September 30: Stockyards Open

On 30 October 1887, the first stockyard opened in South St. Paul, Minnesota. On its first day of business, 363 cattle were sold. From this beginning, South St. Paul would grow into a center of the livestock industry until 11April 2008 when the last roundup was held.

Problems associated with livestock yards and slaughterhouses were a theme of Sinclair Lewis’ The Jungle which was published in book form on 28 February 1906. The book had been serialized during 1905 in Appeal to Reason, a socialist newspaper. Public reaction to the book led to the passage of two important pieces of Federal legislation: the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

A later reformer of stockyards and slaughter houses was Temple Grandin who argued that “I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we’ve got to do it right. We’ve got to give those animals a decent life and we’ve got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.” By observing cattle, Grandin was able to develop systems that made their experiences more humane. One of the things that Grandin discovered was that “Curved cattle chutes are more efficient for handling cattle because they take advantage of the natural behavior of cattle. Cattle move through curved races more easily because they have a natural tendency to go back to where they came from.” Her curved designs and other modifications revolutionized the livestock industry.

Concern for cattle and other livestock is not a just modern concern. As Jeremy McInerny argues in The Cattle of the Sun (2010), “Though Greece is traditionally seen as an agrarian society, cattle were essential to Greek communal life, through religious sacrifice and dietary consumption. Cattle were also pivotal in mythology: gods and heroes stole cattle, expected sacrifices of cattle, and punished those who failed to provide them.”
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Humane treatment of livestock is also at the root of kosher and hallal dietary laws that regulate how animals are to be killed.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Photo Caption: Geo. R. Lawrence Co. panoramic illustrating the beef industry, 1900. (top) Curved shoot designed by Temple Grandin. Reprinted with permission of Grandin.com. (bottom)

 

Posted on by stevenlberg
Categories: American History: Modern, Business History
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3 Responses

  1. Shelby Mann says:
    5 December 2012 at 11:20 am

    This is very interesting! I did not know that a book led to the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act that was also an important part of the Progressive Era. I also did not realize that a stockyard was basically the same as a slaughterhouse. What is also interesting to me is that President Theodore Roosevelt signed both acts on the very same day on June 30th in 1906. I think the Pure Food and Drug Act was a very responsible thing to do, especially with all the meat being sold in stockyards. The Pure Food and Drug Act is responsible for putting labels on certain drugs and certain foods. The labels included the contents of the food or drug along with dosages in drugs.

    Reply
    • David Miller says:
      7 December 2012 at 1:20 pm

      As a prospective pharmacology student, the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 grabbed my attention immediately. This piece of legislation, along with the simultaneous establishment of the Food and Drug Administration, has played a major role in our society.

      On October 20th, 1909, a truck working for Coca-Cola was seized by the government. The truck contained “40 barrels and 20 kegs of Coca-Cola syrup.” The reason the truck was seized was under the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. They argued that the caffeine content in Coca-Cola was unsafe and ultimately took the company to court. In the end, Coca-Cola had lost the case and was forced to lower the amount of caffeine in their product. One of the most common misconceptions about this incident is that Coca-Cola was forced to remove cocaine from its product. This was never the case, however, as Coca-Cola barely had any cocaine to begin with.

      Caffeine and other stimulants have been regulated even since ancient times. In Islam, there is a practice known as Sufism which has to do with smoking a hashish and experiencing visions in which one can see and communicate with Allah. Several centuries later, around 1050-1100 AD, the practice was prohibited in ancient Egypt.

      Although the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was a new act, the Egyptians beat us to that idea nearly a thousand years ago.

      Reply
  2. Ryan Dickson says:
    9 December 2012 at 7:01 pm

    Temple Grandin was not only known for coming up with curved cattle chutes but also she came up with better restraint systems for the cattle and better facilities in general. The title of one of her well known essays is “Animals are not Things”in which she talks about how animals are technically property in our society but the law gives them rights or protections. Temple Grandin has multiply degrees and has written numerous articles and essays about animal rights. She has accomplished all of this while being diagnosed with autism at the age of two.

    In my Ancient World class i was able to connect Temple Gradins innovations and how they benefited society to the Spartans inventions.For example the Spartans war tactics and military schools.

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