# Industrial (for lack of a better choice of words) Uses for Animal Products, c. 1875 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816 "2021-10-03T14:44:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/1 "2021-10-03T14:44:40Z")
I’m playing an Old West-themed video game, and of the gameplay mechanics involves running a business wherein I turn in animal products (whole carcasses are best) to a confederate who then turns them into profit. Yes, it’s all fiction, I get it. What I’m trying to figure out is if there could have been any kernel of truth to this system as a money-making venture in that time and place. The business applications I’m thinking of include: a) Furs, obviously certain furs (such as rabbit, beaver, etc.) would be more valuable than those of, say, elk. b) Meats, almost certainly salted (or whatever) then wrapped for preservation, or perhaps sent to a canning factory. However, I don’t see a market for meats of wild animals when plenty of domesticated ones were also available at the time. c) Glue and similar uses from hooves and antlers and such. d) Leather, although again, plenty of domestic animals to provide leather. What else am I missing here? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/2 "2021-10-03T14:47:39Z")
Fat for lubricants and waterproofing. Bone for fertilizer. Horns for horn (used a lot for things we use plastic for). ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/3 "2021-10-03T14:57:09Z")
Depends on where you are located. In a western town like say Deadwood wild game would be available and cheaper than cattle or pigs. You shot and field dress an elk and bring it into town and sell it to the butcher. Only cost your labor and the cost of a bullit. Cattle are raised and require time to produce. People also sold wild game to the railroad. They had a steady demand of crews that needed feed. Many Buffalo were killed to build the railroads, although much was wasted. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/4 "2021-10-03T14:57:43Z")
Hides are probably the biggest value. For small fur-bearers they are worth much, much more than the meat. That meat would go to feed working dogs, probably, or chickens, or even pigs. For larger animals they still have value probably well above that of the available meat. Different animal’s hides have very different qualities and textures and so are good for different things. Deer tends to be very pliable, buffalo is super tough. Their winter fur is also much better quality than most domestic animals. A winter hide from an elk will be warm, fairly soft, quite pliable, and big enough that you don’t need many of them to make clothes of bed coverings, etc. And as said above, none of this requires care or daily maintenance. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/5 "2021-10-03T14:59:38Z")
FWIW, this happens IRL to produce a variety of animal-based products, whether from domesticated or wild (e.g., roadkill) animals. > **[Rendering (animal products)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(animal_products))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Rendering is a process that converts waste animal tissue into stable, usable materials. Rendering can refer to any processing of animal products into more useful materials, or, more narrowly, to the rendering of whole animal fatty tissue into purified fats like lard or tallow. Rendering can be carried out on an industrial, farm, or kitchen scale. It can also be applied to non-animal products that are rendered down to pulp. In animal products, the ... ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/6 "2021-10-03T15:25:05Z")
Animal guts are used to make bows, not sure if there was a big market for it in 1875. Similarly, guts are used for stringing tennis rackets. Gelatin maybe another candidate. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/7 "2021-10-03T15:35:10Z")
> [@saje](#): > > That meat [of small fur-bearers] would go to feed working dogs, probably, or chickens, or even pigs. Ha! Two of the animals involved in this fictitious economy are coyotes and wild peccaries. Or, dogs eating dogs and pigs eating pigs. Seems kind of cruel, at least in a philosophical sense. I doubt the animals cared one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/8 "2021-10-03T15:51:20Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > However, I don’t see a market for meats of wild animals when plenty of domesticated ones were also available at the time. Before modern levels of nation wide food distribution from industrial meat production supported by industrial feed production meat was a lot pricier and wild animal meat more competitive. Especially in a less developed region. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/9 "2021-10-03T16:09:25Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Ha! Two of the animals involved in this fictitious economy are coyotes and wild peccaries. The only value I see in those animals is the bounty you’d get from farmers to get rid of vermin. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/10 "2021-10-03T16:17:01Z")
[All those belts that drove 19th C. American machine shops?](https://www.muelaner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/springfield-armory-milling-machines.jpg) That’s where millions of bison hides were put to use. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/11 "2021-10-03T16:48:13Z")
Proctor & Gamble was founded by candle and soap makers in Cincinnati, which was the largest pork producing city in the country (world?) in the early and mid 1800s, until being surpassed by Chicago around the Civil War which cut off much of Cincinnati’s river trade to the south. Rendered animal byproducts were critical ingredients in soap and candle making, plus cosmetics, waxes, lard, and gelatin. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/12 "2021-10-03T17:06:48Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Horns for horn (used a lot for things we use plastic for). Ivory and tortoise shell, too. It’s amazing we have any elephants left, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/13 "2021-10-03T17:19:20Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Fat for lubricants Eiffel Tower elevator: > Aurora noted that because the equipment dates to the 1880’s, modern lubricants can’t be used. They lubricate the cables with pork fat; other parts are lubricated with bull and sheep fat. > **[Behind the Scenes Tour of the Eiffel Tower](http://saltscape.blogspot.com/2011/09/behind-scenes-tour-of-eiffel-tower.html)** > > Taking the "Behind the Scenes" tour of the Eiffel Tower was like being on the TV show "How Stuff Works" on the Discovery Channel. Our to... Also, to make nitroglycerin? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/14 "2021-10-03T17:58:19Z")
Bones: > **[Bison skulls to be used for fertilizer, 1870 - Rare Historical Photos](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/bison-skulls-pile-used-fertilizer-1870/)** > > Bison were hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century and were reduced to a few hundred by the mid-1880s. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/15 "2021-10-03T20:09:48Z")
You can use dead fish for lighting mines. Apparently. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/16 "2021-10-03T20:49:34Z")
Hey how about poison? Was our knowledge of chemistry at this stage in the game such that, say, snake venom or gila monster venom, could be distilled into rat poison or something? (I ask because my “business partner” will gladly accept snake and gila monster parts.) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/17 "2021-10-03T20:57:57Z")
I don’t know about poison, but [snake oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil) was big business. Some of it was even made from real snakes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/18 "2021-10-03T21:07:39Z")
Animal bones were\* used to make fine china > **[Bone china](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_china)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phosphate. Bone china is the strongest of the porcelain or china ceramics, having very high mechanical and physical strength and chip resistance, and is known for its high levels of whiteness and translucency. It... \*(I mean, they still are, but they _were_ in the timeframe specified by the OP) ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/19 "2021-10-03T21:10:49Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > Rendered animal byproducts were critical ingredients in soap and candle making, plus cosmetics, waxes, lard, and gelatin. Also for bio diesel and animal feed. Rendering plants are the worst places I’ve worked except maybe that medical sharps disposal place. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816/20 "2021-10-03T21:36:41Z")
> [@K2500](#): > > Also for bio diesel and animal feed. But in the 1870s? Also, once you get used to the smell of melted hog fat, you’ll wonder how you ever did without it. [![](https://jjakucyk.com/forums/hogfat.png) ](https://jjakucyk.com/forums/hogfat.png) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/industrial-for-lack-of-a-better-choice-of-words-uses-for-animal-products-c-1875/951816.md?page=2)