HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN, 173 



" The main floor of tlie factory stands a considerable heigbt above tbo 

 water. Here are all the steam tanks and the press, and in an adjoining 

 building is the boiler and the principal engine. The tanks are of wood, 

 8 feet square and 4 feet" deep, with a capacity of fifty-one barrels, with 

 a board platform on which the fish rest, 4 inches above the bottom. 

 Into the space between the platform and the bottom the steam is intro- 

 duced. There are tanks arranged in two rows, between which runs the 

 track leading from the landing. Another track passes by all the tanks 

 and leads to the press. On this track run several cylindrical curbs 

 made of wood and iron. The press is hydraulic, and is worked by 

 steam. On a lower level than the steam tanks are series of receptacles 

 for the oil and water, that are brought to them by conductors leading 

 from the tanks and press. Under the main floor is the scrap-house, 

 into which the scrap is dumped through a scuttle in the floor. The 

 track that runs between the rows of tanks leads down a steep incline 

 to the landing, where there is another engine, and an elevator to take 

 the fish out of the boats. The elevator delivers the fish into a hopper 

 that holds fifty barrels, and from this they are drawn into a car that 

 holds seventeen barrels, so that the unloading of the boat may go on 

 without intermission while the car is carrying its load up to the tanks. 

 The car is drawn up by the engine on the landing, and dumps its load 

 into either of the tanks at pleasure. 



" Preparation for the fish is made by filling the tank a foot deep with 

 water and steaming it until hot. The fish are at first steamed hard 

 from forty to sixty minutes, then punched and broken up. After sim- 

 mering for five hours longer the free water and oil are drawn off, and 

 then, if possible, the broken fish stand draining and cooling for several 

 hours. At last they are pitched into the curbs, run under the press, 

 and subjected to a pressure which is gradually brought up to seventy- 

 five tons. This wrings out all the water and oil that it is practicable to 

 extract, and the cheese is now dropped into the scrap-house to remain 

 until the following autumn or winter."* 



The factory at JSfa^wague, ISF. Y. 



244. In the American Agriculturist for December, 1868, p. 452, was 

 published a description of the factory at the entrance to Napeague Har- 

 bor, near Montauk Point. In Plates XXVI and XXYII are reproduced 

 the illustrations of the factory and its interior arrangements. The fol- 

 lowing desciiption of the factory was published at the same time : 



" The fish are taken to the factory's dock. At the factory the fish are 

 measured either in cars or boxes, and are drawn upon the railway to the 

 tanks, where they are thrown into water, and a full head of steam turned 

 on into the bottom of the tank, which contains some sixteen to eighteen 

 thousand fish. After thirty minutes' cooking, the water is drained off, 

 and a man getting into the tank fills the curbs, which are circular, and 



* Op. cit., p. 27. 



