Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1908-02-22
GREAT INCREASE IN
COST OF WHALEBONE
Century Ago Sold for Less Than
Ten Gents
Pound.

some Wall street spectators at the
present JunctuTe might well wish that
they had Cornered the stock of whale
bone in 1871 and kept it until today. II
would have cost them only Si62,50 35
20 do it, as the price ruling at the time
was n cent pound, and there were
only 6OO.65J pounds to be had. At the
price ruling today they could obtain for
II S2t92947 so, representing a profit Of
S2,240, ,443 Is. In 1906 The average price
paid FOR whalebone was $4 50 a pound.
Dressmakers and those who have 10
foot the dressmakt rs bills, besides
those who Wear the gowns and other
articles Of dress in which whalebone is
used, when il can be- obtained. win he
glac t. near tEat all reports indicate
that whales 3re more plentiful just now
thar they have been i'm many years. II
appears that the only difficulty is IN
the catching of them. They show that
they are like birds in one respect
they have learned 10 dislike people who
throw things at them. They have
shown their ability to adapt themselves
TO conditions. IN the north when they
feel the prick of a harpoon they cut
under the ice ana that is the last the
Whaler secs of them The whaler dis
likes this because he rot only loses
the whale, but. worse fate, he loses his
harpoon and quantity of line for
which he paid casn
The rules for eating accredited to
Gladstone ami Fletcher which required
thirty two, more or less, cheWs to each
mouthfnl, were never meant for the
true whale. 1t has no teeth and Il
swallows its food whole catching IL in
the baleen, or strips of "whalebonc." :"
which depend from the sides OF its
mouth. If a whale saw the whalebones
that women ere accustomed 10 using
I'm their waists he would never recog-
niZe them as part of his alimentary
system, they are so small. In the form
in which they would be familiar 10 him
they would 1G or 2 feet long and look
like giant brushes with a handle 10
inches wide at the end.
One might wonder now any animal
could close its mouth with Il grove Of
12foct quilts sticking out of the roof
When the mouth closes the slabs or
baleen lie fiat in grooves. When the
mouth opens the slabs spring forward
completely filing the cavern. one
whale may have IS many rs 700 IN it's
mouth. Sometimes the weight OF this
giant mouth fringe is a ton and the
contents Of the mouth of one whale
taken in Baring sea- on October 20,
1883. weighed 3,l00 pounds, or ton
and Il half AT the present rate the
contents Of this particular whales
mouth woull be approximately $I2,0 coo.
4 century ago, when WhalebOne was
worth no more than 10 cents a pound.
few vessels brought any home. From
lS4f To the outbreak of the civil war.
the output averaged about $500. 600
pounds annually, the greatest for one
year being 5,o92.300 pounds in 1853, and
the price increased 10 81 pound. Since
1860 there has been a steady decrease G
in tho output. The total amount Of
whalebone landed in America in the
course of the nineteenth century ex~
ccaied 90900000 pounds, worth az the
pres cent market valuation about $780,
100000, % sum that would make the
possessor one Of the richest men in tho
world 4 not the richest OF all.