Re: Post War Stock Cars


Douglas Harding
 

Jim, first for some reason I am not getting your postings, I have learned
about them as others have responded and I received those postings. Shades of
the problems I have with getting messages sent to the list by Jack Burgess.



Now to your questions about Post War Stock Cars, dealing mostly with the
movement of livestock.

Livestock was shipped to where there was demand. Demand changed as
demographics changed, ie post WWII the population began moving west. Post
1900 most slaughter operations occurred in the midwest, with much of it
occurring west of Chicago. By the 50's Omaha had surpassed Chicago as the
largest union stockyard operation in the country. And yes there were major
slaughter operations in the west: Los Angeles, South San Francisco,
Portland, Tacoma, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver and Pueblo. Some were
national names, other were local companies, who filled the needs of the
west. By the mid 60's (post STMFC list) most livestock and meat traffic had
shifted to trucks. And most of this traffic was from west to east.



Livestock feed and rest stations were different from what you call gateways,
and were located at numerous locations, spaced to accommodate the 28 hr law.
They're design was to care for livestock and then send them on their way,
often on the same road. What you call gateways were more likely
destinations, ie locations of major slaughter operations. I do have some
evidence of livestock moving through (or around) Chicago or St Louis on
eastern road trains with minimal delay.



As Steve pointed out most railroads operating west of the Mississippi had
significant numbers of stockcars. You could see these cars almost anywhere a
farmer/rancher thought he could make more money selling his livestock.



I don't have much on post War routings. But do have info about the largest
stockyards,



From a 1922 Government map. Some locations are guesses as the map/chart is
rather small and not all locations are marked beyond a number.

1922 Cattle Markets - relative size based on average yearly receipts of
cattle and calves 1916-1920



1. Chicago Il

2. Kansas City

3. Omaha

4. Fort Worth TX

5. E St Louis IL

6. St Paul MN

7. Jersey City NJ

8. Sioux City IA

9. Denver CO

10. St Joseph MO

11. Buffalo NY

12. Oklahoma City OK

13. Pittsburgh PA

14. Indianapolis IN

15. Cincinnati OH

16. Milwaukee WI

17. New York City NY

18. Wichita KS

19. Cleveland OH

20. Philadelphia PA

21. Detroit MI

22. Baltimore MD

23. Louisville KY

24. Amarillo TX

25. San Antonia TX

26. ? Hoboken NJ ?

27. Pueblo or Colorado Springs CO

28. New Orleans LA

29. El Paso TX

30. Portland OR

31. Boston MA

32. Ogden UT

33. Nashville TN

34. Minneapolis MN

35. Albany/Troy NY

36. Seattle WA

37. Spokane WA

38. Toledo OH

39. Salt Lake City UT

40. Montgomery AL

41. Cheyenne WY

42. Evansville IN

43. S San Francisco CA

44. ? Elma Ohio ?

45. Peoria IL

46. ? Richmond VA ?

47. Tacoma WA

48. Atlanta GA

49. Birmingham AL

50. Knoxville TN

51. ? Alexandria VA ?

52. Chattanooga TN

53. ? Marion OH ?

54. Jacksonville FL

55. ? La Fayette IN ?

56. Augusta GA

57. ? Fostoria OH ?

58. Dallas TX

59. Sioux Falls SD

60. Billings MT

61. Memphis TN

62. Pasco WA

63. Columbia SC

64. ? Macon GA ?

65. Columbus OH



1922 Hog Markets -- Receipts of Hogs at Public Stockyards 1916-1921. Again
ranking largest to smallest based upon receipts.

1. Chicago IL

2. E St Louis Il

3. Omaha NE

4. Kansas City MO

5. Indianapolis IN

6. St Paul MN

7. Sioux City IA

8. St Joseph MO

9. Pittsburgh PA

10. Buffalo NY

11. Cincinnati OH

12. Cleveland OH

13. Baltimore MD

14. Fort Worth TX

15. Jersey City NJ

16. New York NY

17. Louisville KY

18. Nashville TN

19. Oklahoma City OK

20. Wichita KS



Maps for this kind of information can be found at:

http://etc.usf.edu/maps/galleries/us/agriculture/index.php?pageNum_Recordset
1=10
<http://etc.usf.edu/maps/galleries/us/agriculture/index.php?pageNum_Recordse
t1=10&totalRows_Recordset1=141> &totalRows_Recordset1=141



And here is a listing of Union Stockyards (from an undated map).



S San Francisco CA

Los Angeles CA

Denver CO

Atlanta GA

Chicago IL

Peoria IL

E St Louis IL

Indianapolis IN

Wichita KS

Louisville KY

Brighton MA

S St Paul MN

St Joseph MO

Joplin MO

Kansas City MO

Billings MT

West Fargo ND

Omaha NE

Jersey City NJ

Lancaster PA

Pittsburgh PA

Cincinnati OH

Oklahoma City OK

Portland OR

Sioux Falls SD

Memphis TN

Fort Worth TX

Houston TX

San Antonio TX

Ogden UT

Milwaukee WI





Doug Harding

www.iowacentralrr.org

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