HISTORY OF THE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY IN ILLINOIS TEXT

At Fort Worth, Texas, there was nothing but a large fort and force of United States soldiers to subdue the Indians around there. The present six big western markets have all been started since that time. "While the magnitude of Mr. Ponting's operations was not as great as that of John T. Alexander, and although he probably never accumulated as much wealth as Benjamin F. Harris, he was successful and his operations extended over a greater period of time than any one of the early pioneer cattlemen of the state of Illinois. He operated throughout two of the stages of cattle feeding and has lived to see the beginning of the third."[20] FOOTNOTES: [15] Bureau of Animal Industry Report of 1885-86. [16] The Breeder's Gazette, July 16, 1913. His son, John T. Alexander, of Alexander, Ward & Co., commission men of Chicago, has been prominent in the cattle interests during the last 40 years. [17] The Breeder's Gazette, July 16, 1913. [18] The Breeder's Gazette. Aug. 6, 1913. [19] This information was given by his grandson, Mr. B. F. Harris. [20] Story of Tom Ponting's Life. IV. THE RANGE INDUSTRY "In the ante-bellum period, central Illinois was a vast blue grass pasture. The people were breeding many cattle, but not enough to supply the steady increasing demand for stockers and feeders. Cattle feeders made good the deficiency in the local production by heavy drafts on Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and other sections of the trans-Mississippi region. The subsequent reign of King Corn was then barely in the incubating stage. Grass was the beef maker's principal reliance. "Not until well along in the sixties did the cultivation of corn begin on an extensive scale and corn-fed steers become conspicuous on the markets. After the grazing period, corn speedily took possession of the whole of central Illinois, until now less than 15 per cent remains in pastures, whereas in the days of the "barons" an exactly reverse condition existed. At that time, fully 85 per cent of such counties as Sangamon, Morgan, and Logan, were in grass. "The cattle that were secured from Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas, were purchased during the fall months. By the early part of winter, central Illinois pastures would be fully stocked with three and four year old bullocks, which were allowed to graze all through the winter and the following spring and summer. About three acres of the rich blue grass was allowed to a steer and on this they fattened rapidly. "There are men now living in Missouri and Illinois who drove cattle from that vast breeding ground west of the Mississippi river, into central Illinois, for the cattle kings, Jacob Strawn and John T. Alexander. These herds, numbering about 300 to 400 head, grazed leisurely across the open country at about 15 miles or so a day. During the war, the trade was more or less interrupted, but the practice was continued until settlement and railroads rendered trailing both unnecessary and impossible. "The annexation of Texas to the United States, and the discovery of gold in California in 1849, resulted in an influx of population and capital that soon exerted a stimulating effect upon the production of cattle throughout the southwest, as well as beyond the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the west. "At a comparatively early date, there was a ready market for Illinois bred cattle to go to the states west of the Mississippi river to be used for breeding stock. The development of the range cattle industry created a strong demand for pure bred bulls, and cattle breeders of Illinois were called upon, perhaps to a greater extent than those of any other state in the Union, to supply this demand. The range cattle business also created a market for young cows and heifers to be used for breeding purposes. This demand steadily increased from year to year, until a very large part of the yearly product of pure bred cattle in Illinois was absorbed for that purpose."[21] "In 1880, the range cattle trade was yet in a transition stage, especially as to the destination of marketable cattle and the special use to which they were put. Before this time, the bulk of the range cattle trade was divided between the coming establishments of the west, slaughter for home consumption, for exportation as dressed carcasses to the eastern markets, and shipping on the hoof to eastern states as feeders. Large feeding stables had been established in Nebraska for the purpose of feeding out these large numbers of rangers, but they could not utilize all of them. The overflow of these grass fat rangers found their way to eastern feed lots to be finished on the grain of the corn belt. The numbers increased from year to year, and extended farther and father east as the numbers increased. "The fact that one of the large feeding plants of Nebraska could turn off as many as 2000 ripe range steers in one month, gives some indication of the immense capacity of the range cattle trade. "As the Indians were confined more closely from year to year, there were more grazing lands opened up to be devoted to the raising of these range cattle. Most people at this time, seeing the rapid increase of the range industry, thought there would never be a beef famine as the economists of the time predicted. They said such economists always look on the dark side of things."[22] "Not many had any adequate conception of the vastness of the cattle interest in the great pasture region lying on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains during the seventies and eighties. It was worth quite a journey to see a single thousand head of these cattle engaged in feeding together. To witness a drove of 4000 moving leisurely along at a convenient distance from each other, to allow the animals to graze as they traveled a mile or so an hour, would seem to an unaccustomed eye as if the herd must consist of tens of thousands. The appearance of such a drove as this might be recalled by a single transaction made by Dennis Sheedy of Colorado, who sold 27000 head of cattle to the Ogalla Cattle Company. This company was composed of A. H. Swan, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, William Paxton, of Omaha, Nebraska, and J. H. Bosler of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The cattle were put on a range on the north side of the north Platte Run in Nebraska and Wyoming. The lumping price was $30 per head, amounting to $810,000 for the entire lot."[23] _Texas Cattle_ "It will be no departure from the strictest truth to say that the oldest known race of cattle on this continent is the Texas or Spanish cattle. They have been very generally popular with the stockmen of the plains, because they turned the free grass of the plains into available cash for their owners. "The Texas cattle are truly the only animals except the bison that deserve the name of "Native" American cattle. All the other scrubs in the country are foreigners by blood, or are descendants of intruders from other lands. These long legged, big headed, thin fleshed brutes were in this country centuries ago. It is by no means certain that their ancestors did not roam the plains of the Brazos and the Rio Grande a thousand years or more before America was visited by the Spaniards. There is evidence that the real ancestors of the cattle of Texas were seen in Old Mexico and described about five hundred years after the Christian era, but this evidence has been considered unworthy of full confidence, because to admit its truth would be to confess that the honor of first discovering America belongs to the barbarians from the Orient. "In the carefully edited official records, known as the "Chinese Year Book", which was written some fourteen hundred years ago, a circumstantial account of a visit to Mexico by a party of Buddhist Priests is given. These priests saw in the country two breeds of cattle. One of these breeds was described as having very large horns which would hold ten measures. These were probably the earliest ancestors of the present race of Texas cattle, while the other breed with shorter horns was, it is likely, the ancestors of the bison that later roamed over the ranges of the western plains. Those ancient travelers were too well accustomed to seeing cattle and horses in their own country to be in even the slightest degree likely to mistake any other animal for kine. The generally accepted belief, however, is that the Texas cattle are descendants of cattle brought to America by the Spanish invaders, although no definite proof seems to have been brought forward to show that those roistering, plundering explorers ever imported any cattle to this continent, and turned them loose in such numbers as would have produced the vast horde that covered the Southwestern plains before the Civil War. "To western people, especially in those parts where Spanish or Texas fever has caused the destruction of stock, Texas cattle are so well known that a description of their peculiarities will appear unnecessary. There are many who do not know that the chief purpose of the Texas bullock, pure and simple, seems to be the lugging about of a prodigious pair of horns. To this end, a big head and coarse shoulders have been given him. Behind these are a flat ribbed, thin chested, light body, held up at the hinder end by a pair of cat hams on thin, deer-like legs. The whole outfit, unburdened by flesh or fat, is muscular, nervous, and active. Such of them as lived through alternate roasting, starving, and freezing during the early years of their lives, found their way to the northern markets to be fattened and slaughtered. These rangers fattened very readily in the northern feed lots and those that were not too old and tough made very good beef. Thousands of them were driven from Texas in the early forties and fifties to Illinois feed lots, where they were fattened and then re-driven to the markets on the seaboard. In later years, they were slaughtered in Illinois and shipped in refrigerator cars, in the form of dressed carcasses, to the Atlantic States. Choice parts, as steaks, roasts, and tenderloins, were sent to health resorts, watering places, and to hotels and restaurants. A vast quantity of their flesh found its way into tin cans, to feed hungry humanity, in the hut of the laborer, at the picnic of the aristocrat, in the camp of the miner, and in the forecastle of the sailor in every corner of the world. It will be seen that the mission of the Texas steer was to raise the standard of living, to add to the comfort, and preserve the health and strength of people the world over."[24] FOOTNOTES: [21] The Breeder's Gazette, July 16, 1913. [22] Farm Field and Stockmen. [23] The Prairie Farmer, July 18, 1885, p. 453. [24] The Prairie Farmer, 1885, p. 452. V. THE PURE BRED INDUSTRY The beginning of the pure bred cattle industry in the state of Illinois was antedated by the introduction of the mongrel bred cattle by a very narrow margin of time. While there were probably a few mongrel bred cattle in the state before 1830, those that were brought in after that date were the real foundation cattle. These cattle were brought from the eastern states, by the early pioneers, for milk cows, and it is their descendants which are referred to when the native cattle of the state are spoken of. The changes which have been made from the mongrel bred cattle that were brought into the state by the early settlers to the present day improved breeds have been marked. "For almost a century, attention has been given to the breeding of pure bred cattle in Illinois. As early as 1833, a man by the name of James Williams, brought some Shorthorn cattle of the Patten Stock, from Kentucky to Sangamon county. In 1834, J. D. Smith and J. N. Brown brought a number of Shorthorns from Kentucky to the central part of the state. In the spring of 1838, Colonel John Williams, a son of James Williams, brought a Shorthorn bull and a Shorthorn cow from Lexington, New York, into Sangamon county. These three importations of pure bred stock into Illinois were the earliest of which there are any records. Other importations of Shorthorns into the state were made at later dates, however, and they soon became the leading breed of cattle in the state for both beef and dairy purposes."[25] The rapid dissemination of Shorthorns throughout the state was probably due chiefly to the method by which the breed was advertised. The leading breeders held public auction sales annually on their farms, or at some convenient place, and people all over the state were invited to come to these sales and bring such pure bred animals as they had for sale. In view of apprehensions on the part of some of the breeders, that this method might tend to spread disease among the cattle, it became a rule to require that every contributor to a sale furnish a certificate from a veterinarian, showing his cattle to be in good health, and that they had not been exposed to any contagious disease. Shorthorns held full sway in the state until about 1865 or 1870, when the tide began to turn. Other breeds began to be introduced into various parts of the state. Some of these breeds gained popularity so rapidly that within a very few years the competition became very keen between them and the Shorthorns. At the shows, all breeds were shown in the same class. This created considerable excitement among the enthusiastic advocates of the various breeds and often resulted in fist and skull fights. "At the Chicago show in 1879, there was close competition among the breeds when it come to tying the ribbon for sweepstakes award. Mr. F. L. Miller, a Hereford man, wanted to put the breeds to a slaughter test. The other breeders refused to kill their pure bred cattle, but some grades were slaughtered instead; one Shorthorn, one Hereford, and one Devon." Herefords Shorthorns Devons Gross Weight 1963 1795 1614 Net Weight 1317 1179 1055 Offal 452 389 394 Dressing per cent 67.1 65.7 65.3 Fore Quarters 354 308 277 371 303 275 Hind Quarters 287 283 247 305 285 256 Tallow 178 155 145 Hide 106 90 99 Head 55 47 49 Neither of these steers had marbled flesh. One family who ate some of one of the steers was said to have been made sick, due to the excessive fatness. The feeders of this time gave very little or no attention to the marbling of meat. All they noted was whether an animal was getting fat or not. They didn't notice whether they were putting the fat on evenly.[26] From the very earliest improvement of cattle in Illinois, Shorthorn blood has been used more extensively than that of any other breed. They were the first pure bred cattle brought into the state and were the only pure bred cattle in the state for several years. They were more generally known by farmers throughout the state and at a very early date were found in almost every county. Hereford cattle have ranked next to Shorthorns, both in number and popularity. "About 1870, Herefords began to play an important part in beef production in this state, and it was only a few years after this time that they were taken into Sangamon county, where Shorthorns had first gotten their strong hold."[27] "The competition between the Herefords and the Shorthorns grew stronger each year. In February of 1885, the Shorthorn Breeders' Association, in session, decided to ask each member to contribute fifteen cents for each Shorthorn owned by him, to be used for the good of the Shorthorn interest. The rivalry between the different breeds of cattle was so sharply defined and closely pressed that they thought it indispensable to the protection and prosperity of the Shorthorn interest and thought the State Association of Shorthorn Breeders should be kept in an active and strong existence."[28] The following is a summary of reports gathered by the Bureau of Animal Industry in 1885, by sending out questionnaires to different parts of the state, showing the breed of cattle that has been used moot extensively in cattle improvement. _State as a Whole_ No. Reports Breed Used 240 Shorthorns 80 Herefords 28 Angus 17 Devons _State by Sections_ Northwest 27 Shorthorns Counties 9 Herefords 5 Angus Northern 34 Shorthorns Counties 13 Herefords 5 Angus 4 Devons 2 Galloways Western 32 Shorthorns Counties 8 Herefords 5 Angus 4 Devons 3 Galloways Central 55 Shorthorns Counties 20 Herefords 3 Angus 1 Red Polled Western 20 Shorthorns Counties 14 Herefords 7 Angus Southwest 9 Shorthorns Counties 1 Herefords 1 Angus Southern 44 Shorthorns Counties 6 Herefords 3 Devons 1 Dutch Belted Southeast 10 Shorthorns Counties 2 Herefords 2 Devons _T. L. Miller_ "Early in the "seventies," Mr. T. L. Miller, than a business man in Chicago, who owned a farm at Beecher, Will county, Illinois, became interested in Hereford cattle." Mr. Miller was born at Middletown, Connecticut, on April 7, 1817. In 1842, he went to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where he was in business until 1856, when he removed to Chicago, Illinois. Here he was in the fire insurance business until about 1870. He had bought the first 320 acres of his farm at Beecher and 207 acres three miles to the north. He commenced to improve the farm with buildings in 1862. His nearest railroad station then was Monee, on the Illinois Central. In 1870, the Chicago, Danville, and Vincennes Railroad, was built, and Mr. Miller bought about 340 acres of additional land to the west of that already acquired and laid out the village of Beecher. He closed out his business in Chicago and went to live on this "Highland Stock Farm" in March, 1870. A few years later, he laid the foundation for his herd of Hereford cattle. Mr. William Powell, an Englishman, who later on bred and handled Herefords extensively on his own account both in Illinois and Texas, was jointly interested with Mr. Miller in some of his earlier ventures in Herefords. An item in the "National Live Stock Journal" for February, 1872, reads as follows: "We learn that Messrs. Byers and Campbell, of Nevada, Ohio, have sold to Messrs. T. L. Miller and Wm. Powell of Highland Stock Farm, Beecher, Will county, Illinois, an individual half interest in three Hereford cows and two bulls, and thirty-six pure bred Cotswold sheep. Mr. Miller's farm soon afterward became the center of the greatest American activity in the Hereford trade."[29] _Thomas Clark_ "Thomas Clark was born in Herefordshire, England, near the Monmouth border, in 1842. His father was a cattle grower of local repute, who used pure bred Hereford bulls, but did not profess to be a handler of pedigreed strains. Thomas Clark came to the United States in the spring of 1866, and after working for a time on a farm near Pittsfield, Ohio, was employed by a Cleveland butcher having a large city trade. Thrifty and possessed of an inborn faith in the "white faces" of his native land, by dint of hard work and economy in the course of a few years, Clark found himself in a position to get into business in a small way on his own account. As foreman and cutter in Cleveland, he acquired