Image provided by: Crook County Historical Society/Bowman Museum; Prineville, OR
About Crook County journal. (Prineville, Or.) 189?-1921 | View Entire Issue (July 12, 1917)
PAGE 4 CArf NORTH PORTLAND (MiMARKETj ' r.".'.".".'."i.".'-." " T -"""'".."'7..-T iLzi:r: . vs"7isiZJL--'.''.?-i. The I'nion Stock Yards proper Is great live stock market, covering many acres with railroad tracks, pens, unloading docks, buildings and other facilities adequate to the transaction of an enormous daily business In receiving;, yarding, feed ing, watering, selling, weighing and delivering or reshtpplng animals. The I'nion Stock Yards at North Portland Is owned, operated and managed by the Portland Union Stock Yards Company, a corporation organized and jncorporated in the State ot Oregon. It neither buys, ells nor slaughters live stock, hut imply keeps a great live stock hotel at which, often fvra are thousands of four-footed guests received and eared for in a single day. Slaughter ing is done by the various packers and butchers, wh maintain buyers and purchasing agents at the mar ket. The Portland I'nion Stock Yards la an open, free and public trading i place, where any man who has animals to sell, can offer and sell I them himself, or employ whomso ever he pleases to sell them for him. nd where any man who has money may buy without restrictions of any kind. There are about a dozen separate ' and competing commission concern j regularly engaged In selling live stock at this market for non-resident shippers and owners. Prac tically al! the Coast and Northwest ers States contribute to the daily receipt. Shippers from as tar south as the lower part of California and east aa far as Wyoming find it prof itable to consign their offerings to North Portland. Each commission Arm has its force of expert salesmen tor the various kinds of live stock. Consignments are almost invariably sold, paid for, and net proceeds re mitted to consignors before three o'clock on day ot arrival, all trans actions being on a spot cash basis. The Portland Union Stock Yards Company charges a small entrance or yardage fee on arrival of the stock, ranging from 5 cents for sheep and 8 cents for hogs to 25 cents for cattle per head, to pay the cost of handling, weighing and wa tering while at market, and makes no further charges except for feed consumed, no matter how long the animals remain. Nearly thirty regular buyer look to this market for all or part ot their supplies of cattle, hogs and sheep. Keeders, too, realise that this is the logical and proper place to buy their thin cattle and sheep tor feeding them surplus hay and grain. These buyers constantly are competing for the daily offerings. All transactions must of necessity take place In the presence of animals sold, since no two lots are alike In either conformation, condition or value, and because live stock cannot be classified and sold by description or sample, like grain or manufactur ed goods, each lot must be sold ou its merits to the highest bidder. The handling ot live stock after having arrived at the stock yards is an extremely interesting operation. A long line of cars is switched to the unloading chutes, skilled em ployes quickly set the dock aprons and gates, and drive the animals to the dock pens. Other employes take note of the car numbers, count the animals and drive them to the pens alloted them. Here they are held under lock and key until the owner ship is determined. Feed is ordered by the commis sion men or owners, and the barter ing begins with the various buyers. When sold, stock yard employes drive the animals to the ' scales, which are regularly inspected by ex pert disinterested scale men. Scales are balanced before each draft and weighed by an official of the Stock Yards Company, in the presence ot both buyer and seller, the weight being registered automatically by the scales. The price is put on the ticket and this ticket used as a voucher by the buyer, a copy going to the Stock Yards Company, an other to the seller. These tickets are kept on file indefinitely and can be referred to by anyone interested at any time. Newspaper representa tives gather the prices used in their market reports from these tickets and publish them tor the benefit of the stockmen throughout the coun try. The fact that there has never been a single complaint as to weight T. C BENSON Cattle Salesman .Benson Commission Go. Livestock Commission Merchants Sheep - Cattle - Hogs ' , , , - PTA A. R. BENSON Hog Salesman NORTH PORTLAND, OREGON Phones: Woodlawn 2400, C 6111 Mountains of Alfalfa, the V Ps:t -'-- ?' V W.T.MATLOCK Sheep Salesman ,. i,. v . Very Best Winter Feed - 'jV rf - ;r: A. J. W. CREATH Sec'y. and Treat. . , a,-' - vfrii