The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852Casseday, Ben
History
The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852
Casseday, Ben
Louisville (Ky.) -- Description and travel; Louisville (Ky.) -- History
Louisville also deserves consideration as a market for pork. This market,
though perhaps less in extent here than in some other Western cities, is
steadily increasing in the amount of its operations and rapidly growing
into favor with the dealers. In 1827 there were but two pork houses in the
city; one of which was owned by Patrick Maxcy and the other by Colmesnil
and O'Beirne. It was then the custom to buy the hog in small lots from the
farmers by means of agents who traveled through the State. These hogs so
procured were concentrated at some point and corn was bought and fed to
them until the time for slaughtering arrived, when they were driven to
this city and here butchered. The number of hogs killed by these two
houses did not then exceed fifteen thousand, while at the end of the pork
season in 1851, this amount had been increased to one hundred and
ninety-five thousand, four hundred and fourteen. It is fully calculated by
the packers that this number will be exceeded ten per cent in the ensuing
year. Both the farmer and the buyer have reasons for prefering this city
as a pork market. The farmer, because it is not the custom here to
"_scale_" the hog--that is, to make a standard weight for which the market
price is given, while all below that point are taken at reduced
figures--and the buyer, because pork is here packed under the same roof
where it is butchered. This last may be considered a small inducement; but
when it is remembered that where the butchering and packing are carried on
by different individuals and in different parts of the city, the hog is
obliged to be transported at all seasons and in all states of weather from
house to house at considerable labor and cost and with danger of damage to
the meat, it will be found an item worthy the serious consideration of the
buyer. The meat put up here is surpassed in quality by none in the world,
and when the facilities of transportation referred to in the above remarks
upon cotton are established, the growth of this city as a pork market will
be yet more rapid than it has before been. There are at present eight
large pork houses in the city. The importance of Louisville as a pork
market is well enough known to need no further elaboration of its merits
in these pages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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