_Live Stock and Meat._ The extension of railroads to the grazing lands of the West and the tremendous increase of corn production in the Mississippi Valley after 1860 gave a great impetus to live stock raising. Like the trade in grain the trade in live stock centered around a series of great cities located centrally within easy reach of the producing sections on one side and of the consuming region on the other. To these primary markets the railroads carried thousands of car loads of stock--horses and mules for distribution among the farms and cities of the East and South, cattle, hogs and sheep for slaughter at the packing houses at the primary markets, for distribution among the farms of the Central States to be fattened for subsequent killing, or for shipment to the slaughter pens of Eastern cities. Until 1863 Cincinnati was the chief meat packing city of the country, but in that year Chicago took the lead and has held it ever since, and as the live stock industry shifted westward, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Omaha and St. Joseph in turn surpassed Cincinnati in the business. The trade in meat was revolutionized during this period by the introduction of the refrigerator car which made possible the transportation of fresh meat for any distance. The total value of the products of wholesale slaughtering and meat packing in 1900 amounted in value to $700,000,000, of which more than one-half was produced in three cities, Chicago, Kansas City and South Omaha. In Chicago alone 2,000,000 cattle and 22,000,000 hogs were packed. The chief market for the numerous products of the packing establishments was in the manufacturing districts of the East. The eastbound rail shipments of provisions from Chicago in 1900 averaged about 20,000 tons a week.