Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-19
AN ANCIENT SALEM INDUSTRY.
The Process of Making Hides into
Leather-Operations in Detail.

Years ago tanning was done in tan
yards not under cover, so that the men
were exposed to the weather, however in
clement. Now. rough wooden sheds are
erected over tan watts. The time required
to make leather out of raw hides is from
four TO six months The hides come to
Salem by rail, and now spur tracks take
them TO the very door of the tannery.
Some hides from China, which your cor
respondent saw in one shop, were done up
in bundles OF l2O, each weighing about Il
pounds, making a bundle of l. 40 pounds.
These hides measure fourteen or fifteen
feet, while an ordinary American hide
covers an area of seventeen or eighteen
feet They were dried and pressed into
bundles and bUund with ropes before
shipment. These hides are first put into
a soak of clear sea water, and remain SIX
or seven days, when they are taken out
and put into the lime watts filled with lime
water. There they remain from six to
Ten days They are then taken ont ami
unhaired and green shayen, the hairs he
ing soraped off on one side and am parti-
c.es of flesh removed from the other side.
The next course is to put the hides into
the drenches and then mill them to soften
lutIlls AlttI DtlIlk Nublbh@ any iiioSA a'A
clean water, they are put into the bark
that is, put into vat where there Is
strong liquor made from bark, with
ground bark sprinkled between each
layer Sixteen DAYS here fit them to be be
brought out and laid away for 80 days.
after which they are split, shaved and
fisttened. To split a hide does not mean
TO split 1t from one side to the other, but
to take off small piece weighing from
one to two pounds, about in the centre.
This split is eventually curried like other
leather, and is used largely for backs Of
shoes. Splitting is done by machinery,
and is a very dangerous business. Every
few weeks the press records smashed
hand or broken arm from the use of this
machine. After splitting, the hide goes
through the bark liquor once more, re
manning this time but few minutes,
when it is again laid away for thirty days,
at the end of which time it Is put into the
tan vat and remains ten or twelve days.
This is the end of the tanning process,
and when the hides come out of the bark
liquor this time they go into the currylng
shop.
Curing is an entirely distinct business
from tanning and few men who learn one
part of the business ever know anything
about the other The manufacturers
mostly run only one business. although
now and then a man tans and finishes
leather both. In the large majority OF
cases, one firm takes the hides into its
yards and tans them, and another firm
takes them and curries them into leather.
Not all tanners and curriers' own the
hides which they put into leather. Very
frequently they do the work for other par
ties.
Tanning leather is a very dirty and un-
savory business, but probably not un-
healthy, and those who have worked at
it a long time say they are not troubled
by the smells. But this seems almost in
credible to one who goes among the watts
and beam houses for the first time and
sniffs the odors from the old hides, the
fumes from the tan watts and lime holes
and the general waste and decay.-Salem
Mass Cor. Boston Herald