of Trade grain would be graded and large amounts would be sold for varying prices depending on their grade, but would be delivered at a later time. Another business that was booming at that time was the lumber business. Lumber would be cut down in northern Wisconsin and other areas and would be shipped to Chicago. They would ship the lumber on the rails to Chicago were it would be stored. Pork was also a huge business in Chicago at the time. Meat packers would use the assembly line technique of preparing meat and would increase production up to 13,000 daily by 1894. With the invention of the refrigerated rail car Chicago meat packers could ship meat to all parts of the country without it going bad. The meat packing business became so big in Chicago it became the cities number one tourist attraction. The last business that became very large during the time the railroads were being established was the mail order catalog business. Montgomery Wards, Sears and Roebuck, and Marshall Field were responsible for the boom in mail order catalogs. These catalogs would carry anything you needed from kitchen knives to stoves and the out of city farming communities loved the lower prices and greater variety these catalogs offered. Chicago was a perfect place for these catalog businesses to start because they were able to ship their products to their customers in a wide variety of areas thanks to the railroads. All these businesses were important to the development of Chicago because it helped them establish Chicago business as a player in the business world. All of those companies helped bring a great deal of prosperity to the city and it was all possible because of the decision to make Chicago the greatest rail city in the world....
