The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1894-12-28
MONEY IN OLD BONES,
MsA Whe Make Fortunes Out Of
the Refuse In Meat
Hew HeHh Hesfs, Bsnes and Every Por-
tea 81 Slaughtered Beef Are Udiised
"A NHmber % industries Pc
eHlisF 70 Chicago,

TII ~ w. /
catereE, it has passed drought several
thousand hands, and has contributed either
directly or indirectly to several hundred
distinct and separate industries.
In no city in the world is the principle Of
the division Of labor more strikingly exem.
plified than in Chicago. with her manifold
Industries dependent on the trafic in beef
One would naturally suppose that beef was
so plentiful and cheap in a central market
like Chicago that no one would think Of
making a special business of utilizing what
in many cities is cast away as refuse. But
the very fact that Chicago is so great q
beef market renders it possible for almost
every ounce Of beef to be put TO some prac-
tical use.
There has grown up in this city within
the past ten years the largest bone and tai
low industries in this country. These in
dustries have not only served to build up
immense private fortunes, but, as an officer
Of the Board Of Health said recently, they
have been Of untold value to Chicago in q
sanitary point Of view.
This may seem at first thought q curious
statement. But the explanation is simple.
A bone and tallow factory is not q desirable
n~eighbor, as every one knows who has
ever had the misfortune to live within
seeming distance Of such an establishment,
and yet the odor is neither SO unpleasant
nor nearly so unwho,esome as many other
exhalations from the Stock Yards. The
bone and tallow factory serves as a con-
venient repository and crematory Of the
offal from the butcher shops. In q city like
Chfoora fhora vn,,ct naooaoori1v ho Of atyarv
large butcher shop a large amount Of good
meat remaining over each day unsold. To
remove this meat to some suburban dump
ing-place would entail considerable expense
on the butcher, and he would in many in
stances, be tempted to let economic consid-
CREATIONS take preference over regard for
public health. The dealer in bones buys off
the butcher whatever is worth paying for
in the way Of bones, horns, hoofs, hide, tai
low, meat, and hauls it away, and often geta
for the mere hauling away meat that would
soon become a nuisance to the butcher, but
which can be turned to som practical &C
count at the tallow factory. All Of the lead
I ing butchers of Chicago have now come to
depend on the bone and tallow dealers TO
relieve them Of what they can not dispose
OF 10 their regular customers.
To facilitate in ascertaining the price OF
the commodity it is usual for the butcher to
sort it. For instance, he puts all the kidney
suet in one barrel, the flank tallow in
another, the soup-bones in another, and the
waste meat in another. These are all
sorted in the order Of value. II the bucher
fails to do the sorting himself, he is obliged
TO sell for a lower price, as the work Of
sorting after the stuff is once mixed is both
difficult and unpleasant and frequently
costs more than it is really worth. The
bone and tallow dealer sends out his wag-
ons every day to different parts Of the city
to buy up the butchers refuse. Each wag-
on has a regular route and makes regular
trips at stated intervals The loads are
brought into the factory and distributed TO
appropriate places. All of the tallow is put
| into a vast caldron and rendered into the
form in which it is found in commerce.
There are a number of steps in the refining
process, but they vary according to the
purity of the article when it comes into the
factory. The bones form a curious collec-
ton, and suggest at once the prophets
vision in the Old Testament. Here are the
bleached skulls of oxen, with yawning jaws,
grinning teeth and empty sockets. They
seem almost to speak from out their grim
receptacle some legend of the Humane So
ciety. Occasionally a huge skull happens
to have a pair of cross-bones near it, and
suggests the ghoulish emblem Of the
deaths head.
The bones are Of all sizes and ages
There are the dry bones that have lair
bleaching for months on the prairie ant
have been gathered by some economic
farmer and shipped to Chicago for a few
cents more than paid the freight. Their
there are the juicy soup-bones fresh from
the butcher-shop. But these must &c
through many Transformations before they
are ready for the market. First they are
cooked and the grease all extracted. This
grease is converted into lubricating oils
The bones are next put to soak in {
tank with water running constantly in ant
out. Thus they are cleaned. When al
greasy impurities are removed the bone!
are laid out to dry and are ready to joir
company with their congeners of the plains
They are dropped INTO a gigantic hopper ant
ground to a coarse -four or dust. The mil
grinds with a hungry greed and rarely re
OIL
ceives a mouthful too difficult for its pawel
Of mastication. The bone dust is weighed
bagged, sorted and shipped to all parts o.
the country where fertilizing material il
needed. One Of the most valuable product!
Of the establishment is glue. This is made
Of the hoofs of cattle. There is a secre'
process in its manufacture that is always
carefully guarded and is known to only one
man. His is one Of those peculiar trade Sc
cret that no patent right would properly
protect. In this it resembles the secret o
making porcelain, possessed only by the
Nielsen (Saxony) porcelain potters. The
hoofs are subjected to some process by
which they are turned into liquid. Thi.
liquid m out resembling in color ant
consistency New Orleans molasses. It i:
FUN into cooling-pans, wherei it becomes par
tally solid. Then it is cut into cakes like
gingerbread, ana allowed to harden. ana !
then broken into small pieces and placed i
barrels ready to be shipped.
The horns furnish in themselves materis
for two or three different industries. Th
large, eurving horns of Texas cattle ar
made into house ornaments. The horns ar
also used for making ornamental chairs an
other pieces of furniture. a taste for yvh,c'