Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-01-24
PREVAILING PRICE is NEARLY AT
RECORD POINT OF
1905
WORTH MORE THAN The OIL.
Nothing Equal to the Bone Devised for
Corsets and Like Purposes in
Same Line.
FIVE FACTORIES HANDLE CATCH.

is whalebone.
Whalebone is now at nearly its high
est price aud is climbing steadily to
the high water mark reached in 1908,
when Aretic bone commanded $3.50
pound, or say $li.OOO a ton, 70 this
mark Il rose from the II cents a pound
which was the price recorded in 1921,
when il gained its earliest recognition
as commodity.
Then Il was a 10y product of the
whale. with oil the primary coasidera-
ton Now oil is hardly worth carrying
home, but the head that yields a good
crop OF bone marks bright spot in the
adventurous, hard working life of the
New Bedford whaler
Last year $4,000 pounds of whalebone
was taken by American sailors. II, as
is the case. the average man does not
see splinter of it from one years end
TO the other, where does il all go2
Prominent among its uses il for cor
set stays. Nothing yet discovered
adapts itself So perfectly to all the re-
quirements of stay as this stuff from
the mouth of the whale. 1t combines
llghtness, elasticity aud tiexibility. even
when split into very thin strips. Ii has
also the property of retaining any shape
that may be given 10 il when il is heated
and then cooled under compression,
The best quality of bone when ready
for market sells at $40 a pound. The
work of preparation is carried on princi-
palty ia New York and Boston, the foe
mer city possessing four factories where
whalebone is cut and the latter one.
Cheaper portions of the bone sell AT from
50 to So a pound.
Whalebone whips are still made. and
the farmer who possesses one is the envy
of his township. These are made from
single pieces of bone six or seven feet
tf.,4.,.
used just as they come from the cutting
machne. = whalebone horsewhip costs
| from $40 to SIS today aud will outlast
dozen whips of any other material.
Whaiebonc was the original material
from which umbrella ribs were made,
rs durability was one good feature.
| The umbrella which boosted Of whale
bone ribs could never be shut up tight be-
cause of the size of the ribs.
There is still some bone employed in
artists sketching umbrellas and carr
rage shades. but il is pretty expensive
for these purposes. Some whalebone IN
used in thin strips in mems felt hats to
| impart stiffness to tie brim.
Slender strlns are used by silk spin
hers as turning sticks. On an orna-
mental sword hilt you viii sometimes
lind winding Of whalebone strips A
| few canes are made of whalehack heated
and twisted
In these aud few other ways the
c0untry's production Of from 10000 to
| 100000 pounds Il year IS utilized.
The best whaleboue and the bulk of it
comes from the bowhead whale of the
! Arctic sens. Baleen it is called in it's
natural state. Like an enormous strain
| or there depends from great slabs which
| form the roof of the bowhead's mouth
| hair like that of horses name but
much coarser The economic value Of
| fa,s. a l.
| personally Is concerned lies in the fact
that when he opens his mouth the water
| PUSHES IN and out again, while all the
| fish life it contains becomes entangled
! in the fringe Of the baleen and is trans
| ferred to the whale stomach in a leisure
| ly and comfortable manner
There are from 260 TO 300 Of these
great elastic slabs on each side of the
! whales mouth. When the mouth Is
closed the baleen fits into grooves in
| geniously and conveniently placed
| When il is opened the baleen springs for
ward so as to fill completely the space
between the jaws.
Some Of the slabs Of baIeen in She
mouth of the bOwhead are 10 to IL feet
| long, with width of 10 inches at the
base. The Pacific right whale yields
| baleen nearly as large as that of the
| bowhead but Of coarser texture, the fin
| back whale produces short baleen, and
the South sea whalebone is short and
coarse. The baieen of the humpback
Is 50 poor as hardly to lie worth taking
When a kill has been made the fish
ernen hoist the upper jaw on the deck
| of their vessel with the layer Of bone at
| tached. Cutting spades are pushed along
the groove between the gum and the
! j0wbone, and the entire head being sus-
| pended from tackle the weight Of the
bone itself aids in detaching it from the
| jaws.
Then with spades and axes the fisher
men separate the mass Of bone into
| pieces Of from three TO six slabs each
when 1T is stored in the hold until leisure
comes for cleaning It, Then the slabs
arc carefully separated from one an
other by cutting through the gum with
nm axe, the particles Of gum and flesh
are removed with scrapers, and after be
! ing washed the bone IL thoroughly dried.
! Much Of the ~hAlebOne taken today il
| landed at San francisco, where the bone
| is punched IN bundles Of twenty-five
| slabs each weighing about eighty pounds.
| The bone less than six feet long Is con
| -idered understood and is sold at lower
| price.
The biggesc yield Of bone by one bow
| head whale was that taken by the Mary
| and Helen in 1888. when the cleanup
! yielded 800 pounds, worth in the neigh.
| h9rhDed Of $1,000 at prevailing prices
From the San Ffancisco storehouses
! the bone Is sent 10 New York and Bos-
| ton factories 10 be cut. All these fac
tories are small, employing Mt the out
! side forty wgrkmen.
Here the various processes Of trans
| forming the rough into the finished prod
| oct are performed with Il variety Of
| shears and cutting knives. when The
w0rkmen are through with II they have
dress bone which sells for $40 pound
whip bone ut 50 or 81 q pound, corset
bones at $3.50 8 pound and other va
riciios at different prices Even tbs
shavings are utilized going to the up
holsterers
| The cost Of whaleboae hag led TO IN,
! Introduction Of many substitutes, such
| as horn and rattan and thin strips oI
! steel covered with rubber or composition
and necessarily these things have sup
planted bone In the cheaper grades o
( corscts. But bone occupies n place OF
its pwn for the better trade and as hons
! rs fashion DEGREES stays 80 long prob
abby will the Sew Bedford sailor taxi
his chances Of getting caught in the ic
TO the west'ard Of pint Barrow -
New iork Sun.