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The
History of Pork
The pig dates back 40 million years to fossils, which
indicate that wild pig-like animals roamed forests and
swamps in Europe and Asia. By 4900 B.C., pigs were
domesticated in China and by 1500 B.C., they were
being raised in Europe.
On the insistence of Queen Isabella, Christopher
Columbus took eight pigs on his voyage to Cuba in
1493. However, it is Hernando de Soto who could be
dubbed “the father of the American
pork industry.” The explorer landed with
America’s first 13 pigs at Tampa Bay, Florida in 1539.
Native Americans reportedly became very fond of the
taste of pork, resulting in some of the worst attacks on
the de Soto expedition. By the time of de Soto’s death
three years later, his pig herd had grown to 700 head,
not including the ones his troops had consumed, those
that ran away and became wild pigs (the ancestors of
today’s feral pigs or razorbacks) and those given to the
Native Americans to help keep peace.
America’s Pork
Industry Had Begun
Pig production spread throughout the new colonies.
Hernando Cortez introduced hogs to New Mexico in 1600, and
Sir Walter Raleigh brought sows to Jamestown Colony in 1607.
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Semi-wild pigs
conducted such rampages in the grain
fields of New York colonists that every owned pig 14
inches high had to have a ring in its nose. On Manhattan
Island, a long solid wall was constructed on
the northern edge of the colony to control roaming
herds of pigs. This area is now known as
Wall Street.
The pig population of Pennsylvania colony numbered
in the thousands by 1660. As the seventeenth century
closed, the typical farmer owned four or five pigs,
supplying salt pork and bacon for his table with
surpluses sold as barreled pork. Following a practice
that had become common in Pennsylvania, pigs were
fed a diet of Native American corn.
After the Revolutionary War, pioneers began heading
west, taking their indispensable pigs with them. A
wooden crate filled with young pigs often was hung
from the axles of prairie schooners.
As western herds grew, so did the need for pork
processing facilities. Packing plants began to spring up in
major cities. Pigs were first commercially slaughtered in
Cincinnati, which became known as
Porkopolis. More pork was packed there than any
other place in the mid-1800s.
“Drovers” Herd Pigs to
Market
Moving pigs to market in the 1850s was no small
undertaking. “Drovers” herded their pigs along trails,
which later developed into railroad routes. Between
40,000 and 70,000 pigs were driven from Ohio to
eastern markets in any one year. Drivers, the drovers’
hired hands, each managed up to 100 hogs, and the
herds moved five to eight miles a day and covered
distances up to 700 miles.
The refrigerated railroad car transformed the meat
industry when it was introduced shortly after the Civil
War. It enabled slaughtering operations to be
centralized near points of production instead of near
points of consumption. Large
“terminal markets” with railroad access developed
in major cities such as
Chicago, Kansas City, Mo.; St. Joseph, Mo.; and Sioux City,
Iowa. Large packing plants were located adjacent to these
stockyards. Live pigs were shipped via railroad to the
markets and pork was shipped, again mainly by rail, to
consumers nationwide. |
