Show WHALEBONE FACTORIES where the crude bone la prepared for the market clr first factory in ban franciaco Franc laco others will be located IQ the eastern states an the establishment of tho whaling santion at monterey bay will is expected increase the demand for skilled labor employed in this city in the manufacture of whalebone thia is looked upon by the merchants association as another indication of good times for california and the whaling industry on this coast will be fostered the whaling trade is considerable at this port but its increase means more to landsman landsmen lands men and the manufacturing fac turing interests of the city than is generally known it means that within the next few years san francisco will become not only the whaling port of the world but also the center of the whalebone manufacturing interests already a whalebone factory has been established in this city ore long alie six other factories in the united states now located in the eastern states will undoubtedly be moved to this city this proposition is almost self evident when it is considered that at present five sixtus sixths of all the whalebone manufactured in america is shipped from this port across the continent before is prepared for the market new bedford once the great whaling port of the world docs not send out more than one or two ships after the leviathan now and all the rest of the trade is centered at this port it was this fact which called into existence the whalebone factory and that will bring other factories of the bame kind to this city the price of this commodity is on the increase if anything though the whal ing industry itself has fallen into comparatively ively insignificant proportions many refined oils have been found to toke the place of sperm oil but no substitute lias ever been found for whalebone many efforts have been made to find some substance that could le used in the place of whalebone and many experiments on various metals and sub stances have been made but to no purpose for corsets and dress bodices bo dices no other substance will answer nothing else is so pliable and so lasting at the same time it is not generally known but it is a fact that whalebone may be used over and over again and is practically indestructible when bent out of shape it can be straightened by first steaming and placing it pressure aside from the part in comans womans apparel its chief use is for whips the process of cleaning and drying the crude whalebone when first taken from the chipi is interesting it is scrubbed and drenched with fresh water when unloaded at the yard and then stood up in bunches to dry in the sun down at the yards of the pacific steam whaling company at the potrero the stranger who sees the vessels unloading from a distance and beholds the washed strips of bone stacked up to dry is very likely to mistake it for some rank growth of weeds or tules when thoroughly dried it is bundled up and taken to the factory on calif orria street or shipped east to the fac tores there to be still further scraped and dressed then and polished and cut into marketable strips from first to last a good many men are required to handle the bone product that is brought to this port by the whaling vessels and when it is considered that eacle one of these vessels is manned and provisioned here the real importance of alie entire industry is seen to be not at all insignificant to the material welfare of california san francisco call |