The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-02-18
THE STORY OF the
WHALEBONE INDUSTRY
An Article of Commerce That Is
Fast Disappearing-How
It Is Gathered.

OSV O3S0PPS0
It Is Gathered.
The ma of the most romantic
CALLING which men ave ever pursued
and the hard actuaIity of modern bust
ness methods carried to the develop
ment Of Il monopoly more absolute than
that of any trust that ever accepted
q rebate or demanded a drawback:
the ice girt seas of the frozen north
n the bouleNards of Paris resplen-
dent with foliage and flowers and the
gay dresses of women; the fringe of
the world n thousand miles beyond the
point where civilization ceases n the
heart of the world of grace and fash
ton--these are The extremes which n
must bridge in IL consideration of
the Whalebone industry. ialf way
round the world the whalebone travels
from the spot where it is aiken from
the jaws of the right whale and the
bowhe;,d TO its final destination, and
there is but one stopping place on
the way-one point which bridges the
two eNtremes-and that is the city of
New Bedford, Mass. Here. in a musty
old building near The Waterfront, with
In a stones throw of the wharves
which once bristled With the masts of
whalers and r~esounded with the ham,
mers of caulkers and roopers, is
stored whalebone worth $500, 600, prac-
tically all there is in the world in first
hands. The Arctic whalers Ian their
catch at San Francisco, from there it
Is shipped overland to New Bedford,
and from New Bedford it is distributed
to the market of the world. three
quarters OF it being consumed in Paris.
And it is Il New Bedford man who
controls the entire supply so COM
pletely as to have earned for himself
the sobriquet of The Whalebone
King"
Every one has heard of whalebone.
but 1T is only upon reflection that one
realizes how seldom one sees any.
The very name is suggestive OF days of
long ago, OF old fashioned TRUNKS in
dusty atticS stored with laces and silk s
exhaling the faintest of perfulnes-the
dresses OF our grandmothers and great
grandmothers. Time was when every
well dressed woman had w%halebone
somewhere in her apparel. Today the
scarcity of the commodity and the con-
sequent high price have resulted in
its being employed only in the most
expensive articles of clothing.
Since the heyday Of the whaling In
dustry, half a century ago the market
price of sperm oil has declined, until
now it is hardly more than a third OF
what it used to be. The reverse is true
of whalebone-the product of the right
whale and the bowhead. This used to
sell as low as 25 cents a pound. and
Wnc0 1UU OF IllOIe ScSSelS were ellSdScu
In Arctic whaling not Il little of the
bone failed of being sold at all. To-
day the market value is 20 times that.
Eight or 10 vessels now comprise the
Arctic fleet: their catch last season
was about 100000 pounds, and every
pound of that catch is worth IS. Time
was when whalebone was used almost
universally In corsets: today few wom-
en- feel that they can afford corsets
more expensive than those in Which
the ribs are mad of steel or some 9TH
er substitute for whalebone. Steel has
also replaced wlralebone for umbrella
ribs.< One of the most curious uses to
which whalebone Was put Was for those
divining rods. by means of which
charlatans pretended to be able to To-
ground riches. In these days the al
most exclusive purposes for which
whaaebone is used are c%orsets. dress
bones. whips and. to a very limited,
degree, surgical instruments.
Despite the high cost, the demand for
1t holds good, which may be taken as
an evidence of the truth of the whale
mems contention that there is moth
ing else just as good. In Paris a So
ciety has been organized solely for the
purpose of experimenting with substi
tutes, but nothing has yet been dis
covered which quite equals whalebone
The advantages laimed for 1t are that
It Is odorless, Will not RUST, will not
break. and nc matter how 1t Is ben
or how long 1t is kept will never lose
1ts elasticity.
Strictly speaking, whalcbone Is not
bone at all. although that is the name
by which 1t Is known. The right whale
and the bowhead from which 1t il taker
and which yield in size to nc creature
that swlms the seas, have no teeth
their function being performed by thu
whaiebone. The sperm whale or cacha'
lot car and does devour the flerces'
monsters of the deep, such as squid
cutie fish and decapods, but the right
whale subsists OH the tiniest OF fish
The latter, known az bret. are fount
of the water. The whale. when hungry
opens his ponderous jaws, disclosing
cavernous mouth in which a dozen mer
can stand and work with ease, an6
takes a gulp of water-enough for 6
small sized reservoir and teeming will
bret. Then closing his jaws, he elects
the water while keeping the fish inside
The whalebone enable him to do this
Hanging from the ppe jaw and GOV
cred on the inner surface with a thicl
hair, 1t acts as q perfect sieve through
which the water can escape, but Thu
meshcs of which are too small to ad
nit of the passage of the bret. So ia,
as is known this is the only function
of the bone" That the greatest o
Ash-son'e of them as large as a pas
senger car-silouid thus SubslSt upol
the smallest. is one of the marvels o
nature.
On board the whaleship when a bow
head has been caught and killed, tn
bone is removed from the head in hug
slabs. sometimes reaching q length o
u feet. III :his form 1t IL shipped t
New Bedford. where tho gum whic
still covers it at the point where
was sorn from the monstcr'a jaw
scraped AVA: and :he product put u
In hlnt."s according to quality an
size. Tho hono III now ready for tn
consumer. Jhe latter soaks 1t for
Iesla o: - isys IN water. after whic