The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-11

be taken almost directly from it to the
steamer.
The Sansinena factory was one OF the first
to be established, and it is said that already
more than 100000 gold have been. spent
upon it. 1t covers many acres, having vast
cattle yards and sheep pens. It's slaughter
house has 1 judge, more than an acre of
floor space. 1t is Of but one story, having
stone floors and a corrugated iron roof The
floor when L entered it was covered with
flowing blood. A thousand sheep were in the
killing pens, and hundreds had been skinned
and cleaned, and hung up to cool before
being put in the freezing room.
KILLING THE SHEEP.
I stopped a moment and watched the kill
ing 1t is so quickly done that in four min
utes and a half by my watch saw sheep
pass from active bleating life to the condi-
ton of a carcass, skinned and cleaned. 1t
was ready for the meat shop had it not
been that it must be first frozen and then
sent over seven thousand miles of water to
reach it. If sheep can understand and feel
for their fellows the killing is rather cruel.
Scores of them look on awaiting their turn
while their brothers and sisters are butch
cred. In each pen there were at least fifty
sheep Along the front OF 1t on a bench
about as high as your knee lay rows of
dying Sheep each with two great round
holes in its white throat, out of which the
red blood ran down into the stream of
water which flowed through a little canal
below. Some of the sheep were kicking
others groaned feebly, but could see that
their deaths came almost instantly. The
killing is done with a long sharp double
bladed knife. Two men catch a sheep in
the pen and throw it upon it's back on the
bench, The butcher outside then sezes it
by the chin, bends it's head back and with
one thrust drives the steel through it's
throat, cutting the jugular vein. He then
goes on to the next sheep, which is already
lying there ready for him, killing sheep
after sheep at the rate Of one and more per
minute.
AS soon as the sheep has been knitted, it
is seized and carefully skinned The entrails
are thrown into one. place to be cleaned and
| shipped to Germany for sausage skins. The
kidneys and their fat are laid in another,
for the kidney fat is used for making a
sort Of oleomargarine, which is here largely
sold for cooking, and the kidneys go to the
markets of Buenos Ayres. The feet and
heads are cut off and the tongues and
hearts are saved. The carcass which is left
is as neatly cleaned as any you will see on
our best meat markets at home. 1t is
dressed after the fashion of the English
markets, a matter so important that the
factory has a skilled London market man
here to superintend this feature of the
work.
FREEZING THE MEAT.
The freezing is done in great chambers,
each Of which will hold $4,000 carcasses at
one time. The chambers have walls of
wood and sawdust foot thick. The ceiling
nf oh iS
which flow ammonia and brine, so arranged
chemically that they fill the room with air
which is 80 degrees below zero. 1t takes
three great engines to keep the pipes filled,
and these work on both day and night. The
coils, when saw them, were covered with
frost an inch thick, and the chamber was
intensely cold. In hanging down from
hooks, with their headless necks toward the
| floor were something like thousand freez-
ing carcasses of mutton. They were almost
ready for shipment, and when the chief en-
| gineer, who acted as my guide, took one
| down to show it to me I found that it would
stand alone and that its flesh was as hard
as stone. Within forty-eight hours
after being put in the freezing
| room the carcasses are perfectly
hard. After they are frozen they are
sewed up in fine white muslin cloths and
laid away in cold storage to await the next
steamer. The average carcass weighs when
shipped from thirty to seventy pounds, ac-
corGing as it is a sheep or lamb. The
sheep cost about 81 apiece, as only the finest
are used for this purpose. Sheep as they
run in the flock can be bought, 1 am told,
for from 80 to rs cents apiece The freight
to London costs from to 2 cents pound,
and the mutton there sells for 10 cents and
| upward per pound. AS much of the work
as possible is done by machinery, but the
wages paid are much less than at home The
average for slaughterers, sl1inners and gem
eral workmen is less than $110 day, and
forenen receive less than 50 per day
wonder how our Chicago butchers would
like such wages?
Everything connected with the refuse.
with the exception of the blood is sold The
hoofs are used for making glycerine, the
shin bones for knife handles buttons and
combs, and some Of the entrails form "cat-
gut" for fiddle strings. The sheepskins are
dried and sold in bales, and the tongues
and hearts are frozen for export. In this
same factory cartridges and pheasants,
chickens. turkeys, ducks, fish and armadil-
los are frozen for shipment to Europe.
A VAST MARKET
Leaving the frozen meat factory. I drove
to the Mercado Central DIES Frutos. This
is the great central market of Buenos
| Ayres, where wool, hides and grain are sold
in wholesale lots. 1t is the largest produce
market in the world under one roof 1t
covers many acres, and millions of pounds
of wool are handled in it every year. 1t is
brick building of three stories, lying near
the docks on the Ricachuelo river in that
| part of Buenos Ayres called BARRACKS. Bar
racas means warehouses, and BARRACKS is
the part of Buenos Ayres where the great
export business of the Argentine is DONE
The wool and hides are taken from the
market houses to the warehouses and there
| prepared for shipment. At shearing time
wool comes in in train and shiploads. There
| are scarcely enough cars to haul the crop
| and the vast market house is so full that
you can hardly get through it. It's three
floors are packed with stacks of dirty,
greasy wool. Carts and wagons loaded with
| wool obstruct all other traffic, boats of wool
are being unloaded in the river with steam
cranes and the cars are run right into the
| market itself. Each mans wool is put in a
pile by itself. 1t is taken out of the bales
and left loose in a stack, so that the buyers
| can easily examine ii. In going through
| these piles you must be careful to keep your
| clothes from touching them The wool is