Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-08-01
WILL KILL TO-DAY.
The Whitaker Packing House Commences
Today to Slaughter Hogs-A Tour Trough
the Plant.

4
| The immense packing plant of Francis
| Whitaker & Sons will commence today
| to slaughter and cure hogs. The plant is
| located on Lawrence and Twenty-third
streets, and consists of six large buildings
and stock yards capable of holding 4,OO(
| head of stock. A trial was made of the
boilers and engines yesterday and every.
| thing found to work in perfect order
| While the house can take care of cattle OF
well as hogs at present nothing but the
| latter stock will be slaughtered. A force
of 200 men will be employed at the start
| aud this force will be increased to over 500
as soon as the fall supply OF hogs come in.
Three hundred and fifty incandescent cleo
| trio lights are used in the building, the
power for the lights being furnished by a
sixty-horse power engine and dynamo
Another thing worthy of mention is the pro
lection against fire. Connections are made
with the city water mains and the pipes
extend into every room in the various
buildings and on the roof, SO that build
ing can be flooded in very few minutes.
In company with Packing House Archi-
tect Thomas an EAGLE man made tour
| through the entire plant yesterday, The
| first building visited was the engine and
boiler house, 57x113 feet, and twenty-five
feet high. Four engines, 16O-horse, 100
| horse, 60-horse and 30-horse, were in the
engine room. The largest one, which has
been named the "A. w. Oliver" is used as
refrigerative engine and furnishes the
cold air for the cooling rooms. The 100
horse power is used for the machinery and
the 30-horse power for the elevators. The
| 60-horse power runs the electric light
| dynamo. In the boiler room are three i'm
mense Murphy automatic stocking boilers,
the most powerful boiler that is made.
The coal is placed in boxes where furnace
doors should be and the fire is automati-
cally fed, thus giving steady fire and an
even amount of steam.
From the engine house the way was lead
to the fertilizing building, 30x40 feet and
one story high. From there the slaughter
house was next examined. This building
is fitted up with the latest appliances for
handling hogs and cattle, and each piece
of machinery was undergoing close in
spection yesterday so that no delay would
be necessitated today when work COM
menced. This building is S1x93 feet, four
stories high with basement. Up an in
clined driveway the hogs go to the fourth
floor where they first fall into the hands Of
the butchers. From them they drop into
the scalding tanks and from there they
slide into the scraping machine. Coming
out of it they are wheeled into a box-like
affair where they have shower bath and
are thoroughly cleaned and they then con-
to- 81 hull m
the second and third floors of the slaughter
house are the lard tanks, six in number,
together with machine which is called q
jacket kettle. used to make pure leaf lard.
The first floor is used for the canning Of
the lard.
The cold storage building came next.
The building is 114x1S2 feet, six stories
high. the first five containing the curing
rooms and the vat where the ice is made,
the machinery for which was being placed
in position. The sixth floor is occupied by
the chilling rooms, divided into winter
and summer rooms and capable of holding
5000 hogs. The temperature on this floor
can be lowered to freezing point. 1t is in
this room the hogs hang for some time
before being lowered to the curing floors
DChCaOu. IL puli1S ouC VI iuO PiPCo Oh
run through the entire building.
The smoke and packing house was the
next one entered, and found to be build
ing 5Ox107 feet, three stories and basement.
The buildings divided into fifty smoke
rooms, each one capable of holding 10000
pounds of meat. They are ranged along
the walls, and the center space is used for
the packing of meats.
Mr.. Thomas says the machinery
throughout the entire plant is of new
and improved make and superior to that
in any other packing house that he has
seen. 1t is large and powerful so that ad-
ditions to the buildings can be made at
any time without extra engines or other
machinery. The $50 ton engine is an i'm
mense affair in itself and worthy of . visit
of inspection.
In conversation with Mr.. Redmond, the
buyer for the house, he said that they are
"here to stay" and wanted to make Wich-
tia a market. He wants all the hogs that
can be brought in and will pay good
prices for them. So far he has been paying
within five and ten cents of Kansas City.