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A stack of sides on a "horse." Horses were used at Salz to move sides of leather into measuring until the company closed in 2001.
The front of the historic Salz Leathers building remained unchanged for over 140 years. The lettering was more recent. It read in full, "A.K. Salz Company" and featured the company logo for "Salz California Saddle Leather." An unnamed employee stood…
This photograph was taken in 1954 when hides were still hand-scudded. After hair and flesh were removed chemically and mechanically, scudding removed fine hair roots to produce leather of even grain and depth. [Artistically, it is interesting to…
Ansel Adams photographed this Salz Tannery employee working on the glazing process that made the California Saddle Leather TM unique.
Vegetable tanned - or tanoak - leather was hung until ready for shipping. Vegetable leather dried naturally over a period of days. Salz Tannery switched to a chrome process about 1961. The chrome process made a softer tannage, more suitable for…
Salz plant superintendent, Joe Bellas, holds the finished product. The Ansel Adams photograph was part of a series documenting each step of the leather making process in 1954.
Pack mules, used as lime carriers on the Henry Cowell Ranch, where lime was mined and manufactured. The ranch was "self-supporting in terms of the industries necessary to manufacture, package and distribute the lime. The business not only quarried…
Tan pits could be dangerous so employees often worked in pairs while removing vegetable tanned hides from them. Jeremy Lezin remembers that as a kid "Salz sales manager Howard Halper fell into the pits while conducting a tour." The term…
Green bark was removed from a tanoak tree. Salz started harvesting tanoak outside Santa Cruz County in the 1940's and 1950's when the local supply dwindled. The Mendocino Coast was deemed the best source at the time. Bark stripping was always…
This Salz Tannery greeting card featured a product display that included fine saddles, personal leather goods and luggage. Salz California Saddle Leather TM was distributed nationwide. The company had an agent in Mexico as well. In later years Salz…