DUBUQUE GRAIN EXCHANGE

DUBUQUE GRAIN EXCHANGE. The year 1860 was important for grain buyers and millers of Dubuque. In an editorial on the Dubuque Herald, July 13, 1860 the newspaper cited the following:

         At almost any time from September (1859) up to May (i860) McGregor, 
         Cassville and other points up and down the river paid from 2 to 6 
         cents more per bushel for wheat than our Dubuque buyers. * * * 
         If the fault is with the Ferry company then we say that no monopoly 
         has a right to exist whose operations succeed in driving thousands of 
         bushels of grain per season to other and less accessible points. If, 
         however, the fault is found in the picayunish spirit of our grain buyers, 
         a different but none the less needed remedy is demanded. We lay down 
         this proposition with a perfect confidence of its entire truthfulness: 
         Dubuque did not buy the last season but a very little over one-third of 
         the grain which naturally falls to this point." (1) 

During the summer of 1860, the fact that Chicago was the central market for the West for grain and stock was fully recognized. The Grain Exchange here paid for the first time Chicago prices less freight rates and no longer paid serious attention to St. Louis as either a grain or a live stock market.(Herald, September 5, 1860.) (2)

In 1860 Dubuque lacked facilities for receiving and shipping grain in bulk. On July 14, 1860, the grain buyers and millers met for the purpose of establishing a grain market to regulate freights and prices; G. R. West presided. On August 8. 1860, about fifty grain buyers and millers organized the Dubuque Grain Exchange. (3)

In August the petition for a grain market was considered by the council. It was signed by forty-five millers and others, and asked that the First ward market be designated the grain market. There were two counter petitions signed by many citizens. The council finally established the market in the First ward. (4)

---

Sources:

1. Oldt, Franklin T., History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 1880. Online: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-15-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml (Number 15)

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.