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 "vegetable-tanned" refers to the organic nature of the tanoak bark. It is used to indicate "other than mineral" tannages.

Source of information: Jeremy Lezin