The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-18
SECTION THREE
JoHNs. NEwro1-NDLANn-

y Dec. 3.-The beef trust will soon
have competition from an unex-
pected quarter. Whale meat is coming
on the market. The flesh of these deep
sea leviathans looks and tastes 50
much like beef that the difference is
scarcely noticeable. It is so cheap that
ii competition makes it necessary il
can be sold for a cent a pound and still
leave margin of profit. There is as
much meat on seventy ton whale as
on 200 fat steers.
The food may be a little coarser in
quality. but il is claimed to be as nu-
tritious as beef. The whale stations
IN Newfoundland are the first 10 at
tempt to save all portions of the sea
monster. and by so doing have doubled
It's value. Formerly the blubber was
cut away and then the carcass set
adrift, but now the entire body is
saved. including even the bones and
blood one OF these modern stations
VIII dispose Of four seVenty-tOn whales
in twenty-four hours, having the oil
ready for shipment IN barrels the meat
encased in casks, and the blood, bones
and refuse reduced to powder and
packed i'm sacks.
This is extraordinary when the size
OF the prey is taken into consideration.
Specimens are frequent that measure
eighty feet long, and il has been found
mat the larger ones viii always weigh
ton for every foot of their length
There are certain parts of a whale that
are strangely out of proportion. Al
though its body and mouth are eno1-
nous, its eyes and throat are exceed
1ngiy small AS a matter of curiosity
the various organs of a large sulphur
whale were weighed recently. The
tongue tipped the scales at exactly
a 600 pounds while the eve was barely
half a pound in weight. The jaw
bone was twenty feet long. and one
side Of it weighed LOCO pounds The
tongue boiled separately produced
nearly four barrels of oil. Although
the mouth is wide enough to almost en-
compass box car, the throat is so
narrow that only the smallest parti-
Giles Of food can be swallowed, hence
the big creatures subsist altogether on
tiny shrimps and little fishes.
Jonah and the Whale.
The fact that these monstrous fish
have such small thrOats is used by a
great many people as an argument to
combat the Bible story about Jonah
being swallowed by the whale. How
ever there is one species-the sperm
-3Yhale-whiCh has an opening big
tnOugh 10 accommodate even larger OBJ
jects than the body of a man. 1t is not
unusual 10 find portions Of an octopus
Weighing several tons when the stom-
ach Of one of them is dissected. Any
old whaler will tell you about the
sailor who fell overheard and was COB
bled up by a big sperm whale that hap
pened to be going that way. 1t is a
tradition among these rough and ready
seamen that a whale cannot keep to-
bacco juice in its stomach. so this quick
Nitted chap began Immediately 10 chew
and eXpectOrate, Before the whale
cOughed him up he had time TO strike a
match and he sOlemnly swears that he
saw carved upon one of the ribs of the
monster this legend, Jonah, zoo B. c."
The most valuable portion OF the
Newfoundland whale is the blubber.
The outer layers of fat are stripped
off and boiled into Oil A good sized
specimen generally yields 100 barrels.
This oil is utilized in soap making
and in sOftening jute fibre. Large
quantities of it are used in Dundee
Scotland The whalebone the ladies
wear in their corsets comes from the
gills OF this mighty creature. The
prOduCt' Of those caught near New
fOundland is not so flexible as that
of the ones taken farther north, con-
sequently it is not so valuable. The
bone of the Arctic deniZen sells for
10000 a ton, while that Of the New
fOundlander is only worth $780, The
powder realized from the treatment
of the blood. bones and refuse is rich
with ammonia and is in demand by
manufacturers Of fertilizer. The rea-
son the whalers of Iceland have not
ibeen able 10 save all the parts of
their catch is because they kill him
so far from the stations that the
bodies are badly decOmposed before
they can tow them in. The success Of
the Newfoundland companies in work
ing up all portions of the monsters
has made the business Of taking them
much more profitable.
Strength Of the Whale.
This year there were thirteen com
panies operating seventeen stations.
About 1,20o people are employed in the
industry Fourteen steamers patrol
p zone which IS 500 miles long and 100
miles wide. When the whale is sighted
the steamer gets within range. and
a harpoon is shot into its vitals. Just
back of the prOngs of this weapon
there is a bomb, which explodes inside
the body. Although IL may be mortal
~ wounded, the big creature will make
off, pulling the boat after il. Its
strength is astonishing. II viii pull a