History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 71

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358


USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 71


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The tract of land of which the stock-yards proper form a part was purchased by the St. Louis National Stock-Yards Company on the 1st of March, 1871, from John B. Bowman and J. L. Griswold, of East St. Louis. This tract, containing four hundred acres, is situated on both sides of the Cahokia Creek, about one mile north of the city of East St. Louis, in St. Clair County, Ill. On the east the track of the St. Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute Railway affords communication, while the tract is bisected near its western limits by the track of the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway. Between these two roads there is a connecting link which passes through the paved and improved yards, thus giving superior ad- vantages for the reception and shipment of stock. An addition to the original purchase was made subse- quently by a negotiation with E. Matthews for a tract of two hundred and fifty-two acres. The price paid for the first four hundred acres purchased was $145,- 000. The purchase from Mr. Matthews cost the company $50,000. The National Stock-Yards Com- pany is therefore the owner of six hundred and fifty- two acres of land, for which it paid $195,000.


The original capital of the incorporated company


-


1312


HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.


was one million dollars, but the charter confers the special privilege of increasing the capital stock as circumstances may demand.


This important enterprise was originated by the great New York and Chicago stock firm of Allerton, Dutcher & Moore, who are entitled to the credit of having suc- cessfully enlisted the attention of moneyed men and brought about a combination of some of the greatest capitalists of the nation to carry forward the great work. That these yards were located in Illinois in- stead of Missouri is due solely to the fact that the company found it impossible to purchase at any rea- sonable price a suitable tract of sufficient extent equally convenient to business on the Missouri side. Though situated in Illinois, the National Stock-Yards are essentially a St. Louis institution. The ground having been secured, work was at once commenced. A. M. Allerton, a gentleman of tact and energy, gave his personal attention to the work. About one hun- dred and fifty acres of the four-hundred-acre tract were surveyed, and the work of grading commenced. This was a vast undertaking, as mounds were to be leveled down and ponds filled up, but an immense amount of work was performed in a very short time. The whole ground was bisected by sewers placed six feet below the surface. Water-pipes were laid, and regular streets or avenues were laid out. All this was done before the work of constructing slieds, barns, and inclosures was commenced. But this work once completed a large force of men was at once employed in building above ground. Vast quantities of lumber were used in this work. The posts are all of red- cedar ; the, fencing, roofs, etc., are of yellow-pine. The offices, hotel, and exchange hall are lighted by gas manufactured at the company's own works, and two powerful engines supply the yards with an abun- dance of water.


The ground was platted, with avenues running north and south, cast and west, crossing at right angles. Those running from the south are three hundred and ninety-two feet apart. The first one, called Avenue A, is one hundred and ninety-six feet from the east line of the yard. Avenue F is onc hundred and ninety-six feet from the south line. The avenues are divided into yards or sheds for cattle. The original plan calls for two hundred and cighty- nine yards. These yards accommodate fifteen thou- sand horned cattle, and outside space with good ar- rangements for feeding and shelter is furnished for twenty thousand more. The yards and avenucs arc paved with the Belgian pavement.


On the west side of the yard, and near to the northwest corner, the eye rests upon an immense


frame structure, painted white, which is eleven hun- dred and twenty-two feet long and one hundred feet wide. Extending directly through the middle of the building, for its entire length, is a broad passageway, on either side of which are located the hog-pens, seventy in number, with a total capacity of holding twenty thousand hogs.


In the centre of the immense yard for herding stock are situated the offices of the company. The building is in the centre of a square, which has been laid off with avenucs extending towards the cardinal points of the compass. The structure is of brick, two stories, besides the basement, with sleeping ac- commodations for clerks, watchmen, and laborers.


The chief attraction in the neighborhood of the St. Louis National Stock-Yards is the Allerton House, a five-story brick structure, containing over one hun- dred and thirty chambers, besides a dining-hall, bil- liard-room, wide halls, a large office, and parlors and sitting-rooms. The architectural appearance of the building is very imposing, and it is supplied with water and gas throughout, heated by steam, and fur- nished with all the comfortable appendages of a first- class hotel. Thomas Walsh was the architect, and Milburn & Sons contractors. The cost of the build- ing was about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The structure is one hundred and fifty feet front, and extends back two hundred and forty-eight feet. A portion of the back extension is only three stories high.


The yards werc formally opened on the 20th of November, 1873, on which occasion addresses were delivered by Hon. S. M. Kasc, Hon. E. O. Stanard, Mayor Bowman, of East St. Louis, N. M. Bell, of St. Louis, Hon. John Hinchcliffe, Hon. L. H. Hite, and Judge William G. Case.


The National Yards arc located about a mile beyond East St. Louis, in a district known in early times as " the Great American Bottom," and have a world- wide reputation for their completeness. Railway magnates have fostered the interest, and Jay Gould has become a large stockholder in the National Com- pany.


The Union Stock-Yards at Bremen are wholly a St. Louis enterprise, and utilize about fifty acres in terminal facilities for the handling of cattle, hogs, and sheep. The Venice and Madison County Ferry chiefly transports this stock over the river from Venice, and the delay of passing through East St. Louis is thereby avoided. A capital of three hundred and . fifty thousand dollars is employed by this establish- ment.


The St. Louis Union Stock-Yard Company was


.


1313


TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.


organized in March, 1874, and grounds, consisting of twenty-three and a half acres, were purchased in April for one hundred thousand dollars. No time was lost in pushing on the work, as the exchange was commenced in May, and the yards and pens in June. There are 127 hog-pens, capable of containing 25,000 hogs, and 65 cattle-pens, able to accommodate 2000 head of cattle.


There are also a number of private stock-yards in the suburbs on both sides of the river, but the bulk of the import and export trade necessarily gravitates toward the public yards, where dealing is only in large round lots or car-loads. During the last eigh- teen years the receipts of cattle, sheep, and hogs, and the exports of the same, have been as follows :


RECEIPTS.


SHIPMENTS.


YEAR.


Cattle.


Sheep.


Hogs.


Cattle.


Sheep.


Hogs.


1882


443,169


443,120


846,228


188,486


245,071


264,584


1881


503,862


334,426


1,672,163


293,092


170,395


889,909


1880


424,720


205,969


1,840,684


228,879


93,522


770,769


1879


420,654


182,648


1,762,724


226,255


88,083


6×6,099


1878


406,235


168,095


1,451,634


261,723


74,433


528,627


1877.


411,969


200,502


896,319


251,566


87,569


314,287


1876


349,043


157,831


877,160


220,430


67,886


232,876


1875.


335,742


125,679


628,569


216,701


37,784


126,729


1874.


360,925


114,913


1,126,586


226,678


35,577


453,710


1873


279,678


86,434


973,512


180,662


18,902


224,873


1872


263,404


115,904


759,076


164,870


29,540


188,700


1871.


199,527


118,899


633,370


130,018


37,465


113,913


1870


201,422


94,477


310,850


129,748


11,649


17,156


1869


124,565


96,626


344,848


59,867


12,416


39,076


1868


115,352


79,315


301,560


37,277


6,415


16,277


1867


74,146


62,974


298,241


26,799


19,022


28,627


1866.


103.259


64,047


217,622


24,462


15,194


13,368


1865


94,807


52,133


99,663


46,712


8,680


17,869


-


RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS OF LIVE STOCK FOR 1882.


RECEIPTS.


SHIPMENTS.


RECEIVED BY


Cattle.


Hogs.


Sheep.


Horses and Mules.


Cattle.


Hogs.


Sheep.


Mules.


Chicago and Alton Railroad (Missouri Division).


16,892


68,686


32,741


2,192


188


317


3,891


193


Missouri Pacific Railway.


162,683


152,427


91,639


4,558


293


975


5,505


1,272


St. Lonis and San Francisco Railroad


53,657


48,099


60,811


887


277


94


638


310


St. Louis, Wabash and Pacific Railroad (Western Division)


73,145


294.248


86,697


6,978


5,061


...


...


220


5,274


St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad.


65,427


7,557


28,947


8,873


266


41


40,835


1,239


Missouri Pacific Railroad (Kansas and Texas Division).


5,168


10,939


3,329


788


330


11


16,985


410


Cairo Short Line Railroad.


4,858


2,680


6,946


1,5×4


361


345


85


3,387


Lonisville and Nashville Railroad.


3,324


3,960


1,511


439


30


1,192


908


St. Louis and Cairo Railroad ..


3.323


1,325


5,524


151


.........


....


101


... ....


Ohio and Mississippi Railroad.


4,537


6,836


2,840


4,350


18,749


22,573


18,087


5,666


Chicago and Alton Railroad ...


6,641


54,812


32,123


3.694


21,727


20,628


7,134


2,363


Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad ..


6,187


25,618


9,428


1,518


62,580


52,380


26,875


3,354


Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroad.


4,154


8,511


27,400


735


38,594


116,720


106,548


7,745


5,230


47,830


6,080


417


36,338


48.697


17,285


2,777


Keokuk and St. Louis Railroad


2,511


6,233


4,140


632


276


95


2,797


4,070


58,170


10,100


1,189


1,732


7,874


21,201


13,101


2,263


Upper Mississippi River boats.


3,604


3,051


6,0.39


6.9


Illinois River boats


2,761


17,990


3,692


596


1,681


482


787


5,941


Missouri River boats.


245


3,090


1,161


80


55


Driven in from country ..


6,875


2,965


8,579


60


.........


......


...


Totals.


443,169


846,228


443,120


42,718


188,486


264,584


245,071


46,255


How many million dollars annually are invested in live-stock dealings in this market is readily calculable, but the local consumption demand is not more readily ascertainable than the actual exports, for the latter are largely contingent upon the extent of the demand of the beef-canning companies, the proportion of stock exported alive being still comparatively inconsiderable in this valley.


In his paper on " St. Louis: Past, Present, and Future," Charles W. Knapp does not find the live- stock trade as encouraging as he thinks it ought to be.


"Though it has increased," he says, "during the last dozen years, the comparison with Chicago was more favorable in the matter of cattle ten years ago than to-day, while such gain upon Chicago as has been made in the matter of hogs is more than counterbalanced by the failure of our packers to take ad-


vantage of the increased receipts, as will be made plain by Ex- hibit No. 32. Connected with this most unsatisfactory record is the further fact that the receipts of packed incats at St. Louis have fallen off considerably in recent years, the receipts of bar- reled pork in 1861 having been about eighty-four per cent. greater than in 1881, and of mess-pork sixty per cent. greater, while of lard we only got twelve per cent. more in 1881.


EXHIBIT NO. 32-PORK-PACKING YEAR ENDING MARCH.


Chicago.


St. Louis.


Kansas City.


Cincin- nati.


Milwau- kee.


1878-79


4,960,956


771,261


987,793


....


1880-81


5,752,191


824,159


579,398


632,981


462,348


1881-82


5,100,484


556,379


800,928


508,458


486,066


EXHIBIT NO. 32-CATTLE RECEIPTS.


Chicago.


St. Louis.


St. Louis per cont. of Chicago.


1865


330,301


94,307


28.55


1870.


532,964


.......


1872


684,075


263,404


38.50


1877


1,096,745


411,969


37.49


1881


1,498,550


503,862


33.72


....


...


...


....


....


...


120


....


....


.........


........


Head.


Head.


Head.


Head,


Head.


Head.


Head.


Head.


St. Louis, Wabash and Pacific Railroad (Eastern Division) Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad ( East. Division) Illinois and St. Louis Railroad.


Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (North Division) Lower Mississippi River boats.


2,619


Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee River boats ...


2


292


...


.......


1879-80


4,680,637


IIorses and


1314


HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.


HOG RECEIPTS.


St. Louis per


Chicago.


St. Louis.


cent. of Chicago.


1865


757,072


99,663


13.16


1870 ..


1,693,158


310,850


18.36


1880


7,059,355


1,840,684


26,22


1881


6,494,844


1,672,153


25.76"


St. Louis Beef-Canning Company .- A promi- nent factor in the enlargement of the provision trade of St. Louis is the St. Louis Beef-Canning Company, whose base of operations is the National Stock-Yards, East St. Louis. This establishment-which in its Europcan exports has with its cooked meats super- seded the "roast beef of Old England," according to a consular report-was organized in 1876, with a capital stock of four hundred thousand dollars, and occupied its present packing and warehouses, covering four acres, in 1879. Its successive presidents have been R. D. Hunter, H. L. Newman, Isaac H. Knox, and G. L. Joy, the latter being the present executive, with the following board of directors : Messrs. Knox, Joy, J. B. Dutcher, A. M. White, T. C. Eastman, S. W. Allerton, and R. W. Donnell.


Beginning with packing twenty-five beeves a day, the company has now a capacity to handle one thou- sand head, and employs from eight hundred to one thousand hands daily, according to the season. For two years it did not intermit a single day, although it is unusual for packers to operate continuously through the year. The aggregate packing during the three years ending May, 1882, was two hundred and one thousand one hundred and thirty-seven head, about one-half of which product was exported.


The cash value of the daily product is over fifty thousand dollars, and the establishment is the second largest of its kind in the world.


The company buys the choicest cattle at the adja- cent National Stock-Yards, where they are cooled and rested before slaughtering. After this the sides of beef are perfectly chilled by an improved process ; they are then "cut down," the ribs and loins shipped all over the country, supplying dealers in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and the remainder prepared for curing. The curing cellars of the company extend under the main build- ings, and cover about three acres. The bulk of the meat is cured, cooked, and packed in cases in duc time; the hams are smoked and turned out under the "Star of the West" brand, and the balance packed in barrels as " rolled" and " plate beef." The tin can department-as an illustration of the magnitude of the business-employs, in addition to numerous labor- saving machines for stamping, soldering, etc., from onc hundred to one hundred and fifty hands, and manufac- tures daily tin cans enough, when filled, to load from


six to ten cars, according to the size of the cans. The company imports its own tin and manufactures its own solder. Another interesting feature is the "fertilizing department," which is located at some distance from the main works, and utilizes all the refuse, converting it into valuable fertilizers,-azotine, dried blood, bone- meal, etc. The horns and large bones are sorted, treated, and sold to manufacturers of buttons, combs, fancy toilet articles, etc. This department employs about twenty-five hands, and produces about six car- loads of material per day. The chief business of the company is the packing and sale of canned cooked meats, and the correspondents of the company are in all countries. The first operations were the packing of corned beef, but rapid extension has been made, until the list now compriscs corned, roast, and boiled beef, whole and compressed beef tongue, lunch tongue, ham, ox-kidney, ox-tail, pigs' feet, and English brawn, or head cheese. These are all packed in tins ranging from one to twenty-eight pounds in weight, and are ready for instant use. The company also packs a beef or lunch sausage cooked. The goods of the company have been exhibited and tested in the fairs of the world, and have gathered trophies at Paris, London, the American Institute of New York, and elsewhere.


Horse and Mule Marts .- Long antedating the history of the army mule the patient beast " without pride of ancestry or hope of posterity" had contrib- uted largely to the cominercial growth and importance of St. Louis. In 1856 the firm of A. Shulerr & Co., predecessors of Reilly & Wolfort, commenced the es- tablishment of sale-stables which now outrival in number and capital employed the sales-yards of Lon- don, and give to Broadway for many blocks a national reputation as the location of the largest horse and mule market in the United States, and with respect to dealings in mules, the largest in the world. The extent of the trade in the supply of these animals for the Southern plantations and the Western plains, as well as for use by local carrying companies, had becn generally known, and there was some knowledge too of the fact that the United States government was a large purchaser of horses and mules in this market ; but it remained for the accredited represen- tatives of a foreign government to demonstrate a few years ago, and beyond cavil, that St. Louis leads the world in the number, quality, and monetary valuc of its mules. Large purchases were made here by both combatants in the Franco-Prussian war. The British found the Mississippi valley mule best adapted by hardihood to service in India; the Turks discovered the same quality of adaptation for the Orient; and the French government, after purchasing here large


1315


TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.


numbers of fine horses for its cavalry, added still larger orders for mules for service in the Tunisian campaign.


But while the attainable statistics show a trade of nearly ten millions of dollars annually, it is doubtful whether this sum really represents the actual trans- actions in horses and mules within forty per cent., for the reason that the larger portion of the stock imported from the vicinage, or within perhaps a hun- dred miles, is driven direct to the sale-stables, and does not therefore appear upon the tabulated returns of the railroads and transportation companies. For example, a compilation of the returns to the Mer- chants' Exchange for 1881 shows the receipts of horses and mules to have been forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty-five, and the shipments to exceed that number largely. The same anomaly is exhibited in the reports of former years. Indeed, a single one of the ten larger houses engaged in the business shipped in 1881 upwards of half the num- ber thus recorded, and in the first four months of 1882 the shipments exceeded seven thousand, a large portion of the stock being exported to England, Scot- land, and the West Indies. A fact not generally known in this connection is that fine mules bring a higher price than fine horses for exportation, although the home demand keeps the prices of inferior or sec- ond-class animals about even. Foreign buyers will pay for choice mules from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty dollars a head, in round lots, and even more, while they would expect to pay for the same grade of horses not more than from two hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars. The longevity and hardi- hood of the mule is rated a third higher by foreign purchasers. The United States government is the most exacting of American buyers, and the French are the most particular of the purchasers from abroad.


The receipts and shipments of horses and mules at St. Louis from 1874 to 1882, inclusive, were :


Year.


Receipts.


Shipments.


Head.


Head.


1882


42,718


46,655


1881.


42,365


43,794


1880.


46,011


44,416


1879.


33,289


36,947


1878 ...


27,878


30,867


1877.


22,652


25,157


1876.


22,271


26,301


1875.


27,516


28,675


1874


27,175


30,202


Hides and Leather .- There are more domestic hides shipped from St. Louis than from any market in the United States, the aggregate value of the transactions in this commodity approximating four million dollars. The hide product is not only exten-


sively employed in the manufacture of boots and shoes, but is necessarily an important factor in the making of saddles, harness, belting, and a variety of other articles of commerce. In St. Louis there is not only a large product of hides from the cattle slaugh- tered for local consumption, but the receipts from the cattle-growing regions are immense, this being the natural centre of that interest, which includes in ex- tent of territory Illinois, Missouri, the Indian Terri- tory, Texas, Mexico, New Mexico, Colorado, Dakota, Montana, Utah, and Arizona. The establishment of extensive slaughtering houses, such as that of the Beef-Canning Company, producing 4000 hides a week, and the butchers' yield, about the same figure, greatly increases the product derived from imports, which in 1881 aggregated 20,079,814 pounds. The exports were 28,082,036 pounds, and the amount utilized in local manufacture was nearly as large as both sums together, or upwards of 40,000,000 pounds. In 1834 and earlier there were also large receipts of bison hides from the plains, and this formed an im- portant element in the freightage of the " overland route ;" but of late years the extermination of the American buffalo has been so nearly completed that few are now received, or even desired, for bison hide makes very inferior leather as compared with the product of the domestic cattle.


Of the two methods of preparing hides for the St. Louis market, the salting is preferred above drying, although not always practicable, as nearly all the hides coming from the Southwest and West are already cured by drying, after the primitive manner in vogue on the plains. Texas hides rank, in excellence of quality, second only to those of South America.


Up to a very few years ago nearly all the hides re- ceived in the St. Louis market werc shipped hence to Eastern tanneries, but now St. Louis boasts of several tanners and curriers with establishments possessing the requisites of capital and capacity and doing a thriving business. Indeed, these already outnumber the dealers in hides and pelts, one of them having a capacity of over five hundred hides a week.1


The hide dealers, however, are among the most solid and prosperous business men of St. Louis, and represent an aggregate capital of nearly two million dollars. In earlier times the custom-begun perhaps almost as early as the settlement of St. Louis-of buying hides directly from the butchers and selling to the tanners was in vogue, but in 1864, B. H. Newell, one of the


1 " Forty dollars per ton," stated an advertisement in the Missouri Gazette of July 2, 1814, "will be given for well-saved shomac (sumac) at the subscriber's morocco manufactory in St. Louis."


1316


HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.


largest buyers in the St. Louis market, originated the brokerage system, by which the brokers act as agents for the tanners, and now nearly all the business be- tween dealers and tanners is thus conducted, and, it is claimed, with great advantage to all parties con- cerncd. With the growth of the St. Louis saddlery trade to pre-eminence over that of any other market in the world, the dealings in hidcs and leather have necessarily increased in proportion, and the establish- ment of numerous boot and shoe factories has con- tributed to swell the total dealings in leather for all purposes to the sum of nearly ten million dollars.


The following statistics exhibit the growth of the trade :


HIDES.


Receipts.


Exports.


Peltries, Receipts.


Pieces.


Bundles. 106,641


Pieces.


Bundles.


Bundles.


1874


184,458


65,976


247,941


16,636


1873 ..


165,917


83,234


102,252


158,162


15,158


1872


161,902


56,703


110,890


92,693


18,560


1871.


112,675


31,092


116,630


62,500


14,175


1870


120,739


37,425


55,896


132,321


12,903


1869


103,906


17,170


66.173


81,048


11,584


1868


150,245


16,362


81,546


47,083


11,278


1867


146,421


11,910


85,291


45,113


10,278


1865


160,470


6,981


165,580


22,481


1864


187,591


7,310


267,119


...


......


HIDES.


Receipts.


Exports.


1882.


Pounds. 22,135,538


26,744.094


1881.


20,079,814


28,08%.636


1880


20,042,734


26,719,928


1878.


20,001,031


26,258.113


1876.


21,261,245


29,520,487


1875


19,851,947


32,457,805


LEATHER.


Rolls.


Receipts in 1881.


52,002


1880


54,398


1879


38,386


1877


26,804


Saddlery Trade .- St. Louis leads the world in saddlery, although the fact is not known outside of strictly commercial circles.1 The market is usually most active, but there is no exchange or central depot for the compilation of statistics. As an exclusive business, saddlery and saddlery hardware date back only to 1859, and not much was done in that line


until 1866. Prior to that time the general stores that abounded in St. Louis, as elsewhere throughout the Southwest, dealt in 'saddlery to some degree in connection with other wares. The territory then sup- plied by St. Louis was very limited, but now saddlery of St. Louis manufacture is supplied to Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessce, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado, the Indian Territory, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Dakota, and Now Mexico, most of which States and Territories use this ware to so large an extent that the St. Louis export trade in this line in 1881 aggregated in value over three million five hundred thousand dollars. Upwards of fifteen hundred hands arc employed in the trade here, and the wholesale firms alone number twelve, while the retailers and the exclusively " tree" manufacturers aggregate twenty-two more.




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