The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-09-30
AN ANCIENT SALEM INDUSTRY.
The Process of Making Hides into
Lentl,er-Operations in Detail.

The Process of Making Hides into
Lenther-Operations in Detail.
Years ago tanning was done in tan
yards not under cover, so that the men
were exposed to the weather. however III.
element. Now, rough wooden sheds are
erected over tan vats. 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
=: TN TO the very door OF tne tunGc!J.
Some hides from China, which your cor
respondent saw in one shop, were done up
in bundles of 100, each weighing about II
pounds, making bundle OF 1,440 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
bum,!les and bound with ropes before
sh;pmcnt. These hides are first put into
n soak of clear sea water, and remain SIX
or seven days, when they are taken out
anC; put into The lime Eats fliica "sith iiii:1
winter. There they remain from six to
ten days. They are then taken out and
uuha;red and green shaven, the hairs be-
ing scraped off on one side and anj partl-
ces of flesh removed from the other. side.
The next course is to put the hides into
the drenches and then mill them to soften
them. After being thoroughly rinsed in
clean water, they are "put into the bark"
that is, put into vat where there is
strong liquor made from bark, with
c-~o,,~d ,'r-l. c-rrinl-lnd hnt--nnr rarh
layer. Sixteen days here fit them to be be
brought out and laid away for 30 days,
after which they ure split, shaved and
..-...1 IT, ~. ~ n--- .,-t ,-,n"r
to split it from one side 10 the other, but
to take of small piece weighing from
one to two pounds, about in the centre.
This SILT is eventually curried like other
leather, and is used largely for backs OF
shoes. Splitting is done by machinery,
AID IS !. very dangerous business. Every
few weeks the press records smashed
h".:.d ~r broken arm from the use Of this
llHui.:le. After splitting: the like goes
through the bark liquor once more. re-
mainius this time but a 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 80 into the curryins
shop.
Curing is an entirely distinct business
from tanning. and few men who learn one
parl VI luv Uuaiueoa uhCI i.iio" 80. s"i.iS
about the other. The manufacturers
mostly run only one business, although
now and then q 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 currics 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 very dirty and un-
savory business, but probably not un-
healthy, and those who have worked at
it long time say they are not troubled
by the smells. But this seems almost in
credible to one who goes among the vats
and beam houses for the first time and
shifts the odors from the old hides, the
fumes FROM the tan yats aud lime holes
and the general waste and decay.-Salem
(Mass.) Cor. Boston Herald.