The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-11-28
A MAINE EIsH FAcroRY.
The Process OF Canning the porKy Into
oil and eChum."


Back In the seventies one of the
greatest Industries Ia this section of
the country was the porgy fisheries,
says Boothbay (Me.j letter Ia the
Lewiston Journal. The converting OF
those fat fish into oil and that very
odoriferous though by no means fra
grant substance known as 'chum"
gave labor. and paying labor too, 70
hundreds OF men. The oil then sold
as high as dollar per gallon. aud the
was so profitable business that fac
tories sprang up all along the coast,
aud as result OF the great slaughter
OF their number the porgies held some
sort OF nm assembly and resolved to
boycott the New England coast for
awhile. This resolve they kept TO a i
till the summer of 'SS, when small
schools came north to see what had
become of their old destroyers. They
found most of the factories rotten,
tumble-down old buildings, the steam
ers turned into tugboats. and the ma
jority of the owners bankrupt by their
porgyships' freeze out. Evidently
those porgies that visited Maine In 'SS
were satisfied that they were forgotten
In these parts, for last year they came
again In such numbers that Il seemed
as though the whole porgy kingdom
had come down TO Maine TO spend the
summer aud 10 swim around In the
waters where so many of their grand
parents had lost their lives.
As soon as the first shiny school
came along In 'Ss, Church. Hathaway
d Co. began to build over and to fit up
into one monstrous factory the two
factories at Linekin's Neck, formerly
owned by the Gallup Bros. They did
not get into shape to do much that
summer before the weather got too
frosty for the porgy's comfort, aud he
started south again. Last year they
did considerable business, but their
works were not fully completed till
this spring Now everything has been
prepared and gotten into perfect trim
10 give those porgies who will summer
in the waters IN this vicinity the warm
est kind of reception. Eighty men
are employed In the factory. not count
ing the carpenters and men who are
still building and repairing. Three
steamers aud one sailing vessel. each
with twenty-five men aboard, are run
by the company. besides countless 9TH
er craft will 60 'n-porgying on their
own hook But with all the fleet
after them. the fish are not forth CONF
ing.
There Is capacity TO use up 5000 or
4,0e0 barrels of fish daily, but as yet
only 5000 barrels have been received
all summer. This is. TO be sure. rather
early in the season. but fishermen say
all along the coast that there areu {
nearly as many porgies here now as
there were last year at this time and
what there are are very wild.
The process of changing the porgies
/ from handsome fish into oil and ehum
is very simple. They are carried from
! the wharf TO the top of the factory.
where they are first boiled and then
! pressed with l0O-ton pressure. The
/ oil and water are run of together and
| by passing through ten or dozen vats.
/ placed one below the other like flight
of stairs. the oil skins itself. y as II is
/ called. When Mt the bottom of the
/ factory the oil Is drawn off from the
| last vat into barrels il looks for all the
world like maple sirup. The oil is used
| good deal by tanners and soap makers
and sometimes for paints. IL is worth
from 20 to 80 cents per gallon.
After the oil aud water have been
pressed out the chum, or scrap. as 1t Is
| SOMETIMES culith. Is DuIueu with hut@
phuric acid. Then 1t is ready for ship
ment. The old process of drying the
chum is done away with. and one OF
the greatest causes of that unearthly
stencil of the factories of n dozen years
ago has been removed. The chum Is
worth about $l4 per ton. and is sold 10
manufacturers of fertilizers.
The proprietors claim that there will
be no disagreeable odor about the
works this year. They say that the
only other thing besi-ies the drying.
chum which caused the ten-mile stench
of former factories was the waste wa.
ter, off which the oil had been
drawn. This was allowed to stand in
the watts and ferment. but now it /:
drawn OFF while fresh. Later in the
season this same waste water is to bt
used to make fertilizer by the Phoso
Ammonia company, who are putting
up large building for that purpose
just south of the factory. They us,
some chemical process, and are said tC
have a mine of wealth in their scheme