Charlevoix county herald., 1920-07-09

TSPe'sis
With the retirement from business
recently of George Messmann Of New
York, the business of whalebone cut
ting In this country terminated. AT
one time this was thriving and i'm
portant industry, but of late years,
what with changing fashions the In
PRODUCTION of substitutes for "bOne"
and the frank use of metal In Its
place as distinguished from the sub
stitution of some similar appearing
substance, the whalebone trade has
fallen upon evil times. Also the catch
has grown constantly smaller and
smaller.
According to Mr.. Messmann, there
is no whalebone now In the market,
although there Is some slight expecta-
tion Of a little coming In In the fall.
"What right whale fishing has been
done lately has been from the West
Coast, Frisco, Seattle and altogether In
Pacific waters and toward the Jap
anese coast" said Mr.. Messmann. "The
long famous New Bedford. Nantucket
and Vineyard whale fishing has been
out of existence for some time"
Mr.. Messmann, interrupted In the
winding up of his business affairs, ad-
mitted that he was chiefly preoccupied
at the moment with deciding what
souvenirs to retain or send to those
interested In the business before his
time. Mr.. Messmann pleads guilty to
seventy-one years, although he looks
as hale and hearty as any man or
fifty could wish, and, looking back to
his predecessor, and his predecessors
predecessor, who ran the same bust
ness in the same spot, he explained
why he felt that he was the young
est, as well as the oldest, cutter-up of
whalebone left In the United States.
81 was born In 1S49, although ev-
erybody says / don't look It," said he
with hearty laugh, 'in New York
City, and since 1854 have been work
ing right here In this shop. That Is
fifty-six years.
At One Table FIfty-Six Years.
I'm 1890 / took over the business
from A. ]. Vetter, who retired, just
as In 1866 Mr.. Vetter took 1t over from
William Forster, the owner at that
time. Mr.. Vetter worked for Mr..
Forster, as l worked for Mr.. Vetter,
only / worked for Mr.. Vetter twenty
four years-a long time, Ell? l work
ed two years for Mr.. Forster before
that. / came here as a boy of fifteen
years. For almost fifty-six years
have worked, cutting bone, at that
table" continued Mr.. Messmann, in
dicating heavy, rough cutting table.
Those were the good old days, ac-
cording to the veteran whalebOne cut
ter, when Saturdays meant o'clock,
just like any other day, and there were
no vacations.
81 worked for A. ]. Vetter twenty
four years with never days vaca-
tion," he said. ut was all day on
Saturdays, and / never missed day.
In those days we worked for our
money"
The quaint brick building at 161
Duane street, which has housed the
whalebone-cutting business with never
a break since the year 1880, was orig
Inally built as private house. Then
Ii was used as q schOolhouse, and
later descended to trade level, be-
Ing used for coffee mill.
"There Is an extension out at the
back which you can see, where they
used to roast the coffee" said Mr..
Messmann.
In 1860 the building was taken over
for the then fourishing whalebone
business, which, with successive years.
has been pushed up, until recently
1t has occupied only the two upper
stories, reached by almost perpendic-
ular old stairs. Over the street en-
trance to the building hangs a plain
sign with the word "Whalebone" In
large white letters on black ground.
This sign is old, but new In compar-
ison with the one that is nailed up
over 1t, which displayed the name Of
A. ]. vetter until time obliterated II
and the old rough. board above that
which at one time told the world that
william Forster was I'm the whalebone
business.
Reminders OF Old Days.
II am going to send this" indicat-
ing an old mahogany desk, ito Mr..
Carl vetter in North Andover, Mass.
He is the son of A. j. vetter. He
will like to have the old desk at which
his father sat, and the old clock. too"
he added. nodding to an old-fashioned
wall clock.
THAT clock is still going just the
same as ever, and l personally can
vouch for the fact that II has had
only two springs since the year 1864.
Once In a while lately 1t stops, and
I just take II and put II in the steam
box, let II get warmed up little, and
II goes right on. You can't beat that"
Mr.. Mesmann admitted that he
would feel lost without the business.
The old Office safe Is dated 1852 and