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OCT 29 1914 



Division of Forestry 

 University of California 



CALIFORNIA TAN BARK OAK. 



a) 



PART I. TANBARK OAK AND THE TANNING INDUSTRY, 1 



By WILLIS LINN JEPSON. 

 DEVELOPMENT OF THE TANNING INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA. 



Tanbark oak is, economically, the most important of the 15 Pacific 

 coast oaks, because it furnishes the chief material used in the exten- 

 sive tanning industry of that region. In 1900, according to the 

 census, California ranked third among the States in the value of 

 tanned hides produced. Commercial tanning on the Pacific coast 

 began with the influx of Americans into California in 1849 and 1850. 

 As early as 1852 Sonoma County had one tannery which produced 

 $30,000 worth of leather, and by 1856 there were 18 in the State, in 

 which $94,000 was invested. The bark of the tanbark oak was first 

 used at Santa Cruz, and in 1857 a tannery there with an output of 

 700 hides a month was the largest in the State. Its leather was 

 superior to that produced by the establishments which still used the 

 live-oak and black-oak bark, the first utilized. By 1859 there were 

 29 tanneries and their product was more than sufficient for home 

 consumption. In the next year the value of the output of the State's 

 tanneries was $276,014, and seven years later, in 1867, there were 

 more than 40 establishments, with an annual product worth $400,000. 



The development of the tanbark industry since 1850 is shown by 

 Table 1. 



TABLE I. Tan oak bark harvested in California, 1855 to 1907. 



i In gathering the data upon which this report is based the author received assistance and helpful courte- 

 sies from many people directly or indirectly connected with the tanbark industry on the Pacific coast. 

 Their number was too great to permit of individual acknowledgment here, but the author takes this means 

 to thank them for the great assistance given him. 



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