USA > Missouri > Jackson County > The History of Jackson county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Jackson county in the late warhistory of Missouri, map of Jackson county > Part 73
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A PROMOTER OF THE MARKETS.
As much is due to Howard M. Holden, of the First National Bank, as to any other individual, for the development of the stock market. As early as 1868 he perceived the advantage of such an institution, and, together with C. J. White, Colonel Bucklin and others, organized a live stock and drovers' association, to help the cattle men open the way to the city. The association accomplished but little, but Mr. Holden was always the friend of the cattle men, and by his liberal treatment soon taught them where to look for financial aid. He made something of a specialty of the commission trade from 1871 down, and was al- ways ready to help the commission merchants. His liberal hand similarly favor- ed the packing interest, and subsequently the grain market, and greatly stim- ulated the development of these interests. Other banks were also liberal, and the Mastin Bank early became an active friend of the cattle men and packers.
THE PACKING BUSINESS.
As the events of 1867 demonstrated that a supply of cattle would thereafter be found on the western prairies, packers were attracted to the frontier. The first attempt at packing was at Junction City in 1867, by Edward W. Pattison, for- merly of Indianapolis. He formed a company at Junction City, and in 1867 packed about one thousand cattle. The acquaintance with the country thus ac- quired satisfied him that Kansas City, possessing as she did the largest commer- cial facilities near the frontier, offered the best advantages for that business. Hence, in 1868, in company with J. W. L. Slavens, he built the first beef pack- ing house here-the stone house now occupied by Jacob Dold & Son. And that year they bought on the prairies and packed about 4,209 cattle. This was the first beef packing done in this city.
The same year Thos. J. Bigger, formerly of Belfast, Ireland, came here and went into the business of packing hogs for the Irish and English markets. This was the first hog packing done in the city after the war. Previous to the war, about 1858, M. Diveley and some others had packed a few hogs, and in 1859, J. L. Mitchener, now of the Kansas City stock market, came here, backed by Chi- cago capital, and opened a packing house on the east levee, but his business was stopped by the war. In 1868 Mr. Bigger built a small stone house on St. Louis avenue, West Kansas City, where he packed away his meats, the slaughtering being done for him by Messrs. Pattison and Slavens.
In the spring of 1869, Mr. Slavens disposed of his interest in the packing house of Pattison & Slavens to Dr. F. B. Nofsinger, who had just come here from Indianapolis, and formed the co-partnership known as Furgason, Slavens &
1
538
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
Co., by which was built that year the large brick packing house now occupied by Slavens & Oburn, thus adding the third packing house.
The next year, 1870, Mr. Bigger built the house he afterward occupied, near the mouth of Kaw River, and Messrs. Plankinton & Armours came and rented the house of Pattison & Nofsinger, in which they operated that year, and built their own house.
This gave Kansas City her present four packing houses, which, with ' frequent additions, have kept pace with the growth of the city and the packing interest. Messrs. Plankinton & Armours had already two large houses, one in Milwaukee, and one in Chicago, but were impressed with the advantage of packing Texas cattle nearer the source of supply, had, after investigation, become satisfied that this city was the best point. It was so situated that the cattle, as driven to the plains of Kansas annually, would be available, and possessed a much better climate for the purpose, while, as already an assured railway center, it offered all necessary transportation facilities. S. B. Armour, the head of the house here, was not at the time connected with the firm, but was living on a farm in New York. His brothers induced him to come to this city, take an interest in the business, and conduct the house here.
Thus our city became a packing point, by 1870, before it was yet a stock market.
The next year, 1871, the creation here of a cattle and hog market greatly facilitated packing, and by 1872 Kansas City had attained great importance as a packing point. In 1874 she was the principal source of supply for packed beef, and since that time has attained nearly a monopoly of the trade.
Hog packing did not prosper equally for the. sole reason that hogs could not be had, the packing capacity of the city being in excess of the supply.
The following table shows the packing done here since the war :
HOGS.
CATTLE.
1868-69.
13,000
1868
4,200
1869-70 .
23,000
1869 .
4,450
1870-71 .
36,000
1870 .
21,000
1871-72
83,000
1871
45,543
1872-73 .
180,000
1872
20,500
1873-74 .
175,000
1873
26,549
1874-75
70,300
1874
42,226
1875-76
72,500
1875
25,774
1876-77
114,869
1876
26,765
1877
180,357
1877
27,863
1878
349,097
1878 .
18,756
1879
366,830
1879 .
29, 141
1880
539,097
1880 .
30,922
During the summer of 1878, Messrs. Fowler Bros., large packers in Chicago, observing that the supply of hogs had now become sufficient at Kansas City to make it a large packing point, determined to establish a branch house here. They came for that purpose, but found that in addition to the excellent facilities offered by the large stock market and excellent transportation facilities, Kansas City was not disposed to offer much inducements. That is, Kansas City feeling that she possessed advantages for that kind of business unequaled elsewhere in the Missouri Valley, was not disposed to offer any inducements in addition.there- to. The City of Atchison, however, was; and offered such inducements in the way of land, etc., as to tempt the Messrs. Fowlers to locate there. That fall they built a large packing house at Winthrop, on the opposite side of the river and went into the business of packing hogs. It was soon found, however, that they could not conduct the business successfully in the absence of a hog market ;
539
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
and they and others addressed themselves to efforts to develop one at Atchison. The effort was futile, however, the market at Kansas City continued to attract the shipments, and for two years Messrs. Fowlers continued the business there, buying a large part of the hogs in the Kansas City market. It was found, also, that for a large part of their trade in meats their product had to be shipped to Kansas City for distribution. Competition with Kansas City packers, under such circumstances was, of course, unprofitable, and hence in the spring of 1880 they came to Kansas City, secured a large tract of ground near the junction of the Kaw and Missouri Rivers, and built there one of the largest and best appointed packing houses in the west.
In the summer of 1880 Messrs. Dold & Son, of Buffalo, New York, came to Kansas City and bought the packing house of Nofsinger & Co., who had not been operating it very extensively for several years. They opened business with the opening of the season 1880-1, and are now proposing to build a much lar- ger house.
Mr. Bigger having gone out of the packing business several years age, the houses now operating here are Plankinton & Armours, Slavens and Oburn, Fow- ler Bros., and Jacob Dold & Son. Of these houses Plankinton & Armours and Slavens & Oburn still pack a considerable amount of beef. It is mostly put up in cans, however, rather than in tierces and barrels as was formerly the custom. The houses all do a large business in packing pork and most of them continue the business through the summer.
THE GRAIN MARKET.
From the earliest dates to 1870, Kansas City imported flour from eastern Missouri and Illinois. This country had become self sustaining, so far as this part of Missouri was concerned, before the war, but the great demand by immi- grants to Kansas, and the trade with New Mexico and Colorado, made a demand that local production could not supply. By the time Kansas became a State, she was producing large amounts of grain, but the immigration took all surpluses. Between the close of the war and 1870, the same conditions existed, though the production of the country had immensely increased. By 1870, however, pro- duction began to exceed the local demand, and that year the railroads took small amounts of grain to the eastern markets. Perceiving this fact, the people, in the latter part of 1870 and the early part of 1871, began to agitate the estab- lishment of a grain market. The spring of the year 1871 gave promises of a good yield of all kinds of grain ; and the press opened on the subject again. Its agitation caused the Board of Trade to take it up and discuss it.
THE FIRST ELEVATOR-THE INFANT MARKET.
The result was that in July, 1871, Messrs. Latshaw & Quade began the erection of an elevator of about one hundred thousand bushels storage capacity. This was situated on nearly the same ground as is now the Union Elevator. It was finished and open for business in December. But there were no grain dealers to use it, and Messrs. Latshaw & Quade went into the business themselves, and were the first men to conduct a grain business in this city as a strictly commercial pursuit. Messrs. Branham & Sons owned and operated a corn mill on Fourth street, near Broadway, and Messrs. Dewar & Smith owned and operated the Diamond mills. These gentlemen were buying grain in the country and shipping it to their mills. Soon after the construction of the elevator they began to do something more than this, and shipped some grain to the east. In 1871 Messrs. Price & Doane took a large house on Santa Fe street and Union avenue, and opened a grain business, but for a long time their business was largely of a retail character. Messrs. Latshaw & Quade, however, were the principal dealers until the close of 1873, and by that time had built up a considerable order trade
-
540
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
in the east and south. Their business was, however, summarily closed in Decem ber, 1873, by the burning of their elevator.
TWO MORE ELEVATORS.
By the close of 1873, the extent of the grain business had become such as to attract others, and the next spring Messrs. Vanghan & Co. and Gillespie, Reed & Co. went into business. Messrs. Vaughan & Co. undertook the building of Elevator "A," and a stock company, of which A. J. Gillispie became president, commenced the erection of the Kansas City elevator. Both of these were begun in the spring of 1874, and finished in time for the movement of the wheat crop of that year, and had a storage capacity of about 200,000 bushels each.
Messrs. Branham & Sons had the fall previous built the Advance mills, in connection with which they provided a storage capacity for about 20, 000 bushels and all necessary elevator apparatus. From the time of the burning of the ele- vator of Messrs. Latshaw & Quade until the erection of the Kansas City and "A," this was the only facility, and was much used. In the latter part of the year 1876, it was purchased by Col. E. Lynde and converted into an elevator with about 40,coo bushels storage capacity. It was then made regular by the Board of Trade, and has since continued as the Advance Elevator.
THE MOVEMENT OF 1874 AND 1875.
The prospect for 1874 was excellent until in August when the Rocky Moun- tain Locusts came down upon Kansas and cut short the corn crop. For a time the outlook was very discouraging but it soon became evident that owing to the shortness of the supply in Kansas, corn would have to be shipped into that State. The Kansas City grain men seized the situation with their characteristic enter- prise and began the purchase of corn in Iowa and northern Missouri for Kansas. This afforded them such an excellent business that numbers of others engaged in it and brought a large amount of capital into the trade. The grain movement that year was the largest that had yet been known in Kansas City, but in the contrary direction from what was expected. The movement of wheat, rye and barley that year was to the eastward, but that of corn and oats was to the west- ward.
By the time the westward movement of corn ceased in 1875 the eastward movement of wheat had began.
Our commission men in anticipation of the movement had opened business correspondence with millers and dealers throughout the Middle and Western States, and obtained their orders. When the market opened the existing through rates of freight enabled them to fill their orders at from three to five cents less than the same grades could be supplied from St. Louis, and at the same time pay the country shipper from three to five cents more than they could realize by sending their wheat to St. Louis. St. Louis had formerly been the only western market for winter wheat, and beside this city is still the only market near enough for small shippers in the Missouri Valley. This situation was greatly stimulating to the Kansas City market, and allured many other men into the business, and brought her a number of Chicago, Baltimore and New York buyers.
OTHER ELEVATORS.
The extent to which the market had grown rendered more elevator capacity a necessity, and in the fall of 1875 a new company was formed, and the erection of the Union Elevator begun. It has a storage capacity of about 500, 000 bushels, and went into operation in February, 1876. The movement of corn during the winter and spring of 1876, proved that even with this additional facility there was still not enough, hence during the summer another company was formed, and the Arkansas Valley Elevator was built. It was finished and
541
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
went into operation on the 2d of June, 1877. In the fall of 1877 Elevator " B" was built in the Hannibal & St. Joseph freight yards. It had a storage capacity of 250,000 bushels, and went into operation March 19, 1878, but it was faulty in its foundations and fell down, December 7th, 1878.
The Alton Elevator was built near the line of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, in the northeastern part of the city, in the summer and fall of 1879. It went into operation November 22d, 1879, and has a storage capacity of one hundred and seventy-five thousand bushels.
The Novelty Elevator was first built as a small transfer house, in the summer of 1876, but was subsequently enlarged to a storage capacity of about twenty thou- sand bushels, and so continued until the fall of 1879, when it was "increased to a storage capacity of two hundred and twenty-five thousand bushels, and became regular on the 28th day of June, 1880, The State Line Elevator was built as a small elevator, having a storage capacity of about twenty thousand bushels, in 1877 and so continued until 1879, when it was enlarged to a storage capacity of one hundred thousand bushels, and was made regular on the Ist day of March, 1880.
THE GRAIN CALL.
The call of grain, which is now one of the features of the Board of Trade, was established in June, 1876. At that time the grain merchants were concen- trated about the corner of Union avenue and Santa Fe street, and finding it in- convenient to attend the daily meetings of the Board of Trade at the rooms under the First National Bank on the corner of Delaware and Fifth streets, they organized themselves into a Call Board, subject to the rules and regulations of the Board of Trade, and elected Maj. W. A. M. Vaughan, moderator, to conduct the call. In November this call was formally recognized by the Board of Di- rectors of the Board of Trade, and rules for its government were established. Maj. Vaughan continued to make the call until July, 1877, when that duty was devolved upon the secretary of the Board of Trade.
The following statistics of the grain trade will be found interesting.
STORAGE AND TRANSFER CAPACITY OF REGULAR ELEVATORS AT KANSAS CITY.
NAME.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Union
400,000
100,000
Arkansas Valley
425,000
125,000
"A"
175,000
30,000
Advance
60,000
15,000
Alton.
175,000
250,000
State Line
100,000
30,000
Novelty.
225,000
40,000
Total .
1,560,000
590,000
Storage.
Daily Transfer Capacity.
542
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
TOTAL GRAIN RECEIPTS AT KANSAS CITY PER ANNUM FROM THE FIRST OF THE MARKET.
DATE.
Wheat.
Corn.
Oats.
Rye.
Barley.
1871.
687,000
350,000
1872.
289,726
601,864
93,695
12,921
3,087
1873
750,400
836,300
105,200
10,500
12,380
1874.
371,273
711,367
210,475
3,400
37,450
1875
1, 256,337
1, 258,700
382,850
40,000
15,100
1876
1, 820, 297 5, 769, 395
117,241
396,612
109,045
1877
2,259,572
5,881,703
180,657
329,887
203,341
1878.
9,014,291
4,911,529
155,089
352,262
163,257
1879
6,417,952
4, 121,904
276,775
184,046
92,59I
1880.
4,093,528
4,421,760
366,486
65,267
82,894
The Kansas City Elevator having become inoperative and having ceased to do business on the 29th of May, 1880, it is dropped from the above table of storage capacity.
THE PRODUCE AND FLOUR MARKETS.
Produce from the country began to be handled in Kansas City in a small way prior to the war, but first took the form of a commission business soon after that struggle. A. L. Charles, A. S. Haines and R. C. Crowell & Co., were among the first merchants to engage in it. And Kansas City is now a large market for this class of articles.
The handling of flour grew up about the same time, in the same way and was conducted by about the same men. An effort was made in July, 1880, to organize this trade and put it on 'change. To that end the Board of Trade adopted rules for its government; appointed G. W. Elliot, inspector, and provided sample tables. It has not yet succeeded however in effecting its object.
THE COAL MARKET.
With the competition of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to the city in 1867, of the North Missouri (now Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific), and of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf to Fort Scott in 1869, they began to bring coal to Kansas City from the mines adjacent to their respective lines. The trade in coal had however begun before this, probably about 1868. Geo. W. McLean, since grain inspector, and A. S. Ingersoll, now a grain merchant, were the first to engage in it. They got their coal at Lexington, Mo., shipped it to Kansas City in sacks, by steamboat, and sold it at forty-five cents per bushel. These gentlemen were soon followed by Pat Casey, T. Mckinley, J. A. Bovard and others.
The first record preserved of receipts was for the year 1870, during which the Fort Scott road is recorded as having brought to Kansas City 18,000 bushels, but the Hannibal & St. Joseph and North Missouri brought coal to the city at the same time, the amount of which cannot now be ascertained. The market grew rapidly from the first, and by 1872 Kansas City was receiving and distributing over two million bushels. At this early date all the upper river towns and cities as far north as Omaha were largely supplied from here, as well as accessible parts of Kansas and Nebraska. The railroads in these States and western Iowa were also supplied from here, and have continued to be since.
The following table shows the receipts of coal into this market each year from 1870 to 1880 inclusive, as near as can now be ascertained. It must be remembered, however, that these figures for years prior to 1877 are not exact, there having been no report of the coal brought here by the Hannibal & St. Joseph
543
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
Railroad prior to that time and no report of that received here from the North Missouri for 1876. For 1877 and subsequent years the figures are taken from the Board of Trade reports, which are nearly exact.
Years.
Bushels.
1870
18,000
1871
1,408,760
1872
2,722,750
1873
2,755,500
2,799,000 1874
1875 .
3, 226,500
. 2,788,000 * 1876
1877
3, 107,050
1878
4,621,725
1879
5,307,000
1880
ยท 5,772,405
* No report for the North MissourI road.
FISH BAGS. SPRING WORK
MOLINER
IOLI
PLOWS & WESTERN CULTIVATORS.
G
SULKY PLOWS & IMPERIAL CULTIVATORS
K.P.
OFFICE
ST
544
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
CHAPTER XV.
THE PROGRESS OF THREE YEARS.
The Events of 1877-The Alton Road-The Union Depot-The Test of Barges on the Missouri -- The Great Railway Strike-Bank Suspensions -- Railway Extensions Affecting Kansas City-The United States Court House and Post-Office, and United States Courts-Rapid Growth of the City.
It was mentioned at the close of the last chapter that Kansas City began to revive from the effects of the panic of 1873, about the middle of the year 1876, and that population began again to come in and fill up the vacant houses, and revive the general tone of business. This revival was not local only, but general, and the whole country shared in it. In the west, especially, there was marked improvement, and not Kansas City only, but the whole west, entered upon a new era of prosperity and development, which, happily, has not yet received any serious check.
THE EVENTS OF 1877.
One of the first institutions to take advantage of the revival of times, to ad- vance its interests, was the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, which, as pre- viously noted, had extended its line to Mexico, Missouri, on the old Louisiana charter, and for some years had been making its connections to Kansas City from that place over the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern. On the 27th of February, 1877, T. B. Blackstone, President, J. J. Mitchell, Vice-President, and J. D. McMullin, General Superintendent, of that road, came to Kansas City, to confer with the people here, relative to extending that road along the route origi- nally proposed for the Louisiana road to Kansas City. After such conference, they returned by the way of Glasgow, accompanied from this city by General John W. Reid, who had always taken an active interest in this line of road. During the spring and summer the sense of the people along the route was taken at a series of public meetings, and in the fall a new company was organized, called the Chicago, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad Company, for the purpose of building the road. Mr. Mitchell was president of this company, and most of its members and stockholders were Chicago & Alton men. In October Mr. Mitchell submitted to Jackson county and other counties along the line, proposi- tions for aid to the road. Of Jackson county, he required fifty thousand dollars in subscriptions to the stock of the company, and procurement of the right of way through the county. This was submitted to a meeting of the, people, and referred to a committee, of which General Reid was a leading member, to raise the subscriptions, and it was soon accomplished. A like result having attended the effort in other counties, the construction of the road was an assured fact be- fore the close of the year.
The establishment of barge transportation on the Missouri River was again taken up, March 10th, at a meeting of grain merchants, and referred to a com- mittee consisting of Messrs. M. Diveley, H. J. Latshaw, E. R. Threlkeld, T. J. Lynde, Major W. A. M. Vaughan, Colonel C. E. Kearney, and A. J. Gillespie. This meeting was brought about by some correspondence with the Great Central Dispatch Company, which proposed to put barges on the river. Nothing came of this proposition, however, and subsequently a committee was sent to St. Louis for the purpose of securing, if possible, some relaxation of the railroad pool rates from the Missouri Pacific and St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroads. But this mission was unsuccessful, and on the return of the committee, an inef-
545
HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY.
fectual effort was made to start a company to build barges, after which the inter- est was allowed to slumber for another year.
The Memphis Railroad project, in which Kansas City and Jackson county had been so largely and so unsuccessfully interested since 1870, re-appeared this year, and claimed a share of attention. On the 12th of April it was sold in bank- ruptcy, and was bought in by a company of Kansas City men for fifteen thou- sand and twenty-five dollars. Mr. J. D. Bancroft, formerly cashier of the First National Bank, and at this time a grain merchant, became manager for the pur- chasers, and made an effort to raise the money to build it, but without success ; and it slumbered in the hands of this company for several years without anything further being done to build it.
Other railroad enterprises, however, were more fortunate, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad began the construction of branches from Emporia south, since finished to Howard, Kansas, and from Florence to Eldorado, since finished through to a connection with the main line again at Ellinwood.
During the early part of the year there was considerable discussion of a proposition to put a dam across the Kaw River a few miles above the city for the purpose of creating a water power for manufacturing purposes, and Mr. Pierson, engineer for the water company, made a favorable report concerning it, but nothing was ever done about it.
The long-continued effort to induce the railroads centering here to build an eligible Union Passenger Depot was this year successful. Early in the year a company was organized for that purpose, composed of the representatives of the different lines, and the work begun. On the ioth of July the old wooden shed which had been used for that purpose was abandoned, and the point of inter- change moved to the State Line Depot. Immediately afterward the old shed was taken down and the construction of the present elegant building begun. It was finished in January following and opened to the public with C. H. Dunham, Esq., as superintendent, A. W. Millspaugh, ticket agent, and John Hale, bag- gage master. Its cost was about two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
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