Weighed by B. F. Harris; sold for 8 cents per lb.
Largest steer in Illinois, weight 3524, 7 years old, raised by John
Rising, fed by H. H. Harris.
Average weight of the 100 head, 2377 lbs.
* * * * *
The foregoing is a correct statement of a famous cattle sale which
occurred in the City of Chicago, month of March, 1856.
The herd comprised 100 head of the finest and heaviest cattle ever
raised and fattened in one lot by one man in the State of Illinois,
or in the United States of America, or elsewhere, so far as the
records go to show. These cattle were raised from 1 and 2-year-old
steers on my farm in Champaign County, Illinois, and fattened for the
market in the years of 1855 and '56, their average age, at that time,
being 4 years. They were weighed on my farm by Dr. Johns, of Decatur,
Illinois, President State Agricultural Society. Said weights were
witnessed by a large number of representative men from Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky and Illinois, to the number of five hundred, among whom were
many professional cattle raisers and dealers, all of whom bore willing
testimony to the average weight of the cattle, which was 2,377 lbs.
per head. Out of this lot of 100 cattle, 12 head of the finest steers
were selected and fed until the following February. They then showed
an average weight of 2,786¼ lbs., and were sold to Messrs. Cliborn and
Alby, of Chicago, at 8 cents per lb. The weight master kept a record of
each draft as the cattle were weighed--one and two in a draft. A copy
of said weights is herewith attached for the inspection of the general
public; also copy of average gain at different periods.
On the 22d of February, 1857, the 12 steers sold to Cliborn and Alby,
appropriately decorated with tri-colored ribbon, preceded by a band
of music, were led through the principal streets of Chicago, followed
by 100 butchers, mounted and uniformed. After this unique procession,
the cattle were slaughtered by said Cliborn, and Alby, for the city
markets, some of the beef selling as high as 50 cents per lb. Small
packages of it were sent to customers in various parts of the United
States, and even Europe, and sold, in some cases, as high as $1.00 per
lb. These orders were given by these parties simply that they might say
they had eaten of this famous premium beef.
B. F. Harris.
_Tom Candy Ponting._