Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1915-08-13
IMPORTANT INDUSTRY
FEW DALLASITES REALIZE EX-
TENT OF TANNING PLANT.
Three Thousand Hides Annually Find
Their Way to Various Sections
of the United States.

The extent or value of the leather
tanning industry, as carried on in
Dallas by the Muir & Mcdonald COM
pany, is probably not fully realized
or appreciated by residents Of this
city, although directly and indirectly,
a large number Of men are employed
and much money is circulated. A. b.
Muir, the manager, estimates that the
company will ship each month of this
year an average of 250 tanned hides
of the finest quality to markets in all
parts of the United States. A total
output of 5000 hides year-busi-
ness is not nearly so good in this line
as it has been in the past-means the
return to Dallas laborers and manu-
facturers money from the principal
market cities Of the nation. Even
this city's Texas namesake, not to
mention Chicago, st. Louis, New Or
leans, Kansas City and San Francis
co, where one would imagine the
leather market would be well sup
piled by home industry, gets the Dali
las product. The Muir & Mcdonald
company ships its leather to all these
markets, perhaps because it is better
prepared; but at any rate bringing
the selling price back to Dallas. Only
a limited number of hands are en-
ployed in the actual tanning of leath-
er, as the process which hide goes
through before it can assume distinc-
tion as leather is so slow that few
men can handle great number. But,
in addition to the men at the tannery,
many are kept busy throughout the
working season at gathering fir bark,
from which the fannie acid for the
process is taken. If one goes on fur
ther one finds innumerable men and
women gaining livelihood in many
parts of the country from the pro-
duets of the Dallas tannery.
Green hides, received from all parts
of the state by Muir & Mcdonald,
bring to the seller about IA cents a
pound, and average in weight approx
mately fifty pounds. The tanning pro
cess decreases the weight of hide
about so per cent and increases its
value accordingly. A well tanned hide
of skirt leather, such as is produced
at the Dallas tannery, is sold for from
vl's to so cents pound.
= The process by which a hide is
made into leather is almost as inter-
esting as its evolution from leather
to beautifully engraved saddles, or
perhaps, bill purses and hand bags.
Mr.. Muir was host at a personally
conducted tour about the large tan
merry on Tuesday, cheerfully explain
ing every detail of the work and put
ting the very modern equipment
through its PAGES. The life of hide
from the time it reaches the factory
until, some three months later, it has
absorbed sufficient fannie acid, is not
so interesting as its course after the
watts and driers and finds its way
through the several modern machines
that make of it marketable product.
These consist chiefly of powerful mo-
tor-driven ironing boards and trim
ming machines, which take out wrin-
kles, trim and polish. There is one
machine in the plant that folks inter
ested in mechanics, or appreciative of
ingenious inventions, would walk
miles to see. This is a measuring ap-
paratus into which hide of any
size or shape may be placed and
measured Immediately, accurately
and automatically. A pleasant fea-
ture, though it may seem strange that
pleasant features could exist about
tannery, is the total absence of odor
other than that Of the fir bark, which
is anything but disagreeable. The
place, though not as tidy as the kit
chen of a good housewife, is not un-
clean, and an inspection of the pro-
cess and equipment in the plant is
well worth the while of the many
Dallas people who know little more
than the fact that the city has tan
merry, and do not know that it is one