The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-05-19
SAND AND SAWDUST.
A Peculiar Trade That Thrives
in Large Cities.
Various Uses to Which the Articles Are De-
voted-How Ships Are Cleaned-The
Demand for Sand.

A sand and sawdust merchant! Whyi
| what market can possibly exist, at least TO
| any extent, for such stuff? Who buys it,
and what for, anyway, are thoughts that
naturally puzzle one, as q pretentious sign
on Mission street stares at one across the
| way, announcing the sale Of these SEEM
ingly outlandish commodities.
In the first place large quantities of saw
dust are sold to coal ships for cleaning out
the "hold" after carrying a cargo of black
diamonds. Wet sawdust is spattered all
over the ships sides and floor, and then
swept down, so cleaning off all coal-dust
and dirt, and preventing the possibility of
staining the brand-new grain-bags with
which maybe the ship is just going to be
loaded. The same with whalers; after a
whale has been harpooned and dragged
aboard sawdust is in great favor to help to
swab up the blood and blubber that lies in
pools all over the vessels deck. Extreme
ly handy it is, by the same token, when it
is necessary to jump on the dead whales
back to make start at carving operations,
to throw bucketful or so of sawdust
whereby to gain foothold on the monsters
greasy and Shiny carcass
IN THE DIssECTING-RooM.
On the same principle it is necessary ad-
junct to the dissecting- room, and is largely
used by doctors for cleaning bowls and
mOpping up blood off floors and tables after
an operation. In wet weather saloon
keepers prefer it to sand for their bar-rOom
floors, as 1t collects the mud better and is
easier swept out All the janitors in large
buildings like to keep stock of sawdust
on hand for sweeping out the Offices under
their charge, in the same way as, before the
Introduction OF sweeping machines, our
grandmOtherS used to sprinkle tea-leaves
on the carpet before sweeping. Small lodg-
ing-house keepers will never be without it,
and the old maid whose glory is in the state
illness of her cap and the cleanliness of her
cat must perfOrce have always two bits
worth on hand for tabby.
WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES.
At Christmas time, when Santa Claus has
sometimes to scurry around to pick up
sufficleHcy of cheap child presents to fill the
tiny stockings with, many is the high-toned
doll OF gaudy exterior whose Interior is
stuffed with sawdust instead of plum pud-
dingi With anything like rush in church
bazaars, what corresponding rush there is
too for sawdust for pin-cushiOns and tho
like! Then it is also used, mixed with GER
tain chemicals, in the manufacture Of
safety gunpowder, fer which purpose it is
required to be extra dry and of certain
grade. Redwood sawdust is specially in
demand for smoking hams and bacon, and
clean spruce sawdust finds its usefulness in
clarifying vinegar.
THE SOURCE OF SUPPLY.
Most of the sawdust retailed in this city
comes from the boX-factories, the planning
mills, of course, giving more Shayings than
dust. A certain quantity is retained by the
factories, which they supply with the boxes
to their regular customers for packing pur-
poses. The surplus goes to the dealers by
yearly contract, who, though they get more
than they require In the busy mill season
during the summer months, have to taxa it
and hold it over till the mills sackan down
in the winter. The retail price is So per
load of about 1000 pounds loose, and if put
up in bags 81 extra.
THE SAND TRADE.
Without doubt there would be most
enormous sale of sawdust in this city if it
were not for the inexhaustibe supply of
sand, the introduction of which. to any ex-
tent, commenced some eight years ago. In
early days it used to come from Captain
where now the Southern Pacific brings
it all. 1t still comes from those
enormous white sand-beds at Monterey.
blending and glistening as they are in the
pale glare of the sea, and forming high
walls as lofty as three-stOry houses on
either side, renewed each incoming tide
fresh from the ocean. The mode of ship
ping by rail is in S5-pOund sacks in car
loads of fifteen to twenty tons, the retail
price here being 80 cents sack. Its big
gest consumption is, of course, in the glass
works, who buy direct and not through the
dealers. 1t is also largely used for inside
finishing, to mix with plaster for tile best
class of houses.
FOR PURIFYING PURPOSES.
Filter-makers get through a fair quantity,
as the interior economy of filters consists OF
alternate layers OF charcoal and sand from
the bottom up. Bird-fanciers and bird
keepers buy it for their pets cages, and bar
keepers sprinkle it in dry weather on their
floors.
For all purposes of securing and cleaning
it is unrivaled. Whether for the house
wife's floor, sink or kitchen table, her pots
and pans-provided they are not glazed
for the liveryman's steel bits and stirrups-
for any and all such uses white sand Is an
invaluable assistance in carrying out the
wholesome theory that cleanliness is next