Aside from the beef slaughtered and packed in the city, no very large amount comes to this market. In 1849, 246 barrels were received by canal; in 1850, 773 barrels; and in 1851, 1571 barrels. These comprise the total receipts of barrel beef for the years named. The shipments of beef from Chicago during the year 1851 were as follows: To Buffalo..... To Dunkirk... To Ogdensburg To lumber country and coastwise To Canada By canal..... Total....... Barrels. Tierces. The following table shows the shipments for a series of years: Commencing with the packing season, the price of cattle at the commencement of each month, until the close of the year, were as follows: Sept. $300 a 3 75 | Oct. $300 a 4 00 | Nov. $3 00 a 3 50 | Dec. $38 00 a 3 75 The above figures may be regarded as the range of the cattle market, throughout the season, though for some choice lots of very fat, heavy cattle, higher rates were paid. PORK, HAMS, AND SHOULDERS. During the winter of 1850-51, the whole number of hogs cut in this city was 22,036, giving a total weight of 5,247,278 pounds, being an average of 238 pounds per hog. As regards the business of the present winter, which will not be closed until some time in March, there is a diversity of opinion, though our belief is, that it will not vary much from the last, in the number of hogs cut, while there will be an increase of weight. During the season of 1850-1851, there were received from various sources as follows: The above statement includes no portion of hogs, by teams, which were purchased by city butchers and family grocers. The shipments during the year, reduced to barrels and casks, have been as follows: The price of mess Pork, Hams, and Shoulders in the Chicago market on the first of each month during the year, was as follows: The entire shipment of pork from this port for three years has been as follows: Barrels...... 1849. 17,940 1850. 16,598 1851. 19,990 LARD. The receipts of lard by canal were 2,069,625 pounds, or 9,180 barrels. The amount which came forward by railroad, having been included on the books of the company under the general head of provisions, we are not able to give. The quantity manufactured in the city is also not ascertainable. Besides what enters into the ordinary consumption of the city, some three or four thousand barrels are manufactured into lard oil. A considerable amount is also shipped to the lumber country, that does not appear on the books of forwarding merchants, which we have placed in our tables at 300 barrels. The shipments of the year have been as follows: The following table will show the monthly prices during the year:January......cts. 7a7| May........cts. 8 a 81 | September....cts. February. March... 7 7 June 9 October.... 9 9 9 8 a81 The following shows the shipments for three years :— 1849.........bbls. 2,282 | 1850.........bbls. 2,415 | 1851........bbls. 10,510 Wool. The receipts of this article show a steady increase; and the high prices which have ruled during the last two years, together with the success which has attended almost every attempt to introduce the better breeds of sheep upon our prairies, will doubtless induce a much larger number to engage in the business of wool growing. The following table shows the amount which came forward during the last year: Prices ranged during the season the article was in market as follows:— June........cts. 25 a 40 | August......cts. 28 a 35 | October......cts 20 a 35 28 40 September..... 25 35 July. The following shows the extent of the wool trade of Chicago each year, for the last ten years: 1842..... ..lbs. 1,500 | 1846.......lbs. 281,222 | 1849.......lbs. 1843 1844 ..... 22,050 96,635 216,616 1847.. 520,242 913,862 1,088,553 1845 LUMBER. The city of Bangor, Maine, alone exceeds Chicago in the extent of its lumber trade; but at the rate at which the latter is gaining upon the former, there can be but little doubt that, within the next five years, Chicago will take the lead. The increase of this business in our city, is owing in part to the necessities of the contiguous country in process of being settled, and partly to the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which opened to our markets an extensive scope of country, the settlement of which had previously been retarded by the difficulty of procuring building and fencing material. An additional impetus has also been given to this trade, by the completion of the first and second sections of the Galena and Chicago Railroad, which effect will be increased as the road progresses westward. In 1847, the first year for which we can find any account of the lumber trade of the city, the entire receipts were as follows: Boards....feet 32,118,225 | Shingles.... 12,145,500 | Lath........ 5,655,700 The Michigan and Illinois Canal was completed and opened to business in May, 1848, and the additional demand thus created, almost doubled the lumber trade in a single year. The following shows the receipts at the port of Chicago for 1848: Boards....feet 60,009,250 | Shingles ... 20,000,000 | Lath....... 10,025,109 As of material interest in this connection, we give the figures of our trade with the Illinois River, for the last three years, from which it will be seen that that region of country has become our most extensive customer, and that the annual increase of its purchases has been very large. In 1849, the amount shipped by canal was— Boards....feet 25,778,000 | Shingles....No. 26,560,000 | Lath...... 7,984,000 For the years 1850 and 1851 we have taken the pains to ascertain what proportion of the lumber shipped by canal, reached the Illinois River. The following tables show the total shipments, and the amount which went through :— 1851. 1850. Total shipments. Rec'd Ill. River. Total shipments. Rec'd ll. Riv. 38,388,313 40,453,250 11,208,170 Turning from the trade with the canal and river to the general trade of Chicago, we find the total receipts of lumber at this point for the year 1851, to be as The receipts of boards, shingles, and lath at the port of Chicago, from 1847 to 1851 inclusive, have been as follows: We know not what more eloquent record we could make, both as respects the increase of business in Chicago, and the prosperity and growth of the State of Illinois, than is presented in the above table. Iron, as being the basis of all machinery, and the chief element in the construction of railroads, has been said to furnish, by the extent of its consumption, a true measure of the state of civiliza tion. With equal propriety it may be said that the consumption of lumber, in State in progress of being settled, is at once both a measure of its prosperity and the degree of its development. The many millions of feet contained in the above table have been scattered broad-cast over the State, and passing into the hands of industrious artisans, have been transformed into tasteful residences, beautiful furniture, comfortable school houses, commodious church edifices, extensive barns, and substantial fences. The lumber trade of Chicago, besides the addition which it directly furnishes to the Commerce of the place, indirectly, by the employment of a large amount of shipping, and by the purchase of supplies for the lumber districts, adds greatly to the general activity and largely swells the annual business of the city. With the aid of a gentlemen, largely engaged in the trade, we have made some estimates on this subject, which we think will interest the reader. The person alluded to in the last paragraph, manufactured during the past year, five million feet of lumber. His books show that he purchased during that period, for the consumption of the laborers in his employ, the following articles, of the value annexed: Pork. Beef.. Flour Corn and oats Merchandise (dry goods, hardware, iron, boots, shoes, &c). ..... $2,000 1,200 1,500 600 3,500 2,500 Estimating pork, beef, flour, corn and oats, at the prices which ruled during 1851, would give for every five millions feet of lumber manufactured, the following amount of each: Taking these figures as the basis of our calculation, on the supposition that supplies requisite for sustaining those engaged in manufacturing the whole amount of lumber imported to this city, together with their families, were obtained here, we find that the quantity of each is as follows: The total value of the above articles, at the prices ruling in this market Corn. 21,425 $132,500 87,500 62,500 $281,500 The procuring of material and the manufacturing of five millions feet of lumber, required a number of laborers equivalent to sixty men during the year. For the manufacture of one hundred and twenty-five millions feet of lumber, the labor of fifteen hundred men would therefore be requisite. The average wages for lumbermen, is $16 per month. Total wages of 1,500 men per year at this rate, $288,000. Now, as to the shipping employed in transporting this immense amount of lumber hither, seventy-five thousand feet of pine lumber is reckoned equal to one hundred tons. This would give the total amount of tonnage engaged in carrying 125,056,000 feet of lumber at 166,800 tons. A fair average of the amount of lumber brought to Chicago by each vessel engaged in that business, throughout the season, is 1,500,000 feet. This gives eighty-three vessels as the total number employed in the trade. The average cost of freight is $2 00 per thousand feet, which makes the total amount paid for freight during the year, $250,112. The average number of men employed upon vessels in this trade is seven; the total number therefore is 581 men. Average wages paid, $20 per month; total wages for eight months (season of navigation) $92,960. In the above calculation we have not included either shingles or lath. A vessel of 160 tons will carry 700,000 shingles or 250,000 lath. The total tonnage, therefore, engaged in carrying shingles during 1851 was 13,760, and in carrying lath 17,600, which, added to that engaged in carrying boards, gives a total tonnage in carrying boards, shingles, and lath of 198,600. A corresponding addition should also be made to each separate item in the foregoing calculations, which every person who takes an interest in the subject will be able to do for himself. We subjoin a brief recapitulation of the above general estimates: The above outlay brings the lumber to the Chicago docks. Here a new set of employees come into requisition; office men, yard hands, etc. Other expenses are also incurred by the dealer, in the way of rents for yards and docks, supplies for vessels, insurance, commissions to bankers, etc. Again, the interests of the city are indirectly subserved by the additional amount of business which this trade gives to the canal and railroad, and by the inducements which it presents to capitalists to invest their money in other like improvements, connected with the city. During the last year there were fifty-four dealers and firms engaged in this trade in the city. TABLE SHOWING THE MONTHLY ARRIVAL OF VESSELS AT THE PORT OF CHICAGO, AND THE TABLE SHOWING THE TONNAGE THAT ARRIVED AT THE PORT OF CHICAGO FOR EACH MONTH DURING THE SEASON OF NAVIGATION IN 1851. The above tables, it must be born in mind, are derived from the books of the collector, and are short of the truth by from ten to twenty per cent, in consequence of masters of vessels neglecting to enter their arrival. |