EARLY MEAT PACKING PLANTS IN TEXAS.

This article discusses the history of early meat packing plants in Texas. The history of the Texas cattle industry prior to the Civil War and for a number of years thereafter is predominantly an account of attempts to find a market for a super-abundant commodity. Arthur Cushman divides the history of meat packing into three periods such as the slaughter-house period, the period of natural ice refrigeration, and the period of mechanical refrigeration. With one exception, all the ventures considered in this paper fall within the first of these periods as Cushman defines it. Prior to the Civil War, there was only one establishment in Texas which could in any sense be termed a packing plant. And from the nature of the technique employed in this case, it is highly doubtful whether the term packing plant could be properly applied or not. One of the earliest methods of preparing meats for the market was that of pickling them, a process which consisted of packing the meat of freshly slaughtered animals in salt water and sealing it in barrels, usually weighing 200 pounds. The so-called pickled meats were usually designated mess beef and mess pork in the market quotations. Another early method of preserving beef and keeping it when fresh meat could not be had was by drying it.