When Mr. Ponting came to Chicago in 1848, there was only one cattle market west of the Allegheny mountains, and that was at St. Louis. At that time, there were a good many cattle sold for the New Orleans market during the spring and winter, but the principal markets were New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia It took ninety days to make the trip to New York with cattle and the drovers had to wait until the roads settled in the spring before they started. 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.