Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-04-10
YELLOW SHOES.
How They Have Grown in Public
Favor.
FIRST MADE FROM THE SCRAPS
Alligator Hide is Growing More Popular
Every Year-Kangaroo Hides All Come
From Australia.

There was once a tanner of hides in
London who had an idea. And out
of the idea he built up fashion, and
from the fashion he drew fortune.
This is how he did it: After the
hides in his finishing room had been
trimmed for the trade there was always
great pile of strips and scraps left
over, some of them quite large enough
to be made into mans shoe. Before
that time tanners had sold these odds
and ends for pump washers, harness
rosettes and what not and the price
that they received hardly paid the cost
of loading them into freight wagons.
But one tanner was not satisfied with
that way of doing business.
"I'll make shoes of the scraps" he
said.
"But you can't" chimed all the
wise tanners who knew him. 1.-THE
leather won't take black dressing-its'
too seamy and porous.
"Then I'll make yellow Shoes" he
said.
The wise tanners all held up their
hands and shook their heads sagely.
A bright man was going astray.
But the tanner reasoned that because
men had worn black shoes for no one
knew how long was no reason that
they wouldn't wear yellow shoes.
$50 I'll make yellow Shoes" he said
again. And that was his idea.
Then he went to work on the scraps,
and 1t wasn't long before his yellow
shoes were associating with the mono
Gle and separated from it only by the
stature of an aristocrat. That was a
little more than half dozen years
ago, but today the russell shoe is known
all over the world. Scraps have long
since ceased to be used in it's manufac-
ture, and whole hides, the best that can
be obtained, are none too good. Indeed,
all the great tanners of Chicago have
practically become, during the last
winter, manufacturers of yellow
leather to the exclusion of black.
More than three-quarters Of all the
"sides" turned out will go into russell
shoes. This change has occasioned no
little stir in the leather world, and to
a large extent it has modified all the
processes of finishing hides.
The tanneries of the city are nearly
all located far out in the northwest
division. They are beyond the zone of
the cottage, for the odors which come
out of the "beam houses" yield the
palm of persuasive strength and endur-
ance only to those from the stock yards.
But the workmen grow so accustomed
to the atmosphere of their workshop that
they are homesick away from it. When
the cattle from all over the country
are slaughtered at the stock yards their
hides are sprikled with a thin layer of
salt. rolled up in a compact bundle and
trudled away to the tannery. Here
they go first into long. steaming room
known as the "beam house." Then
workmen quickly unite them, and the
with instruments not unlike magnifed
sh-hooks drag them into big vat of
clear, running water, where they are
soaked and cleaned for three or four
days. One workman stands around
watching everything His hands are
behind his back and he is leisurely in
his motions. You'd set him down for
lazy fellow if you weren't told that
he was the biggest man in the shop.
He knows by the looks of hide
whether or not it has been soaked long
enough, and he knows, too, just how
much lime and how much tan-liquor is
needed in every case.
When the hide is thoroughly washed
it is dragged out and placed in another
vat full of thin solution of lime.
This begins the process of swelling the
outer cellular coat of the hide and
loosening the hair. After it has been
for time in this thin solution it grad
yates successfully to two or three other
watts containing more lime. The man
who knows all about tanning must be
ON hand every minute, or else the hide
may be under lined" or cover
lined" Constant attention is the
price of the tanners success.
Next the "scraper' or "f1eshers,"
brawny, aproned men with instruments
resembling draw-shaves, take hold of
the work. The hides are placed one
by one ON the shoulders of an inclined
and rounded saw-horse. Then the hair
and any clinging bits of flesh are
scraped off. Sometimes this is done
by machinery, but the results are not
as good as when it is done by hand. |
The product of hair thus obtained is
dried and sold to the plasteTers to be
used in making the ceilings and walls
of houses firm and solid.
The hide is now "bated" through |
bran water or some other solution to |
neutralize the lime still remaining in
the pores After short time for dry
ing the hides are ready to enter the real |
process of tanning.
The room in which this work is
done is long, rafte1ed and low. Great
watts, some even with the floor, some
higher, are scattered everywhere, and
the air is full of the swish swash of
hides heipU HD1u,npad,5 into tho ron |