Dreams of a Cattle Empire

Dreams of a Cattle Empire. Chimney Park, De Mores State Historic Site. , Antoine Amédé Marie Vincent Amat Manca de Vallombrosa, more commonly known as the Marquis de Mores, was a French aristocrat with an entrepreneurial spirit typical of the late 1800s. The Marquis was one of many who sought to profit from the cattle boom of the post-Civil War era. He came west in the spring of 1883 with the dream of gaining great wealth. His business ideas included letting sheep out on shares to local ranchers, owning his own cattle and running them on his range, slaughtering the animals here in Medora and shipping dressed meat to the markets in the east in refrigerated rail cars, and eventually owning his own butcher shops in New York City and selling his meat direct to the customer. The slaughterhouse business had the corporate name, Northern Pacific Refrigerator Car Co., The cornerstone of his plan was the slaughterhouse in Medora. The first slaughterhouse could handle 15-25 beef carcasses per day and was in operation by October of 1883. The Marquis expanded the plant in 1885 to the complex of buildings shown in the photograph. This plant could easily handle 150 beef carcasses per day, but it is unknown if it ever reached full capacity. The building complex included three icehouses, a kill room, chill room, vats, fertilizer room, cooper shop, boiler and engine room, and office space.