited, because he has built "up
markets for more than is being pro
duced. Under the old system of lo
cal butchers and small slaughterers,
when the demand was confined to
local markets, one locality might be
oversupplied and another short, with
no practical or profitable means of
equalizing the distribution. The
ready outlet for live stock, as well
as .many other products of the farm,
has been made possible by the es
tablishment of stock yards and large
packing houses in localities easily
accessible to natural producing dis
tricts and by the Introduction of im
proved transportation methods for
handling perishable freight. In ad
dition to having facilitated the dis
tribution of the demand for our pro
ducts in our own land, through the
energy and diligence of the packer
2 !
A
View of South Omaha and Stock Yards, Showing Changes That Have Take Place Since 1884, When the Market Was Established
