Upton sinclairs book the jungle remains an inspiration to journalists. Strike in a packing house homicide in chicago 1870. As the livestock population grew in the west and the human population increased in the east, refrigerated packing plants were built to bridge the meat gap from the farm to the table. Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the united states in chicago and similar industrialized cities. The book, the jungle, by upton sinclair had a major impact on the way the world saw the american meat packing industry. As a result, the government would step in and pass legislation that protected consumers from consuming unsafe food. When chicago was hog butcher to the world wttw chicago.
Meat packing is the industry involved in slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distributing livestock. At the time, a young film student, mark mamalakis, went. Working conditions in the new urban industrial zones were wretched, and a progressive reform movement soon grew out of the need to address the health and welfare of the american worker. On this day of history, feburay 25, 1905 upton sinclair was sent to a chicago meatpacking industry for seven weeks to observe the slaughterhouse under disguise and how the meat was being made. Chicago was the worst and biggest meat packing industry in the early 1900s. Gurdon hubbard does a lot of meat packinghis company packs 3,500 hogs. The jungle, a 1906 novel by upton sinclair, is full of graphic descriptions of the poor conditions workers and cattle endured in the chicago meatpacking industry.
But blockades of that city by the confederates during the civil war necessitated a new meatpacking headquarters, and chicago was perfectly situated, with its central location, numerous. One hundred years ago, more meat was processed in chicago than anywhere on the planet. History of the meat industry1 texas tech university. They all live in a small town named packingtown in chicago. In 1860, livestock shipments out of chicago amounted to 250,000 animals. They closed some 44 years ago, but chicagos union stockyards profoundly shaped the development of the city and the modern world. In 1900 the chicago packinghouses employed 25,000 of the countrys 68,000 packinghouse employees. The salt opened in 1865, chicagos union stock yard was the greatest. An expose of the american meatpacking industry and the horrors endured by immigrant workers.
These 7 rare photos show chicagos meat packing history like never before. Utterly disturbing, centuryold photos of meatpacking. Sinclairs experience in the factory will allow him to bust meatpacking factories and. But before chicago was the meat capital of the world, that role was held by cincinnati, which in the midnineteenth century was known as porkopolis. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. In 1906, upton sinclairs novel the jungle uncovered harrowing conditions inside americas meat packing. The battles between labor and management were sporadic, continuing, hard fought and often bitter, as vast numbers of workers from abroad and from the american south and rural areas flocked to chicago seeking work in the industry. The meaning of meat in industrial social protest novels. Louis denver sioux city omaha kansas city were built oklahoma city. The jungle, americas most influential proletarian novel, emerged from a sevenweek investigation of chicagos slaughterhouses. In the 1870s, several large packing firms with headquarters at chicago came to dominate the u. The book was fiction but based on the things sinclair had seen. The book s impact was immediate and practical the us congress passed the meat inspection act and the pure food and drug act in the same.
Thus, chicago s big three packersphilip armour, gustavus swift, and nelson morriswere in a position to influence livestock prices at one end of this complex industrial chain and the price of meat products at the other end. These 7 rare photos show chicagos meat packing history. Prosperity declined during the late 1800s and the early 1900s, as the meatpacking industry moved westward. Chicago was well launched in the meat packing business by the 1830s, but challenges and opportunities began to pop up. Source for information on conditions in meatpacking plants 1906, by upton sinclair. How chicagos slaughterhouse spectacles paved the way for big meat. Regulation of the meatpacking industry began in 1906 after president theodore roosevelt read a book about the plight of the working class and the corruption of the meatpacking industry by journalist upton sinclair. Chicago became an official city in the 1830s, and it has since accumulated a wealth of history. It is true that the main character of the book at one point goes to work in a meat packing plant, and its.
The slaughterhouses got their livestock from chicagos union stockyards. The nightmare of the chicago meatpacking industry was described as follows. Even though the jungle was set in chicago, sinclair went out of his way to point out that packingtown was a synecdoche for the american meat packing industry as a whole. But the war, and the citys extensive railroad connections, vaulted chicago to the top as a meat processing center. The jungle exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry. Upton sinclair, whose muckraking changed the meat industry. Oh, yeah, great, why dont we pass the meat that untold numbers of slavik immigrants. Listed by date of loss, lost chicago traces a nostalgic path from the time it.
Packingtown is a section in chicago where the packing houses are located. Researching the book in 1904, upton sinclair interviewed fellow socialists. Researching the book in 1904, upton sinclair interviewed fellow socialists, settlement house officials, health inspectors, and the workers themselves, who smuggled him into meatpacking plants so he could view conditions firsthand. Some of the major meat packing companies of the midwest swift, armour and cudahy established some distribution points branch houses at various locations along the mississippi river as well as near some towns served by the railroads. Dominic pacyga, a local historian and former stockyard worker, tells the story in his new book slaughterhouse. Meat packers no longer had to depend on local farmers driving livestock in from the country. Evolution of meatpacking timeline timetoast timelines. The words of the late pulitzer prize winning author upton sinclair only begin to tell the story of the beginning of the chicago meatpacking business. This 368page hardback tells the story of the us meat industry starting with the swift and armour packing houses in chicago, through the introduction of corporate farming of beef, pork and chicken, to todays natural. Sinclairs book was so moving and troubling that it inspired the establishment of the food and drug administration, a federal agency that is to this day responsible for regulating. The illinois and michigan canal and the first railroad opened in 1848. It was founded by patrick cudahy march 17, 1849 july 25, 1919 and his brother john cudahy, irish immigrants from county kilkenny whose family came to milwaukee, wisconsin to avoid the great irish famine. The predominant meats sold through these branch houses were drycured pork i.
By the 1890s, the railroad money behind the union stockyards was vanderbilt money. An unexpected history of carnivore america, by maureen ogle, houghton mifflin harcourt, ny, 20. Constitutional rights foundation bill of rights in action fall 2008 volume 24, no. In 1906, upton sinclair wrote the jungle, a notsofictional novel about the meat packing industry and its.
Conditions in meatpacking plants 1906, by upton sinclairthe explosive growth of american industry in the late nineteenth century caused a similar expansion in the work force. Our timeline is best preserved in still shots of various events, buildings, and people. Click to view photo details the stockyards and the meat packing industry played a prominent role in the history and economic development of chicago during this period. By the late 1800s, chicago, illinois, had emerged as the united states meatpacking leader.
His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the united states. When the packers first entered an area, they wooed a respected butcher. The book was a pulitzer prize winner and covered the facts of the meatpacking industry of the time. Farmers also prospered, having a market for their livestock. Paul westward from chicago after the railroads chicago st. The chicago houses wanted local butchers to focus exclusively on selling meat. While upton sinclair originally intended to appeal to the publics heart concerning the conditions and the treatment of workers, it was obvious that the book had more of. Chicago meat authority offers you a full line of quality meat products all trimmed and packed to the industrys highest standards. Chicagos union stock yard and the world it made university of chicago press, a new book by columbia college history professor dominic pacyga. The meat packing plants that jurgis works in are in packingtown, chicago. Our skilled butchers cut to popular portion sizes or to your specifications, giving you leaner, highervalue products. In the rise of the midwestern meat packing industry 1982, mary walsh looked at the entire midwestern region in the era before chicagos meatpackers consolidated their control of. Public reaction to the book was a major factor in the passage of the 1907 meat inspection act, which established a system of meat inspection that endured for nearly a century.
In july 1996, the federal government announced new rules requiring more scientifically advanced methods of meat inspection. Cma specializes in custom cuts for further processors and sells to the hotel, restaurant. The jungle, a 1906 novel by upton sinclair, is full of graphic descriptions of the poor conditions workers and cattle endured in the chicago meat packing industry. Upton sinclairs the jungle constitutional rights foundation. Thus, chicagos big three packersphilip armour, gustavus swift, and nelson morriswere in a position to influence livestock prices at one end of this complex industrial chain and the price of meat products at the other end. There are the industries that once drove the chicago economy but have since moved on, meatpacking, railcar construction and mailorder being three of its world renowned businesses. Whether or not youve read upton sinclairs the jungle, youre likely familiar with the. Packingtown was notorious for their awful living conditions and working conditions. Here are the oldest photos ever taken in chicago and theyre incredible. Sinclair published the book in serial form between february 25. The jungle, novel by upton sinclair, published serially in 1905 and as a singlevolume book in 1906. Dominic pacyga shares history of chicagos stockyards in. In 1852 chicago was connected by railroad to the east.
Conditions in meatpacking plants 1906, by upton sinclair. The jungle is a 1906 novel by the american journalist and novelist upton sinclair 18781968. Essay about upton sinclair and the chicago meatpacking. These are of the oldest photos of the city we were able to scrounge up. President theodore roosevelt signed two historic bills aimed at regulating. Cudahy packing company project gutenberg selfpublishing. Throughout the piece, sinclair criticizes the harsh lives of the workers and the filth and lack of safety in the yards. The jungle was first published in 1905 as a serial in the appeal to reason and then as a book in 1906. Meat packing blues a book examines when chicago was the king of. How chicagos slaughterhouse spectacles paved the way for. First meat packing plant started in cincinnati city was called porkopolis s wt ns aws were not yet used to break carcasses into wholesale cuts 1870s90s. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a centralized processing area.
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