Orangeburg news and times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1875-1877, 1877-02-24
Hog-Raising end Pork Packing

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the, year, to one of the Northwestern
packing houses, to see them
kill$the hogs and convert them into
pork.
lie killing is usually done in The
fifth story Of n building, and in few
hours the meat is rolled out from the
lower story as clear rib sides, dry
sa'tad, or smoked bacon The hogs
are driven up II winding inclined
plaNe from the lot to the upper story,
where they arc forced or crowded, by
twtIties and thlrtics, into small pens
con- municating with each other by
trap:or sliding doors. AS soon us the
pens are full, a chap, with q rope in
his hand. steps nT to an opening III
the eide of the pen, quickly thru$ts II
claihp that is attached to the end of
the rope or Chain around the hind leg
of 81 hog. In an instant the rope is
tigh:ened by machinery, AID the great
gruhti,g porkcr is snsp nlcd by his
hindleg i'll the air. The pulley from
wh:ch he hangs runs along on track
TO he end Of the building, where in
an ansfant a butcher-kni!e is forced
intc3his throat until it touches his
hea, Eend, before the first is dead,
second comes rolling along; and thus
one after another they are hitched to
the clamps. dragged from the p,n,
and swung along through the air to
the hian in oil suit who blecds them
an ai4 average Of four to the minute
all day long.
After he finishes with them they
are showed along suspended from The
miniature railway unil they come to
the lcng s6alding trough, into which
they are dropped, frequently before
life is, extinct, and sooner than We
can tell ii, they are swept through the
seals!ns .sy1;:;..'. water to the "nd Of the
t'""S"' - ti,cir hair
and bristles, are again suspended by
II gambrcll, and showed upon another
raj road track till they come to par
ties who, i'll a second almost, wash
them clean and turn them over to Il, G
most ,lcxtcrous butcher in the
establishment.
The man we saw Cutting these
hogs iiscmbowell ed nh. ,.ut four to the
minute, and said lie chad cleaned of
their entrails rs many as seven in
one minute"
AS soon as the hog is livcstel ofits
hair tie head is cut off ut sin Gle
stroke. almost as quickly the cntrails
| arc taken out, and the behcadci car
casscs are then rolled along on the
track to the cooling room, 0 be hung
i'll solid column by the gam brell for
perhaps twenty-four hours for the
meat to get thoroughly cold. Th c
little railroad tracks upon which the
suspended hogs are showed along have
regular switches rs they approach cd
the rooms, so that just SO many ma y
bo suspended on one tack and so
many Oh another unit the room is
full.
When perfectly cold the carcasscs
arc lowered to another story, where
they are cut up almost at IL single
stroke, the lard and sausage meat
taken out and the t'.ct taken OF. All
these various duties are performed by
a different set Of men and each hay
ing his specific work to perform does
il in less time than an inexperienced
hand would begin to do it, and it all
seemed to be done most dextcrously.
At single blow the hams are cut
from the middlings Of all The hogs.
The shoulders are taken only from
the large ones. The shoulder blades
arc taken from til shoulders of the
smaller hogs in a most ingenious
manner. With IL very keen knife the
meat is cut loose from the bone on one
side, and then similarly trca,ed on
the undor side, when small cord is
attached to the hone and to collar
around the mans neck, and with
both hands pressing on the shoulder