Missouri
Imperial Mistress of States
Report of Secretary of Agriculture for 1897
For the year 1897 we produced 167,000,000 bushels of corn, against 200,000,000 bushels for 1896; 9,400,000 bushels of wheat against 12,7000,000 bushels; 26,000,000 bushels of oats against 21,600,000; 3,000,000 tons of hay against 3,500,000 tons; 550,000 bushels of flax seed against 500,000 bushels; 32, 150 bales of cotton 19ainst 33,197 bales; 7,200,000 pounds of tobacco against 7,000,000 Pounds, and 3,650,000 bushels of potatoes against 7,800,000 for 1896.
With the exception of oats, flax, cotton and tobacco our agricultural products were not so abundant as for the previous season, yet they will prove sufficient for the sustenance of our people and our herds and furnish a creditable surplus for those who may draw upon us.
There was a material increase in our output of fruit and an advance in its value. For 1896 the fruit crop was valued at $12,500,000 while for 1897 Secretary Goodman estimates its value at $19,5000,000 distributed as follows. Apples $12,000,000; peaches, $3,500,000; cherries, plums and grapes $ 1,500,000, and berries $2,500,000, or an increase of seven millions over 1896. He distributes the apple crop among the sections of the State as follows: North Missouri, 2,500,000 barrels; Central, 3,500,000 barrels, and South, 3,000,000 barrels.
The shipments of principal products from the State as reported by transportation companies are as follows: Cattle, 1,118,500 head ; hogs, 3,142,000 head ; horses and mules, 104,361 head; sheep 326,340 head; wool, 3,086,000 pounds, Poultry, 48,000,000 pounds; eggs, 33,426,000 dozen ; timber products, 518,000,000 feet ; cotton, 33,197 bales; wheat, 8,000,000 bushels ; corn, 10,000,000 bushels; oats, 2,000,000 bushels; hay, 105,000 tons; flax seed, 650,000 bushels ; hides, 9,317,000 pounds; flour, 897,159,000 pounds; ship stuff, 66,289,000 pounds; corn meal, 4,000,000 pounds ; butter, 4,700,000 pounds; cheese 540,000 pounds; feathers, 416,000 pounds; grass seed 357,000 bushels; cotton seed products 19,874,000 pounds; brick and tiling, 6,658 cars; iron and iron ore, 1,200 cars; lead and lead ore, 7,123 cars; zinc and zinc ore, 7,192 cars; coal, 98,000 cars.
There has been material increase during the last biennial period in all the important commodities annually shipped out of the State. In cattle there was an increase of 518,500 head; hogs, 989,000 head; horses, 34,361 head; sheep, 26,340 head; poultry, 13,883,000 pounds; eggs, 14,438,000 dozen; butter, 2,330,000 pounds; flour, 384,659,000 pounds.
The value of the increase on these commodities alone, not noting many items of importance, at a conservative estimate will approximate $50,000,000, a princely increase indicating the industry and progress of our people notwithstanding the prevailing financial conditions for that period offered no encouragement nor promised satisfactory remuneration.
A brief review of the diversified resources of the State will indicate the possible future that awaits her full development.
She has an area of 44,000,000 acres, the largest iron mountain in the world, 20 counties with an unlimited supply of iron, 23,000 square miles of coal area and an annual output of 3,000,000 tons worth $3,500,000, lead mines operated in 26 counties, the most productive single mine in America, and an annual output for the State of 68,000 tons worth nearly $2,000,000.
She leads in the production of zinc with annual output of 131,000 tons worth $2,500,000.
She has extensive quarries and undeveloped mountains of red and gray granite, red, gray, cream colored mottle marble, onyx, limestone, and sandstone.
She leads the world in the production of high class fruit, has the largest acreage and the most extensive single orchards.
She leads any other State in the versatility of her productions, yielding the four great staples, cotton, tobacco, wheat and corn in great abundance and of superior quality.
Among the breeds of live stock her improved cattle, hogs, sheep and horses are winners in competition with the best animals in the world and are largely drawn upon by the breeding establishments of other States and countries.
She has the largest stock farm producing its own grain, the largest nursery, the largest orchard, and the largest jack breeding and importing establishment in the world.
She has 18,000,000 acres in cultivation, a population of 3,250,000, an assessed valuation of over $1,000,000,000 and the actual cash value is at least $3,000,000,000.
She has a banking capital of $60,000,000 and deposits $160,000,000 or about $50 per capita.
She has a railroad trackage of 6,735 miles, assessed at $80,000,000, annual earnings $35,000,000 and 30,000 employees. In addition to this she has for her immense commerce 1,2oo miles of navigable rivers giving cheap transportation to the markets of the world.
Missouri makes no other claim to grandeur than a fair presentation of her diversified and unrivaled resources. Judged by the standard "What we have clone and what we are" confirms every claim made for the State. A review of her conditions, a statement of her productions, the extent and variety of her minerals, her railroads and navigable streams, her church and school houses and school funds and her genial climate speak for her with the unquestioned declaration that she is "Imperial Mistress of States, an empire within herself."