USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 44
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Commissioner Betton's report on Kansas shows only the mileage of street railway in operation in the city, not including that portion of the lines extending west of the city limits. The following is a tabulated statement of the mileage of Kansas City, Kas., street railway lines, not including that portion extending across the State line into Missouri:
Double track.
Total miles.
Main line " L " road.
3.2
6.4
Brighton Hill and Chelsea Park
2,3
4.6
Riverview line. .
1.8
3.6
Metropolitan Cable.
2.3
4.6
Metropolitan Electric.
4.5
9.0
Kensington line
2.0
4.0
Total mileage
16.1
32.9
The most important feature in street railway development in 1889 was the construction of the Metropolitan Company's magnificent electric line, extending from the terminus of the Twelfth Street cable line through the Sixth Ward to Argentine, a distance of four and one-half miles. This removes the last horse car line in the city. The electric line was completed to Twenty-second Street in August, and the extension to Argentine was placed in operation three months later. The Inter-State Elevated Railway Company has not only im- proved its service on all its lines, but the use of a cable on the River- view line has been abandoned, and trains are now run by steam-motor power. The company has secured a new franchise from the River- view line, and if accepted, through trains will be run from the Kansas City, Mo., terminus to Grandview Park and probably on to Chelsea Park over the Kensington line, thus making a loop line. The "L" Company is also preparing to construct the long-talked-of line from Riverview through the Fifth Ward and over the viaduct into the Sixth Ward, and thence to Argentine. This will be the greatest im-
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
provement that could be made, giving a more direct line from the North Side to the South Side.
In recognition of the street railway enterprise of Kansas City, a New York newspaper has said: "Kansas City, Kas., has a great street railway feature, and already affects a system unequaled by any city of her size in the United States in point of solid arrangement, construction and general accommodation. The elevated road, the only one west of New York City, is here in practical usage, forming the connecting link between the two great Western metropolises. The Metropolitan system is one of the most extensive cable lines in the West, and controls and operates the best paying lines of the two cities. During the present year several new lines will be added to accommodate the great growth of the city."
The Mardis-Thayer Street Railway Company is endeavoring to get franchises for a mammoth electric street railway line that would prove a rival to the Metropolitan system. It is understood that the new line is to act in conjunction with the Citizens' Street Railway of Kansas City, Mo., giving it the outlet on Wyandotte Street which the Citizens' Railway has most needed to make it a paying investment. Starting at Tenth and Wyandotte, the new electric line will extend north to Fourth Street; thence west to the river, and along land which is now being reclaimed, to the mouth of the Kaw, where it will join the line in this city. It is expected that an extension of the line from the Sixth Ward will cross the Kaw River into Missouri, south of Kingan's packing-house, and return over the bluff, entering Wyandotte Street at the South, and return to the point of starting. The grand tour will cover twelve miles, double track, and will require the construction of two bridges and a viaduct 3,000 feet long. The viaduct alone will cost $100,000, and the engineers estimate that the entire system of twelve miles will cost $500,000. Boston capitalists have looked over the ground and reported favorably to this project.
To stop short here and say nothing of the connection of the street railway system of this city with that of Kansas City, Mo., more than has been necessarily said thus far, would be to do an injustice which ought not to be admissible in a work of the character of this. The combined systems are accessible to every citizen of this city, and have been more truly than anything else, instrumental in building up her business interests and extending her visible limits. The construction and development of this system has been surprisingly rapid. In 1885 the first cable-train was operated in Kansas City, Mo., and now includ-
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WYANDOTTE COUNTY.
ing the lines in Kansas City, Kas., she has nearly ten times the mile- age of the entire world in 1880, and more than any other city in the world to-day. The cable system has been of immense benefit to both cities. It has brought most desirable residence localities within easy reach of the business centers, and has built up and developed sections which without rapid transit would to-day show little improvement. Kansas City's growth was amazing. With it came a demand for quick transportation, which was met promptly and has developed into one of the most perfect systems of rapid transit ever known. Every sec- tion of the two cities has been brought within easy reach of the center. The three principal street railway companies represent an investment of $10,000,000, and so great is the travel that the investments bring large returns. The cable railways of Kansas City are a surprise to all visitors and a convenience, which, owing to the peculiar formation upon which the city is built, could not be done without. Besides the roads already in operation, franchises have been granted for the building of twenty miles more, which will bring the cable railway mileage of the city up to 155 miles.
That the two Kansas Cities will eventually be connected by a via- duct extending from the bluff on the Kansas side to the bluff in Mis- souri, no one affects to disbelieve; but, while the matter has been talked of during the past few years, it was only during 1889 that any practical steps were taken in this direction. The value of this important structure can not be overestimated to this city. At the present time it is a most difficult matter to go between the two cities without meeting with delays of some nature. The great railroads, whose network of tracks covers the bottoms between the cities as the water covers the sea, furnish obstructions innumerable. The switches and side-tracks that cross the streets, besides being a nuisance to drive over, frequently block travel with freight trains. Not only are the delays unpleasant, but travel is none too safe with these existing con- ditions. Then a circnitous route has to be taken, and much valuable time lost. The viaduct will obviate all these unpleasantries, and will do away with the loss of time and the danger incident to traffic. The following is its probable direction: Starting from Fifth and Central Streets, using the Missouri Pacific viaduct, already in course of con- struction, then on a straight line across the Kaw River, over the stock pens on the other side of the river to the James Street viaduct, where a connection will be made. The structure would then be headed for the Twelfth Street viaduct, which Kansas City, Mo., built several
446
HISTORY OF KANSAS.
years ago, and which has only been used as a foot bridge. This could be utilized, and the structure would then go in the direction of the bluffs at Twelfth and Main Streets. The structure would be of suffi- cient width to allow two lines of teams to pass, and would be canti- levered on each side for foot passengers. Engineers declare that the entire viaduct could be constructed for $250,000, including the bridge across the Kaw River. The distance from the Kansas bluff to the State line is about 3,000 feet, while it is not so great from the Missouri bluff to the imaginary line that divides the two States. A number of approaches could and would be placed at convenient cross streets, and the heavy teaming from the wholesale houses of the bot- toms to this city would be taken from the streets.
6
447
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WYANDOTTE COUNTY.
1
CHAPTER XXIII.
KANSAS CITY'S IMMENSE LIVE STOCK MARKET AND MEAT PACKING IN- TERESTS-THE SECOND LARGEST PORK-PACKING CENTER IN THE WORLD-RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE INDUSTRY-SKETCHIES OF THE GREAT PACKING ESTABLISHMENTS-TWENTY-TWO YEARS OF MEAT PACKING - AN ERA OF WONDERFUL PROGRESS - CONTRIBUTORY CAUSES-THE PAST YEAR'S REMARKABLE SHOWING-FACTS, FIG- URES AND STATISTICS-THIE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE.
Then none was for party; Then all were for the State; Then the great man helped the poor, And the poor man loved the great .- Lord Macaulay.
EOPLE abroad, when reading of the immense packing interests of Kansas City, with very few exceptions, unless they have visited this locality and seen for themselves, credit Kansas City, Mo., with this great enterprise, and it can not be denied that those who have so industriously boomed Kansas City, Mo., within the past few years, have contributed in no small measure to this injustice to Kansas City, Kas. . The fact remains, however, that for the most part the packing industry is located in Kansas City, Kas., and practically forms a considerable part of its business and commercial importance, though from causes most nat- ural and easily understood, the managers of these con- cerns have large interests, commercially and financially, with Kansas City, Mo., banking and similar institutions.
Although it is comparatively but a few years since pork and beef packing was begun at this point, such has been the success of this undertaking that at the present time Kansas City ranks as the second largest pork-packing center in the world.
448
HISTORY OF KANSAS.
The causes which have contributed to this gratifying result can be easily explained and understood. Kansas City is situated in the cen- ter of the greatest corn-raising section in the country, and as the sup- ply of marketable hogs is regulated almost entirely by the supply of corn, it can readily be seen how naturally it became the market for the hog product. The railroad facilities radiating from Kansas City through Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, four of the most im- portant corn-growing States in the Union, make this market the re- ceptacle of nearly all their hog and beef products. The packers here can afford to pay better prices than their competitors at more eastern points, for the reason that the latter have to pay freight, on the live stock, and freight back on the manufactured product in order to get into the territory where Kansas City packers ship most of their goods-namely, the south and southwest. The packers here can place their products all through the South, including seaboard points, at the expense of Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Louisville. The same is true of the West and Northwest. The bulk of the product manufactured here goes for domestic consumption; the exports, how- ever, especially of beef, sum up to no inconsiderable amount.
The rise and progress of this now great industry in Kansas City is the development of natural causes. As soon as events demonstrat- ed that a supply of cattle would be found on the western prairies, packers were attracted to the frontier. The pioneer in this field was Edward W. Pattison, who, in 1867, established a packing-house at Junction City, Kas., where he formed a company, and during that year packed about 1,000 cattle. Acquaintance with the country soon satisfied him that Kansas City possessed the best commercial facilities near the frontier, and offered the best advantages for his business. Hence, in 1868, in company with J. W. L. Slavens, he built the first packing- honse, the one now occupied by Jacob Dold & Son. During the first year of the operations of Messrs. Pattison & Slavens here, they packed about 4,200 cattle, the first beef packing done at this point. The same year Thomas J. Bizzer, formerly of Belfast, Ireland, came and began the packing of hogs for the Irish and English markets, the first enterprise of this kind started here after the war, though some little packing had been done prior to the war by M. Diveley, J. L. Mitchener and others, on the Missouri side. In 1868 Mr. Bizzer built a small store-house on St. Louis Avenue, West Kansas City, where he packed away his meat, the slaughtering being done for him by Messrs. Pattison & Slavens. In 1869 Mr. Slavens sold his interest
449
WYANDOTTE COUNTY.
in the packing-house of Pattison & Slavens to Dr. F. B. Nofsinger, of Kansas City, Mo., and formed a co-partnership known as Ferguson, Slavens & Co., by whom was built the packing-house which later came to be owned and occupied by the Morrison Packing Company. The firm of Ferguson, Slavens & Co. was succeeded by Slavens & Oburn, who sold this plant to the company above mentioned.
Plankinton & Armours came to Kansas City in 1870, and rented the packing-house of Pattison & Nofsinger, but in the following year built their own house. They had already two large houses, one in Milwaukee and the other in Chicago. From the date of the establish- ment of their business here the steady and rapid progress of the great interest they represented may be said to have begun in Kansas City. Up to that time it had been conducted on a comparatively limited scale. A few years ago John Plankinton retired from the firm of Plankinton & Armours, when the world-known corporation of the Armour Broth- ers Packing Company was organized.
This concern, which is so material a factor in the interests of this locality, consists at present of P. D. Armour, Chicago; H. O.' Armour, New York, and A. W., S. B., K. B. and C. W. Armour, of Kansas City, Mo. The managing force consists of R. Moody, general manager; George W. Tourtelot, superintendent; William G. Cargill, assistant superintendent. The firm located here in the fall of 1870. killing their first stock in a rented building, making an average of 500 cattle and 500 hogs daily. As the city increased in population, the de- mand for fresh and cured meats also increased, and the Armours were compelled to secure larger quarters. They have enlarged this build- ing from time to time until their present plant is second in the United States. Their buildings cover an area of nine acres and are as fol. lows: A, 175x149, with an L 129 feet, with a boiler-room attached, 150x50; B, 103x148; C, 129x148; D, 147x72; E, 279x45; F, 135x147, with an L attached, 94x63; G, 98x183; H, 96x183; I, 108x133; K, 108x50; L, 176x41; M, 65x128; N, 128x113; O, 72x103; P, 35x108; Q, 24x157; R, engine room, 105x96, with an L 100x50; S, 157x41; T, 142x118, 57 feet high; U, 56x180. These buildings, with the exception of D. are four stories and basement high, D being only two stories and basement. They are building a very large seven-story addition, which will cover their entire space. The plant contains car and machine shop for the rebuilding and repairing of refrigerator cars. This is under the management of Mr. T. B. Roberts, a mechanic of years' ex- perience in carpenter shops, with Charles Bohl as foreman, also black-
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
smith shops and laundry. The company employ monthly on an average of 1.900 men daily, not including the clerical force and officials. The pay-roll of this small "army" foots up to about $66,665 per month or $800,000 yearly. This is for the day laborers, outside of the office de- partment. An addition lately established that is of great benefit to the clerks and foremen, is the restaurant, under the control of the com- pany.
The machinery used is as follows: 4 engines of 500 and 600 horse- power each; 21 tubular boilers; 4 Heine boilers of 600 horse power each; 2 sets of Babcock boilers of 500 horse-power per set. The re- frigerator capacity is immense, capable of reducing the temperature in the coolers below zero, or 825 tons every twenty four hours, or capable of manufacturing one-half that quantity of ice. The electric plant consists of three are dynamos of 120 are lights and 2 Slatterly induction system incandescent dynamos of 1,200 lights. These are distributed through the buildings. They own for their own use 250 refrigerator cars, used for the shipment of dressed beef to different cities in all parts of the East, South and West. The amount of fuel used by this mammoth establishment can be imagined when the fact is stated that it takes four cars of coal daily for its engines. The re- ceipts of coal, salt and lumber used by the firm average 415 car loads monthly. They use for their shipments 1,003 cars monthly, with an average weight of 35,000 pounds per car. Their killing ca- pacity has been found insufficient, and has been added to. The greatest day of killing was 1,124 cattle, 6,800 hogs, 1,900 sheep. Since August 12, 1889, to August 12, 1890, the yearly kill has been as follows: Cattle, 208,139; hogs, 703, 715; sheep, 43,857. They use seventeen large, heavy express wagons and 46 horses for the delivery to the home and shipping trade.
The trade is both domestic and foreign, large warehouses in New York being necessary to facilitate the European trade. The extent of one branch of the company's business, the canning of beef, may be best realized from the fact that 35,000 to 40,000 boxes of tin are used annually in making cans. The company has a similar institution in Chicago, which is the only establishment in the world which excels the Kansas City branch in the extent of its output and business.
The house of Jacob Dold & Son was founded by Jacob Dold, in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1830, and is one of the oldest and largest concerns of its kind in the country. Besides their packing-houses at Buffalo and Kansas City, the firm have one of the most complete packing-
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WYANDOTTE COUNTY.
houses in the country at Wichita, Kas., and a large distributing house at Harrisburg, Penn. The immense business of this house at this point was conceived by, and has always been under the personal man- agement of Mr. J. C. Dold, a son of Jacob Dold, the pioneer pork packer of Buffalo, an active, pushing man, scarcely yet in the prime of life. In 1880 he made a trip through the West, and after visit- ing Chicago, St. Louis, St. Joseph and other towns, came almost accidentally to Kansas City. He was at once impressed with the idea that Kansas City was one of the most advantageous points in the world for a packing-house. His father had ten years before predicted that at or near Kansas City would some day be the great packing center of the world, and this promise, afforded by the tendency of the business to concentrate here, indicates that his pre- diction will be fulfilled. In the fall of 1880 the firm bought the old Nofsinger beef packing-house, and Mr. J. C. Dold began a series of operations here that have resulted in the present magnificent enter- prise. The new venture was a success from the beginning, and soon outstripped the parent establishment in the quality of its productions and the volume of its transactions. The old plant was what is known as a "winter house"-one without refrigerating facilities, where meat-packing can not be carried on during the summer months. In 1882 the house invested about $150,000 in a summer and winter plant, increasing its facilities here in every department, and during the suc- ceeding year a business of a quarter of a million dollars was done. Since then operations have been gradually extended, and the pro- ductive capacity of the plant has been nearly doubled each year, until now about 1,500 men are employed, and an annual business of more than $10,000,000 is done. The plant covers an area of six acres, and has a capacity exceeding 5,000 hogs, 2,000 cattle and 1,000 sheep per day. The trade of the house extends to all parts of the civilized world, and it has nearly 200 representatives in the United States, Europe, Australia, China and Japan.
In 1881 the extensive beef and pork packing and lard refining firm of Fowler Brothers, with packing-houses in Liverpool, New York and Chicago, began operations in Kansas City. Early in 1884 George Fowler purchased his brother's interest in the establishment here, and conducted it alone until January 1, 1886, when his son, George A., became a partner under the firm name of George Fowler & Son. This plant, near the junction of the Kaw and Missouri Rivers, is one of the largest and best equipped packing houses in the city, covering
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
an area of nearly seventeen acres. This firm makes a specialty of ' refining lard. Extensive consignments are made to European ports, this export trade amounting to more than $5,000,000 annually, about one-third of the annual business of the house.
The Morrison Packing-house is a branch of the well-known Cin- cinnati packing-house of James Morrison & Co., established in 1845. Operations were begun in Kansas City in 1884, when the present owners succeeded Slavens & Oburn. Their attention is given exclu- sively to the hog product.
The Kansas City Packing Company began operations in Kansas City in 1884. This enterprise is conducted by A. J. Morris and S W. Bull, who have also an extensive establishment in St. Louis, The concern here packs both pork and beef, but lately have confined their operations principally to the preparation of dressed beef.
The Alleutt Packing Company was organized in November, 1885, and is composed of W. P., C. T., G. P. and E. H. Allcutt and D. C. Smith. Its operations are confined solely to hog packing. Its estab- lishment covers about three acres. W. P. Allcutt, president of the company, was superintendent of the Armour Packing Company in this city for fifteen years prior to the organization of the Allcutt Packing Company.
The Kingan Packing Company began the packing of pork in Kan- sas City about three years ago. It is a branch of the mammoth establishment of Kingan & Co., of Indianapolis, with a distributing house at Richmond, Va. The headquarters of the company is in Bel- fast, Ireland. Its packing establishment in this city, completed in November, 1887, embraces six large buildings, covering a space of six acres. The resident managers of the company are W. J. and J. S. Reid.
The large dressed beef house of Swift & Co., of Chicago, was pnt in operation about two years ago, and when completed in the summer of 1887, in addition to the increased facilities of establishments pre- viously in operation here (about 35 per cent) by the erection of new buildings, made the capacity for handling hogs and cattle in Kansas City unexcelled by those of any other city in the United States.
Many extensive improvements were made in the great packing establishments in 1889. The Kansas City Packing Company has taken charge quite recently of the old Western Dressed Beef Com- pany's plant, which has been idle about three years. By this the company's facilities for slaughtering beeves have been materially
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WYANDOTTE COUNTY.
increased. Swift & Co. made from $200,000 to $300,000 worth of improvements in 1889, besides rebuilding the tanking and fertilizing departments, which were destroyed by fire in August. A large six- story cold storage building, covering an area of about 200x300 feet, has been added, besides a new four-story smoke-house and an engine- house. New additions have also been made in this company's shops. The Armour Packing Company made extensive repairs in its shops as well as in other departments. In November the fertilizing department of the Armour Company's plant was burned to the ground, involving a loss of about $85,000. This was rebuilt in a remarkably short time and is now in operation. Other packing companies have made substantial improvements by way of increasing their facilities.
The Kansas City Stock Yards deserve prominent mention at this place. The rapid and wonderful growth of Chicago as a live-stock market, and the financial success which crowned the consolidation and concentration in 1865 of the several individual and separate yards of that city, was probably the principal cause of the incorporation of the Kansas City Stock Yards Company. The capitalists who conceived and have built up the present immense yards at Kansas City were drawn to this point by the already large and rapidly increasing ship- ments of Texas cattle from Abilene and other towns on the line of the Union Pacific Railway, and also by the large immigration of settlers into the State of Kansas, who naturally would raise within a very few years great numbers of cattle, hogs and sheep to be marketed. The range cattle going east by the way of, and being unloaded and fed at Kansas City to the number of about 35,000 in 1867, had increased to more than 100,000 in 1870, and there was every reason to believe that this would be doubled in 1871. With this outlook for the future, the company was formed in the spring of 1871, and the pens, which were but the nucleus of the present yards, were built and completed in May of that year. June 1 the yards were formally opened for busi- ness, and from the opening until December 31 received, in round num- bers, 120,000 cattle, 41,000 hogs, 4,500 sheep and 800 horses and mules. This very flattering business for the first six months was, however, nearly all merely fed and forwarded, as there was little effort made to make sales in Kansas City, there having been as yet no com- mission houses established. Several Chicago houses had representa- tives here to see that their consignments were properly cared for and forwarded, and also to solicit fresh patronage from owners, who were not yet consigned to a Chicago firm; and these men, or the owners,
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