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Show This is the second in a series of three articles. THE SILK industry in Utah involved three separate activities. First, mulberry trees had to be raised to provide food for the worms. Second, the worms had to be raised to maturity. Some were saved to lay eggs while othere were killed for their silk cocoons. Finally, the cocoons had to be unraveled, spun and woven into cloth. Raising mulberry trees was the easiest step in the sericulture process. AS MENTIONED last week, the worms were difficult to raise because of their temper-mentnature, their voricious appetites and their susceptibil- ity to disease. Even more difficult and time consuming than raising the worms was the process of converting the silk cocoons into cloth. IN 1867 Paul A. Schettler purchased five acres of property near where Yalecrest Avenue joins 17th East and where 19th East and Herbert Avenues meet. There he built two small cocooneries. He managed one of them. Mrs. Zina D. Young took charge of the larger cocoonery. Later a Frenchman experienced in the silk industry operated it. Then a Mr. Wimmer tried to make the cocoonery successful. In 1885 a harness power loom was brought from London to be used for the manufacture of brocaded silk. It was set up in a silk factory at the mouth of City Creek Canyon. Margaret F. Cullen Geddes (Eccles) took charge of the loom, which was run by water power from City Creek. One dress made on this loom was sent to Mrs. Grover Cleveland, wife of the President of the United States. THE ENTIRE second floor of the Francis A. Brown house at 2500 Madison Ave., Ogden, was converted into the site of Ogden's silkworm industry. From the beginning the silk industry and especially the cocooneries were not successful. Machinery was expensive. It was hard to maintain and few people were skilled in the operation of cocooneries. THE MAJORITY of the silk produced was done in homes on hand looms. In 1875 the Deseret Silk Association was organized to rescue the failing silk industry. The Relief Society leaders became officers in the Silk Association. Each local Relief Society unit was urged to secure a few acres for mulberry trees. The sisters were told to plant trees on their own home lots. As a result of the efforts of the Relief Society by 1877 five million silk worms were being raised in the territory. SUSANNA Cardon of Logan, regarded as the most expert reeler in the territory, AUGUST 12, 1982 FOCUS Part of the old Utah silk industry included placing the silk out on racks to dry. DRYING THE SILK By DONETA GATHERUM LEADER JOURNAL BULLETIN REFLEX was called on a special mission to teach others the art of reeling. She left a year-olbaby and six other children to teach classes in the art of reeling d without pay. Her students were women and girls appointed as missionaries to attend the classes and then return to their local wards to teach others what they had learned. Families who took up the challenge of raising silk worms soon discovered the work involved. One siiters recalls that the first year her mother raised worms nine out of the ten rooms in her home had to be cleared to accommodate the worms. The family had to e gathering spend their mulberry leaves to feed the worms and cleaning the trays. full-tim- DURING THE time the silk industry lasted in Utah Territory, cocoons were raised in Cache, Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, Sanpete, Emery, Grand, Kane, Sevier, Wayne and Washington counties. To get silk from the spun cocoons, the creamy white to deep yellow cocoon was heated to a temperature high enough to kill the chrysalides so they would not eat their way out of the cocoons and destroy the continuity of the silk thread. REELED SILK was produced by softening the cocoon in hot water, soaking it for a short period and then brushing it with a stiff brush to remove all broken ends and find the one continuous thread. The strength of the silk fiber was determined by the number of threads combined into one on the bobbin of the reeling machine. Several cocoon threads were run together. As one thread ran out, it was replaced by the web of another in order to keep the thread of uniform size. AFTER THE threads were twisted together gluten had to be removed from them. The silk was soaked for thirty minutes in a strong soh'tion of soap and hot water and then taken out and pressed through a wringer. This soaking process was repeated using clear hot water to remove any soap residue. The silk was then dryed on a stretcher. Before silk would be dyed it available, it had to be treated with carbonate of soda or ammonia. Silks to be dyed light shades were washed with olive or coconut oil soap. WEIGHTED silks were tre- ated with hydrocholonc acid diluted with water to remove metallic oxides. Many different chemicals were used in the bleaching of silk. Sulfurous acid applied either in stoves in the form of gas produced by burning brimstone or by immersing the silk in a bath of an alkaline solution of sulphite or bisulphite and then setting free the sulphur dioxide by adding a mineral acid. Peroxide of hydrogen was mixed in a solution of two gallons for every 10 pounds of silk in 40 to 50 gallons of water. A little ammonia or borax was added. The silk was bathed in this solution for many hours. SOUPLE SILK was bleached with aqua regia. Subsequent baths of tartar and soap, sulphuric acid and sulphate of magnesia followed. Utah silk was considered high quality. It was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial and won a certificate of merit in competition with Oriental and European products. In 1891 a pair of homemade silk portieres, embroidered in designs of sego lillies was sent to the Chicago Columbian World's Fair. The U.S. De- partment of Agriculture and a committee of Japanese silk experts, judging independently, awarded medals and diplomas to the Utah exhibit. THE UTAH silk industry was never a money-making project. Subsidies to support the industry came from private donations, from free labor and from government price supports. In 1896 the state legislature appropriated from two to three thousand dollars per biennium and up to 25 cents per pound bounty on the production of Less Motion Makes Work Lighter By DENIECE SCHOFIELD texFamous in most tbooks is a man by the name of Frederick Winslow Taylor. home-manageme- TAYLOR, an American engineer and efficiency expert who began lorking for the Midvale Steel Works n Philadelphia in 1878, has done more to improve my homemaking skills than any other single person. Taylor conducted experiments to determine how men and machines could work more efficiently. He watched the workers hands to see if they used both hands effectively. He noticed how a better arrangement of tools permitted the best sequence of motion. He was constantly on the lookout for shortcuts and ways to do things better and faster. THE BEST-know- n part of his system is called the time and motion study. You may know homemakers who spend hours doing a particular job. Another homemaker might be able to do the same job just cocoons. During the next few years, production rose from 5,000 pounds during to more than 8.600 pounds in new mulber as well but in a shorter period of time. How is this possible? The efficient homemaker is motion-mindeWhile she is working, she is conscious of how she is working. d. THE MOTION-minde- d person uses both hands effectively. During the next week, notice how many times one hand is busy while the other one is inactive. What is your left hand doing while your right hand is brushing your teeth? You can easily be sticking things away in a bathroom drawer or medicine chest. Become more aware of your hands. Watch the way other people work. Some people can prepare a whole meal without having to take many steps at all. Still others may walk back and forth across the kitchen many times just fixing a bowl of cereal! REMEMBER, when you stand in one spot to prepare something, you're only messing up one spot! The more ground you cover, the more areas you are affecting. When you unwrap something do you ever place the wrappings on the counter, only to ry trees were planted during this short period of time. 1897-189- 8 STILL, THE industry failed to make money. Cost of pro DID YOU ever wonder why the kids don't put their clothes in the hamper? Usually, it takes two motions: open the lid, put the clothes in. The more motions something takes, the harder the process is to execute. Simplify your storage program by eliminating extra motions. Motion-mindedne- not necessarily is ss moving fast. It is moving smoothly steadily and rhythmically. Of course, moving quickly is the ideal we all seek. If you are a person, your most economical pattern of movement is from left to right. If you are the reverse is true. right-hand- d, ALL OF US will find those proverbial "extra hours in the day by becoming motion-mindeLook at your working motions and equipment arrangements. Find shortcuts through better organization. They could very well turn out to be shortcuts to d. duction, problems with machinery, lack of interest on the part of people and the importation of silk products from the Orient and Europe all worked against the expenmen-ta- l Utah silk industry. In 1905 state aid to the industry was discontinued. The Silk Commission was abolished and the industry was never again revived. artiesTPubliCDancesTConcert THE FINAL article in this series will deal with the silk industry in Davis County. had to be degummed and bleached. Scoured silk was divided into three great classes: boiled off "souple" and "ecru. The difference in the three was that the bleaching was accompanied by the removal of different amounts of the gum or sencin. In silk the coloring matter is not in the fiber but is combined with the gum or sericin. In boiled-of- f silk the whole of the sencin was removed. In souple and ecru silks much was left behind. CalC394T1809Z394-073- 4 THE BEHAVIORAL GENETIC PRE-SCHOO- L is now accepting enrollment for Fall Registration... ages 4 and 5 Personal Screening SOFT WATER had to be Motor Skills Skills g Crafts and Music Individual Attention Field Trips Understanding of Himself and Others This is not a Day Care but a to help your child prepare heshe for classroom behavior and skills used in this silk refining process. If only hard water was Pre-Scho- COWS AND SILK Lets Go Back To School with pick them up and throw them away later? Be aware of your motions. Try to handle things only once. LIMITED OPENINGS SO REGISTER NOW For More Information Call In the old days before the truck or automobile, cows were enlisted to haul mulberries in preparation for silk production. 544-925- 5 Peggy Corbridge B.G.S. 1U Oxiqin&l and Only GET ACQUAINTED SPECIALS 3RMELK0KN 00 $3 OFF Layton Hills Mall , This Coupon Good for 250 Off Any size box Karmelkorn, Cheesekorn, Sour Cream and Onion, Sugar Korn, etc PERMANENT with this coupon - includes cut and set $18.50. $16.50. $13.50. ,a Men or Women i I HAIR CUT! $15.50 $13.50 SHAMPOO limit 2 AND SET with coupon done by students under supervision of professional trained instructors coupon Now Accepting Summer and For Appointment Call Clearfield 121 So. State All work Limit 2 with this 825-005- 3 ( Fall Enrollment Many Financial Aids Available ALL COUPONS EXP. AUG. 31, 1982 HOUR Tue. - Sat. 9:30 4:30 |