The Cod-Fish Industry - J.W.Beardsely's Sons - The Edison Monthly Oct 1911

...From three to five million pounds of cod are shipped annually to New York, to be shredded and packed in boxes and sent to even' part of the country. Preparing and shredding codfish is the biggest part of the business of J W Beardsley's Sons of 474 Greenwich Street.

Their fish are all caught "Down East," where are maintained three curing stations; one at Winter Harbor, one at Cutler and one at Eastport (Maine). To these stations the fishermen daily bring their catch. The cod are thrown to the dock, cleaned and washed, then they are put in brine and left for from three to four weeks until thoroughly "struck," when they are placed in the sun to dry. After two days on the drying flakes they are sent to New York to be skinned, boned, shredded, packed and sold. 

After skinning, the fish are sent to a big table, where a number of women remove the bones; then they go through the shredder and come out on a table on the floor below, ready for packing. The shredding machine used by the Beardsley concern is the only one in the country, and so carefully is the secret of its construction guarded, that only two men outside the firm members are permitted to operate it. These men have both been with the company for many years. 

The firm was established by J W Beardsley fifty-two years ago and is now carried on by the younger generation. For ten years they maintained a large plant to generate the current used to run the machinery. They have just closed the plant and are now securing their current from The New York Edison Company. 

Shredded codfish is only one of the commodities marketed by this firm. Smoked beef, sliced bacon, smoked herring, peanut butter, and figs, are also packed at the Greenwich Street establishment. Besides the machinery for all these foodstuffs, there are two immense cold-storage rooms. The generator which formerly supplied the current has been converted into a motor and is used to run the refrigerating plant to keep these rooms at the right temperature.

Honesdale Pa. Citizen 31 Dec 1909



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