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- Thread starter Mountaintown Creek Ranch
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SBMF 2015
Well-known member
I've grown up hearing some really cool stories about the Chicago Stock Yards from neighbors who used to sell cattle there.
greybeard
Well-known member
America's poet Carl Sandburg knew it...
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's
Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
It covered a square mile,
The caption says:
at it's peak the stockyards processed 18 million head of livestock/year and employed 45,000 people.
https://image3.slideserve.com/5632620/chicago-hog-butcher-of-the-world-l.jpg
in the late 1800s
I was in Chicago around 1977. All that was left is the gates to the stockyard that closed in 1971.
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's
Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
It covered a square mile,
The caption says:
at it's peak the stockyards processed 18 million head of livestock/year and employed 45,000 people.
https://image3.slideserve.com/5632620/chicago-hog-butcher-of-the-world-l.jpg
in the late 1800s
I was in Chicago around 1977. All that was left is the gates to the stockyard that closed in 1971.
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SBMF 2015
Well-known member
I think they may still hold the world record for most hogs killed in a day. Something crazy like 250,000.
Rafter S
Well-known member
I spent a good bit of time with my grandfather's uncle, who was born in 1899 and died in 1989. Back when my part of the country was mostly farming cotton and corn, so every town didn't have an auction barn, he hauled his cattle to Port City Stockyards in Houston. I remember him telling me about the time he was there visiting with some people and they saw a man bring in some cattle in a gooseneck trailer. It was the first time any of them had ever seen one, and they all said they were surprised he'd made it that far without that trailer wrecking.
Three heifers out of my homeraised bulls. They all hang together pretty well. The chocolate heifer to the right may be culled yet. Something about her I don't love. The other two are going to be little tanks.
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CowboyRam
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Dad talks about buying some stock form one sale barn and then haul them to Chicago overnight to sell them before their check would bounce.
sim.-ang.king
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Purdy slick right there!
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
That's one big reason the local sale barn closed. You could kite checks before electronic banking but in modern day the money transfers almost instantly.
Moved my homeraised bull to a friend's yesterday. He's got 5 needing serviced. Little buddy walked right up onto the trailer. I think he knew good times were ahead. Wish I had got better pictures but wasn't thinking. 27 months, 1400 to 1500 I'm going to guess? He's been getting 5 # of feed a week.Ground was rough and froze solid.
I do dislike his feet/legs I think. Anyone feel the same way based on the picture?
I do dislike his feet/legs I think. Anyone feel the same way based on the picture?
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Twisted
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Spot & Bubby
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Named'em Tamed'em
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Growing up on the Farm!
The cow they're milking would let them both climb on her.
Ouachita
Well-known member
That boy looks like Mikey on the Life cereal commercial
Can't tell much about feet & legs in pic - but he looks thick & deep.
branxchar&charx
Well-known member
Spot & Bubby
Well-known member
My good boy, Wobble the Bobblehead.
