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00:00My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:12I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty.
00:16With all that protein, I've probably got the squirts.
00:18This isn't sawdust, it's toilet paper.
00:20Hard-working men and women who earn an honest living.
00:22Why is my shirt off and why am I lying on another man who's lying on an alligator?
00:26Doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
00:31Now get ready to get dirty.
00:36Coming up on Dirty Jobs, this place is really the pits.
00:39The inside of a tar pit, I suppose, right?
00:41This is Pit 91, and there are lots of bones down there.
00:45Even so, creatures who come here tend to stick around for thousands of years.
00:49Because of the preservation that's here in the tar pits, the asphalt preserves the bones really well.
00:54The job is getting them out again, but it's not easy or clean.
00:58And the next one I get stuck might be me.
01:00You may have overestimated.
01:01Yeah, how you doing there, Mike?
01:02Come on.
01:04These days, there aren't a whole lot of things that can't be recycled.
01:08You can add one more to the list.
01:10Cows have died of natural causes.
01:12The bones, the organs, the intestine, the stomach, the liver.
01:15They waste nothing.
01:16The process is called rendering, and it's good for the environment and the bottom line.
01:20I recycle more in one day than most people do in a lifetime.
01:22And it's as bad as bad gets in every other way.
01:26Oh, dear.
01:30Oh, God.
01:34About 10,000 to 40,000 years ago, this Colombian mammoth walked straight into a hole
01:49than what I suppose we would have called Pleistocene Los Angeles.
01:53Today, we call the hole the La Brea tar pits, and I'm not sure why, because that's not really
01:58tar.
01:59It's actually asphalt, and it's not really in a pit.
02:02It's in a seep.
02:04And this isn't really a mammoth.
02:05It's made of fiberglass.
02:07And not to be overly pedantic, but the La Brea tar pits are actually off of Wilshire and
02:12Kersen.
02:12Aside from all that, if you're one of these, don't go in there.
02:17The La Brea tar pits are located in the heart of Los Angeles.
02:24Natural asphalt created from local petroleum deposits has seeped up from the ground for
02:29tens of thousands of years, forming sticky pools that have trapped local critters since
02:35the last ice age.
02:36Native Americans and early settlers used the tar for glue, caulk, roofing material, and fuel.
02:44But the first published mention of fossils at the site wasn't until 1875.
02:49In the early 1900s, paleontologists, in search of bones, removed asphalt from the seeps, forming
02:56pits.
02:57Scientists continue to make discoveries here, but these excavations need to be maintained
03:01where the constantly seeping asphalt will fill them in.
03:05Sounds like a dirty job.
03:10Well, that's a lovely view, no matter how you slice it.
03:13The inside of a tar pit, I suppose, right?
03:15I think you're supposed to correct.
03:17This is Kristen Brown, and she's filthy.
03:19And your title here is what?
03:21Lead excavator.
03:23Pretty prestigious, right?
03:24It sounds good.
03:24It does.
03:25Kristen is giving me a purple do-rag, and I'm told that I'll see other people wearing
03:31similar headgear, because I don't want to be the only guy.
03:34You might be the only guy.
03:35It makes you special.
03:37So I'm special.
03:38What is this particular pit called, and what is happening to it?
03:41This is Pit 91.
03:43This was the 91st pit that was excavated in the early 1900s, and there are lots of bones
03:48down there.
03:49Who's that?
03:50That's Ryan.
03:51What's he doing?
03:52He's getting ready to shore, what we're going to do.
03:54What is shoring?
03:55See, when you create this big hole, if we don't put boards on the side, it'll slump
03:59in.
03:59You're shoring it up.
04:00You're shoring it up.
04:02All right, well, first we've got to get the lag screws out.
04:06Watch for dust.
04:08Right-o.
04:11That's rotten, man.
04:13Pit 91 is a low point in the park, and the water is constantly flowing into the pit and
04:18rotting the shoring boards.
04:19We're tearing out some of the old boards and replacing them.
04:22Hey, Sean, are you putting on one of these do-rags, or am I really going to be the only
04:27guy dressed up like a pirate today?
04:28I'm afraid I don't wear those.
04:30They tricked you into it, man.
04:31Sorry.
04:32First injury of the day.
04:40Woo, woo.
04:40What'd you do?
04:41I hit my hand with a hammer.
04:43It's a standard thing.
04:44Is that a fossil, or is it a piece of wood?
04:50It feels like a rock.
04:52Why are you such a pessimist all the time?
04:54I'm not a pessimist.
04:55That's a major find.
04:56You know what that is?
04:57That is part of the sternum of a mastodon.
05:00That's awesome.
05:00That's a really small mastodon.
05:02It was a baby.
05:03He died young.
05:04It's very sad.
05:05I've got a fossil in my eye.
05:17That's why you wear gloves, kids.
05:21This seems dangerous.
05:28This strange sweat pattern I got going.
05:30It's like one of those big hot tests.
05:31I don't know what happened over here.
05:32It's a Rorschach.
05:33What do you see?
05:34I see a mastodon.
05:36A mastodon.
05:38I've got to eat more french fries.
05:44Yay.
05:48So it's just now shaving?
05:53Yeah, we've got to shave this down.
05:55Right.
05:55So the showing board fits in here.
05:57The showing boards we're using now are stickers.
05:59Right.
06:01The sawing sound you're hearing is part of the crew.
06:04Preparing Ryan, the board to be the proper size.
06:09That's right.
06:13What are we learning from your work here?
06:15Think about it if you have to.
06:16No, I don't have to think about it.
06:17I'm just, all I'm asking you to do is justify your entire existence.
06:21Okay.
06:22The reason why this job is important.
06:24Uh-huh.
06:26Climatology is a big issue right now.
06:28Climatology?
06:28Yeah, the way the climate's changed.
06:30They're going to talk about global warming.
06:31I've heard that.
06:32Yeah.
06:33You've heard it mentioned a couple times?
06:35Because of the preservation that's here in the tar pits, the asphalt preserves the bones
06:39really well.
06:40Uh-huh.
06:40And everything that it can tell us what the climate was like way back when and how the
06:46animals adapted or, you know, different plants that were here.
06:49We've got a tooth in here.
06:52A tooth?
06:53Where are you looking at?
06:54A piece of clay?
06:55Right above that worm.
06:57Yeah.
06:57Ryan, I don't know.
06:59No?
07:01What?
07:03Yes.
07:04It's a bone.
07:05Yes, it is.
07:06Now, okay, help me understand how that's a bone and not a piece of wood or hardened clay.
07:11Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a rock and a bone.
07:14And that's when you tap it on your tooth, or I do, because a rock makes a ping sound and
07:20the bone doesn't make, and it's a different sound.
07:23Go ahead, tap it on your tooth.
07:25See, it doesn't ping like a rock.
07:28Oh!
07:30Oh, dear, Doug.
07:31I would have seriously rethought that one.
07:35That's a good one.
07:37Dude, you just, look at your shoes.
07:39Yeah, can you spread it around a little more, Doug?
07:41Ladies and gentlemen, Doug Glover.
07:44I got it.
07:47All right.
07:47I'll get the other end of it here.
07:50Good thinking.
07:51So we now slap the wood into place.
07:58Let's get it high enough for a minute.
08:04Push the wood in as far as it'll go.
08:06That's right.
08:07About right.
08:12Thank you very much for your help on that one.
08:15Please, it's the least I can do.
08:17What are these guys doing?
08:19They're going to be glopping.
08:21Go glop.
08:21It's exciting.
08:22You should go glop.
08:23You're in for a treat.
08:24Coming up.
08:25So some of these spots, there's so much of it, it's just easier to use your hands.
08:29Really?
08:30Yeah.
08:30There you go.
08:31When the risk is getting dirty, the reward can be getting clean.
08:35I like it.
08:36It's hard to fit.
08:37Head later.
08:38Do you have a special name for this truck?
08:39I call it a dead truck.
08:40The dead truck.
08:41A truck that gives new meaning to the term meat wagon.
08:45This is exactly the kind of truck you don't want to be behind.
08:47You're going down the highway.
08:56The lowest point in Pit 91 is the sump, where water flows to and waits to be pumped out.
09:02Asphalt is also constantly seeping into the pit, and sometimes prevents the water from
09:06making it to the sump, causing puddles that interfere with the ongoing excavation.
09:12Hey, guys.
09:13Hey.
09:13Hey.
09:14Who's, you're Michelle?
09:15Yes.
09:16And you're?
09:16Andrea.
09:17And I'm Mike.
09:18Nice to meet you.
09:18And Kristen said you're glopping?
09:20Yes.
09:21Yep.
09:22What is glopping?
09:23Glopping is the process of scooping all this liquid asphalt and water out into a bucket.
09:29In the water, we pour into our sump pump area, and the asphalt, we take out of the pit using
09:35that chain hoist over there.
09:37And then we dump it into Pit 9.
09:39Pit 9?
09:40Yes.
09:41And why are we taking the buckets of asphalt?
09:43Because if we didn't do this, the pit would slowly fill with liquid asphalt and water.
09:47It seeps up through the cracks.
09:49These things that you see sticking out, those are all bones, so you don't want to step on
09:52those.
09:53These are bones?
09:54Yeah.
09:54Yeah.
09:55Bones from what, you reckon?
09:57I think the one closest to your hand is, I think that's a rib.
10:01That's a rib?
10:01Is it okay to touch that?
10:02Yeah, you can touch it.
10:03The clear stuff is water.
10:05Okay.
10:05Glopping is just another way of being an oil-water separator.
10:08Basically, yeah.
10:09Pretty much.
10:10This is our trench right here behind you.
10:12That's completely full.
10:13Once we clear the asphalt out of these trenches, the water will just, uh, that's why we have
10:18the trenches.
10:18The water will just pour down there and into our sump.
10:21Okay.
10:21So, but you don't have a trench.
10:24No.
10:24We need you to make us a trench.
10:37So, some of these spots, there's so much of it, it's just easier to use your hands instead
10:42of the trowel.
10:43Really?
10:43Yeah.
10:45There you go.
10:45Now, this, this really is a job, right?
10:57Mm-hmm.
10:59Actual job.
11:00Every week.
11:01At least once a week we have to do this.
11:02Mm-hmm.
11:03Once a week, glopping.
11:05Yes.
11:07It's kind of a rite of passage.
11:09It is.
11:09Good.
11:10There you go.
11:23There.
11:25They approve.
11:28We have trenches.
11:29Oh, now you're just messing around.
11:37Oh, I was just doing some glopping.
11:39It's Laura, right?
11:47Yes.
11:48What is your job?
11:49I, today, get to help you help me clean out the sump.
11:53Help you?
11:54Now you've been getting all the water down there.
11:56Okay.
11:58Asphalt is also constantly seeping into the sump, leaving less room for water waiting to
12:03be pumped.
12:04This tarry goo is too thick to be suctioned out, so we have to remove it manually.
12:09Today, that means me.
12:12You ever thought about doing this every day?
12:15I don't think much anymore.
12:16Side of the pit when Kristen fell in.
12:18I managed to fall off one of the walkways.
12:21So, yeah, it's a new consistency I've actually never quite seen before.
12:24Well, this is a big day for all of us.
12:30Oh, this one up here?
12:32Oh, wow, there's two.
12:33Nice.
12:34May have, uh, may have overestimated.
12:36Yeah, how you doing there, Mike?
12:36I'm okay.
12:37Yeah, something tore loose.
12:40There you go.
12:41Got it.
12:41Well, how do we know when we're done?
12:43We run out of buckets.
12:48For our last bucket.
12:49That's a horrible job.
12:51Yeah.
12:52Possibly the worst.
12:54Okay.
12:54Now there's hoisting?
12:55Hoisting, yes.
12:56We have to pull all of these out of the pit.
13:01Doing great work, Michelle.
13:03Thanks.
13:03Yeoman's work.
13:04Oh, yeah.
13:06Out of over 100 seeps excavated,
13:08pit 91 is the only one currently active,
13:11leaving inactive pits available for dumping car.
13:14And how deep would this be again?
13:25I think it's like 30 feet.
13:28But there's seven dead crows on the surface.
13:31There's one there.
13:32There's one.
13:32There's a squirrel right there.
13:34Whoa, whoa, whoa, where?
13:34Okay.
13:35See that fur patch right there?
13:37Oh, yeah.
13:38That's a dead squirrel.
13:39That's a dead squirrel.
13:41Those look like sticks, but I think those are feathers.
13:43There's two more crows over there.
13:44Uh-huh.
13:44There's three more over there.
13:45There's another squirrel over there.
13:48I'm lifting him straight up.
13:50Oh.
13:50Ew.
13:51That's a putrefied squirrel.
13:55He's just completely dissolved.
13:57Yeah.
13:59So all kinds of things still.
14:01Yep.
14:01Creatures from today.
14:02Hop in here, and that's the end.
14:05Jacked up way to go.
14:07What can I do now?
14:08You're going to go to the lab now and visit Shelly.
14:10Shelly's in the lab?
14:11Shelly is in the lab.
14:12Would it be appropriate for me to tidy up first a little bit?
14:15Do you want to?
14:15I'd like to.
14:16You can tidy up a bit.
14:17She wouldn't mind.
14:18I go to the lab like this all the time.
14:19Yeah, but this is my first impression with Shelly.
14:21I want it to be good.
14:22It should be a good impression.
14:23I want everything to be perfect.
14:31Honestly, I don't have an ounce of privacy.
14:35Can a man be alone with his baby oil and his go-jo?
14:39Doug had some cleaning of his own to do.
14:42Nice going, Doug.
14:43You're not getting that off.
14:45What are you doing, man?
14:48You're crazy.
14:49You think you're going to clean that?
14:52Yeah, I'll get these clean.
14:54Unlike Doug, I had some help.
14:55Actually, you did a pretty good job.
14:57Yeah?
14:57Brand new pair of shoes.
14:59You think you're going to clean that off?
15:00It ain't coming off.
15:02Clean.
15:03Not clean.
15:05Not bright.
15:09I like it at the dark bits.
15:10Coming up.
15:16I see why you call it a fishbowl.
15:18You're under constant scrutiny.
15:19That lets the public see that we're more than just finished exhibits.
15:23I see.
15:23There's still new things to be found.
15:25In the fishbowl, all the animals are dead.
15:28And none of them are fish.
15:29The public looks through the window and says, what are they doing in there?
15:33It's a window to look back.
15:36And later, how'd you get this job?
15:38My brother, he used to, he worked 20 years for the company.
15:40For the really good jobs, you got to know somebody.
15:43A bad job that's hard to get, but easy to keep.
15:45I don't have competition this job.
15:47No, there are not a lot of people wanting to do.
15:49Yeah, I'm secure it.
15:50Shelly's lab is at the George C. Page Museum, right here in Hancock Park.
16:03Specimens from the surrounding tar pits are cleaned and prepped here for scientific study.
16:08Museum workers are on display themselves.
16:11And what we learned is called the fishbowl.
16:13In fact, there's so many fossils that there's a 250-year backlog of cleaning and categorizing.
16:20This is more of what I had in mind.
16:25This is the Page Museum, the prep area for it, I think.
16:29It's the saber-toothed cat, not the saber-toothed tiger.
16:33These are lots of different dead things.
16:36That's the ground sloth, short-faced bear, patriotic short-faced bear.
16:43Hey, Mike, welcome to the fishbowl.
16:45This would be Shelly.
16:46Hello, Shelly, how are you?
16:47I'm good.
16:48Great.
16:49Came to see our mammoth.
16:50Well, I came to see whatever you're going to show me, but I see why you called it a fishbowl.
16:55You're under constant scrutiny.
16:56Yes, but that lets the public see that we're more than just finished exhibits.
17:00There's still new things to be found.
17:03Gotcha.
17:04This is obviously a part of a mammoth.
17:06Uh-huh.
17:06This is the lower jaws, upside down.
17:09We call him, this one, Zed.
17:11He's got a name.
17:12Why do you call him Zed?
17:13Oh, because he's the first one, starting with zero and going up.
17:18This is plaster that's been put around it?
17:20Okay.
17:20Uh, to preserve them, they uncovered them in the ground and then wrapped it in the plaster,
17:27paris, and burlap to encase it to keep it from getting jiggled around and broken.
17:32Then here in the lab, we also do all of the PIT-91 cleaning.
17:38Specimens that are in nice, gooey, tar-y matrix.
17:41What does matrix mean?
17:43Matrix, if you had a glass of water and you dropped a rock in the glass, the water would
17:48be the matrix for the rock.
17:50It's what surrounds something.
17:52Could I have a lab coat?
17:54Yeah.
17:54Everybody else has one.
17:57This is my matrix.
17:59Well, if we poured a bucket of tar over your head, that would be your matrix.
18:04What we're about to get into is opening another one of the Easter eggs, the plaster jackets of...
18:14Another one like this?
18:15Uh-huh, some more of, in this case, this other jacket we're going to open has a whole string
18:22of his vertebral column.
18:28Trevor, right?
18:29Yep, that's right.
18:30How you doing, Mike?
18:31I'm good, thanks.
18:33What's up?
18:34This is, we believe, the mid-vertebral, it says mid-verd, so it's the mid-vertebral column
18:39of Zed the Mammoth.
18:41We're going to get into it.
18:43Standard technique is we use a grinder.
18:47The trick is to cut through this as efficiently and cleanly as possible without showering dirt,
18:55cutting the bone in half, or anything truly dramatic like that.
19:09That was one layer, as I thought.
19:12We got newspaper right there.
19:15All right, so that's how deep we're going.
19:17Yeah, there's matrix right there.
19:19So just a little bit and a little bit.
19:21A little bit.
19:21We're getting through enough?
19:34All right, let's see what we got.
20:01Surprise.
20:06Good grief.
20:07Look, dirt.
20:08Dirt!
20:08Matrix!
20:09Yeah, but it's dirt and matrix.
20:11It's Mammoth.
20:14Okay, I bet that's the end of the broken ribs that is sticking out from underneath it.
20:21Zed's rib.
20:22So, something like that broken end.
20:27How long does it take you to get the matrix out of there?
20:31Oh, about a month.
20:33Yeah.
20:33It takes a month to get...
20:35To carefully excavate it down.
20:37The matrix isn't just dirt, but contains the remains of small animals and plants that can
20:44be just as important as the large fossil.
20:46What's really exciting for us and what makes Rancho La Brea such an important fossil place is not only do we find nice big bones, but we find the bones of the little animals that actually lived here.
21:03The public looks through the window and says, what are they doing in there?
21:07Well, we're systematically going through this sediment looking for things like this little snake vertebra and a little mouse toe.
21:18So, it's a window that allows us to look back to that time because we've got what was growing here, what was living here from the bottom of the food chain up.
21:31So, it's one of the most complete records of the ice age for anywhere in the world.
21:40Just all in one really relatively small spot with all kinds of species just frozen in time.
21:46Right. Right here on Wilshire Boulevard.
21:49Who knew?
21:54Coming up.
21:54You'll let me know when to stop, right?
21:56There's a right way and a wrong way to blow up a cow.
21:59If you put too much in, you know, we're going to have an explosion here.
22:01That'd be bad.
22:02And later.
22:03That's a grinder.
22:04150 horsepower motor.
22:05And it flat eats up the cow.
22:07The one that sets off.
22:09For most jobs, the term daily grind is just a metaphor.
22:12Not here.
22:13Good Lord.
22:14Yeah, that grinds them up pretty fast.
22:16He's just gone.
22:16When it comes to recycling, we live in an age of heightened awareness.
22:32At least we think we do.
22:33As responsible Americans, we're now very concerned with separating our garbage from trash,
22:39plastic from paper, our compost from everything else.
22:42I've seen green containers, and I've seen blue containers, black containers, and brown containers.
22:47Today, I've come to a farm in Northern California to see what's up with the red container.
22:53Now, I don't want to tell you too much, too early.
22:55I want to build a certain level of suspense and surprise.
22:58But I do feel I have a certain obligation to give you a small hint at this early hour.
23:06Moo.
23:06Every year, hundreds of thousands of farm animals die of natural causes.
23:12Although the carcasses don't carry disease, they invite unwanted carrion birds and animals.
23:18So, most farmers have them hauled away.
23:21Fortunately, they can be completely recycled.
23:24Anyway, it's a beautiful day here on Northwind Farm, and from the smell of the air, the wind
23:30is blowing from the north, I think.
23:32Lupe, how are you?
23:33Oh, pretty good, Mike.
23:34Lupe Gonzalez drives the, uh...
23:36Do you have a special name for this truck?
23:38Yeah, I call it a dead truck.
23:40The dead truck.
23:41My neighbor, he always calls them, there comes a dead truck.
23:45This is not unusual.
23:46This is an everyday thing.
23:48Every single day, you're at a farm picking up dead cows.
23:50Every single day, every day, different places, every day, they got something to pick up.
23:55This morning, I already, I started at 4.30 this morning.
23:574.30, you're driving the dead truck around the county, picking up the dead cows.
24:02There we go.
24:03All the way down.
24:10Oh, dear.
24:15Oh, yeah.
24:17I forgot to tell you that.
24:18Yeah, you can knock yourself out on that thing.
24:21Crap.
24:22Ah.
24:23Ah.
24:25Anyway.
24:26What happened here?
24:27He's inside out.
24:28They did an up tossing.
24:30That's an up tossing.
24:31Okay.
24:32What are the odds of one of these things exploding?
24:34Sometimes they do.
24:36But they don't explode, you know, sometimes they come from the back.
24:40Should we take this out?
24:41Yeah, you gotta pull real hard.
24:43Most people don't even think about farm animals dying of natural causes.
24:46Lupe thinks about it.
24:49He drives one of two trucks that service roughly a 16,000 square mile area, from Sacramento to
24:54Redding.
24:58Together, those trucks pick up 30 to 35 animals a day.
25:02Okay, that's it.
25:05Like that?
25:05Yes.
25:06Now, over here.
25:13Sometimes I'll stay away because sometimes, like I said, you might get on.
25:18Pull it in half?
25:19Yeah.
25:23Then you get the cable?
25:24Yes.
25:25You can hook them in the leg.
25:32It's easier sometimes.
25:33Oh, good.
25:34How'd you get this job?
25:35My brother, he worked 20 years for the company.
25:38For the really good jobs, you gotta know somebody.
25:40I don't have competition in this job.
25:42You know what I mean?
25:42No, there are not a lot of people wanting to do.
25:45Job security.
25:46This one's been dead for, like, four days.
25:55Fast.
25:55Oh, just maggots, right?
25:57Yes.
26:00Do you ever forget to close the gate?
26:02Sometimes, yes.
26:07This is exactly the kind of truck you don't want to be behind.
26:10You're going down the highway.
26:11Okay.
26:16Well, this is home base for Lupe, North State Rendering in Oroville, California.
26:22However, this isn't the final destination for the animals.
26:25No, in the world of rendering, look at this as a new beginning.
26:31North State turns out millions of pounds of rendered product every year.
26:36The final result is used to manufacture hundreds of products.
26:39Everything from soap to candles to pet food to cosmetics.
26:45Rendering.
26:46What fresh hell is this?
26:49Chris?
26:50I like my script.
26:51How are you doing?
26:52Glad you could make it.
26:53It's an honor and a privilege.
26:55It's my privilege.
26:56Thank you very much.
26:57Who's that and what's he doing?
26:58Well, we're getting ready to skin it.
26:59We have to dispose of these animals now.
27:01We've brought them in and they need to be recycled.
27:04The first order of business is to take the hide off, which is leather.
27:07It goes in the leather eventually.
27:08And we've got to get that off and it's worth some money.
27:10How long have you had the business?
27:12Well, I'm third generation.
27:14I've been up here since 1988 and that's all my whole life.
27:17That's all I've ever done.
27:18Your dad and your granddad?
27:19My grandfather started back in 1919 and we're looking at a fourth generation now.
27:24I called everybody looking for a place that could honestly show us what happens because
27:30I know this is an important part of the whole farming reality.
27:33Right.
27:33How come you're the only guy who said yes?
27:36Probably crazy.
27:37I don't know.
27:38But it's been a quiet industry and, you know, I think it's time people realize what we do.
27:42We recycle a lot of stuff and we're a key part of the food chain.
27:47We really are.
27:48It's been a quiet industry.
27:50Coming up.
27:51We're graded on freshness.
27:52Fresh with the product, the more it's worth.
27:54Just because something's fresh doesn't make it good.
27:57You come back tomorrow morning, this will be it.
27:58Why don't we just meet here for breakfast?
28:00There we go.
28:00We'll have a nice buffet.
28:02And later.
28:03You can see the combination of stuff coming out of there.
28:05We're pumping the oil off.
28:06We're leaving the meat stay there.
28:08What's cooking in this kitchen is a far cry from beef stew.
28:11What's making my throat close up here?
28:13A good smell.
28:14I don't know.
28:14Hungry?
28:26Okay.
28:27The next thing he's going to do is he's going to show you how to blow it up.
28:30We're going to blow up a cow.
28:31We're going to blow it up.
28:33Like a balloon.
28:35Okay.
28:36So show him where to put a hole.
28:39About here?
28:39Yeah.
28:41There you go.
28:41Then you turn on the air.
28:43Get it inside there.
28:44Good.
28:45We have to inflate it to separate the skin from the meat.
28:47Otherwise, it just doesn't work very well.
28:49Okay.
28:52There we go.
28:57You'll let me know when to stop, right?
29:00Yeah.
29:00Let him know.
29:00Yeah.
29:02Quite a bit.
29:08Holy smokes.
29:09Look at the leg.
29:12That's amazing.
29:13That's great.
29:14Okay.
29:15Good.
29:15I just opened it up.
29:16It closed it.
29:17If you put too much in, you know, we're going to have an explosion here.
29:19That'd be bad.
29:20Yeah.
29:21So he's going to show you how you would start.
29:22We start in the belly.
29:25And the idea of the whole thing is not put holes in it.
29:28Don't put holes in the hide.
29:29Yeah.
29:30It takes years to learn how to do a fast, quick hide.
29:33How long has he been doing this?
29:34Oh, pretty close 15 years.
29:35Yeah.
29:3620 years.
29:36Yeah.
29:36Did you ever do this?
29:38I did it, but I was pretty poor at it.
29:39What you don't want to do is punch her in the gut.
29:41There's gas in there.
29:42Right.
29:43So you'll be eating good stuff, man.
29:47What?
29:48You wear leather belts, right?
29:49Leather shoes?
29:51Leather coat, right?
29:52Okay, then.
29:54I just...
29:54Don't look at me.
29:57I'm wearing rubber.
29:58Uh-oh.
29:59Not bad.
30:00I'm doing really good.
30:00That's it.
30:01Keep that positive feedback coming, Chris.
30:06Just cows?
30:08Lupe was saying horses, too?
30:10Yeah, they pick up horses.
30:11And llamas, pigs.
30:13Okay.
30:14That is one skinned animal right there.
30:16That's it.
30:17I've seen the bottom.
30:18Yeah.
30:18That's it.
30:19Now the hides got to go down to the cellar because we have to salt it and preserve it.
30:22The cellar?
30:27To preserve the hides, you've got to put salt on them until they're ready to go to the exporter.
30:30Otherwise, they deteriorate to the point of they're not worth any money.
30:34So that's the hole of nowhere right there.
30:37So this room, as bad as it is and as rough as it looks, is actually on top of another room.
30:41That's correct.
30:42That I can only assume looks worse.
30:43Yes.
30:44We've got to put this down to a size that we can cook and handle it.
30:50So...
30:50Cook it?
30:51To render is to reduce.
30:53So we're going to cook it down so we make usable products.
30:56In our case, it's yellow grease is the oil, called yellow grease.
30:59And then the second one is meat and bone meal.
31:01And it's made to chicken feed and turkey feed.
31:04It's just one of the ingredients.
31:05Wait a minute.
31:06We're making chicken food out of cows?
31:08Yes.
31:09That's chicken and turkey.
31:11And pig, whatever.
31:12Whatever, whoever buys it that wants to make it.
31:14I got it.
31:15I got it.
31:16Alright.
31:16So what...
31:17So he's going to lift this thing up and he's going to put it through this grinder right
31:20here because we've got to get it down to the size that I can convey it.
31:22That's a grinder?
31:23That is a grinder.
31:25And it's got a 150 horsepower motor.
31:27And it flat eats up the cow.
31:29This is the perfect example of recycling because every single part of the animal is utilized.
31:37Here we go.
31:40Seriously, I'm not 100% sure what's going to happen.
31:43And that's not true.
31:43I'm positive what's going to happen.
31:45The cow's going to go on a grinder.
31:47It's going to be a heck of a thing.
31:49We've got little kids in the room.
31:50We've got a, you know, weak stomach.
31:52Look, I just feel like after all we've been through all these years, I've got to tell
31:56you, I would never encourage you not to watch the show.
31:59I'm just saying right now, if you choose to look away or leave the room, nobody would
32:04blame you, at least of all me.
32:06Alright?
32:07There it is.
32:09A disclaimer.
32:09Is it going to be very loud?
32:16Yeah, it's pretty loud.
32:17That one.
32:18The one that says on.
32:29Good Lord.
32:30Yeah, that grinds them up pretty fast.
32:32It's just gone.
32:33Yeah, it's hamburger now.
32:34It's just gone.
32:35Where did it go?
32:36It went in this hopper right here.
32:37It's a holding hopper.
32:38If you look in here, it's, it's, we're getting full.
32:44We've got to move this on.
32:45I mean, it's ready to hit the cookers.
32:46Got it.
32:47So.
32:48We've got to move this along.
32:50Cookers waiting.
32:54The bones, the organs, the intestine, the stomach, the liver, the meat, all of it.
32:59Everything.
33:00Straight into the feed.
33:01We waste nothing.
33:02Man, when you hear people talk about recycling, you just must laugh.
33:05Yeah.
33:05This is.
33:06I recycle more in one day than most people do in a lifetime.
33:09North State also recycles truckloads of discarded meat from slaughterhouses, butcher shops, even restaurants.
33:17That's ice cream.
33:18That's the good stuff.
33:19That makes it nice, clear, clean fat.
33:22That's virgin stuff.
33:23See, it's never been rendered or touched, so.
33:25And that's what we're looking to make?
33:26That's virgin fat?
33:28We're graded on freshness.
33:30The fresher the product, the more it's worth.
33:32Oh, dear.
33:32The not-so-fresh stuff, called the black, is dumped into a different hopper.
33:39And this comes from slaughterhouses and stuff like that.
33:43The cooking process begins?
33:45No.
33:45This is the holding hopper.
33:46We're getting ready to bring it inside, so I'm going to have my guys start up, and we're going to start emptying this baby out.
33:51Go ahead.
33:52Let's empty this baby.
33:53So let's do the job.
33:55There we go.
33:57By tonight, this will be all gone.
33:59It'll take hours for all this to get processed?
34:02Yeah.
34:02You come back tomorrow morning, this will be empty.
34:04Oh, yeah.
34:04You know what?
34:05Why don't we just meet here for breakfast?
34:07There we go.
34:07Around six.
34:09We'll have a nice buffet.
34:10Whatever you want.
34:11Pick what you want.
34:12I'll have the meat omelet.
34:16Let me explain as best I can what's happening here.
34:20The stuff the guy in the truck dropped off from the butcher shop, that's coming up on this conveyor.
34:26And the cows that we ground up, that's coming up that conveyor.
34:30And they're all getting mixed up right here and forced downward.
34:35I prefer to look at Chris as a chef and this whole thing as a recipe.
34:39What we're making is cooked bone and yellow grease.
34:42And here is everything mixed up.
34:45It coagulates in this area and then gets forced down again and extruded through more pipes into a cooker.
34:54There are actually three cooking tanks in this building.
34:58Each one of them holds six and a half tons of, oh, let's call them ingredients.
35:03We're going to shut this one off and go and empty the contents.
35:12Soup?
35:12Anyone?
35:13Could use a little salt, pepper, maybe some garlic.
35:16I wish you could smell it.
35:18You can see the combination of stuff coming out of there.
35:21It's both oil and meat.
35:23Whoa.
35:25So we're washing the pan to make sure we don't overfill it.
35:28Right.
35:28And we're pumping the oil off.
35:30We're leaving the meat stay there.
35:33You can look up there.
35:33You can see it.
35:34That's the oil coming off right there.
35:37Some of the refined oils are used as additives in the manufacture of soap, cosmetics, and skin care products,
35:44as well as synthetic motor oil and other lubricants.
35:47After most of the oil is drained off and saved, the meat is transferred to another machine.
35:52That guy.
35:54That guy right there is called a press or an expeller.
35:57And its job is to squeeze the oil out of the meat down to about 10%.
36:03It comes out powdery like you see on top there.
36:06What's making my throat close up here?
36:09A good smell?
36:10I don't know.
36:10Hungry?
36:11Are you hungry?
36:11I don't know.
36:12I'll follow you out.
36:14Okay.
36:15Coming up.
36:15Mike, this is the cellar.
36:16We're going to saw some hides, the ones that we pulled off and that you pulled off.
36:19Even the bottom has a very, very bottom.
36:22In this case, it's called the cellar.
36:24Every little door you got here, it's like let's make a deal for, you know, people that never win.
36:29And later.
36:29Stay on this side of the board, okay?
36:30This side of the board?
36:31Yes, sir.
36:32How deep is it on this side?
36:33It's over your head.
36:34This is not mud.
36:35This is grease.
36:36Digging in a trench where the dirt isn't what makes you dirty.
36:39You're looking at me and you're wondering how you can tap into an opportunity like this.
36:49I thought I'd pretty much seen everything here at North State.
36:58But Chris reminded me that Salvador had some hides to deal with.
37:08Oh.
37:09Ha.
37:10Oh.
37:12Okay, Mike, this is the cellar.
37:13We're going to saw some hides, the ones that we pulled off and that you pulled off.
37:16We need to preserve them for when we ship them out.
37:19And so we've got to get some salt on those things before they rot.
37:22This is every little door you got here.
37:25It's like let's make a deal for, you know, people that never win.
37:27That's right.
37:28Well, we're winners.
37:29What are you talking about?
37:30Yeah, we're winners.
37:30I know.
37:31They're not.
37:32As your shoes are.
37:34These are the cow hides and these have already been salted.
37:36These have already been salted and they're getting ready.
37:38So we need to get these on here because we're trying to preserve them.
37:41These are the ones we, oh, that's the door that they came through?
37:43That's the door that come through.
37:44Basically, you just drag them on out.
37:47You can help me if you want.
37:48Sure, I want to help you.
37:50I want to be your friend.
37:51We're going to drag it right up here in the corner.
37:52Yeah.
37:53And then we're just going to spread it out.
37:55You know, we can't have any folded corners.
37:57No.
37:58Because we've got to get the salt in everywhere.
38:00So, you take the salt and you kind of sling it.
38:05It's a lot like the shoveling technique I've seen.
38:07Yeah, we've got to sling it.
38:08Oh, it's slinging.
38:09Okay.
38:09Okay.
38:14You might not have seen that before.
38:21That's not a sling.
38:22That's what I call a shake and a sprinkle.
38:24Pepper salt?
38:24Yeah.
38:25The hides are kept here an average of six days before they're shipped to a tannery.
38:30Oh!
38:32Pretty close.
38:32We're out of salt.
38:37We're out of hides.
38:39And we're out of work?
38:41Well, not really.
38:41I've got another problem going on in this place.
38:43We're going to have to go up there and skim her.
38:45Uh-oh.
38:47Yeah, but we already said we were out of salt.
38:48We're done.
38:49So, you're going to take me to the skimmer?
38:50Yes, I am.
38:50Yeah, I'll follow you.
38:51We've got a problem out there.
38:52We need to take care of it before.
38:53A problem with the skimmer.
38:55Hmm, let's see.
38:56A skimmer usually skims something.
38:58I wonder what it could be.
39:02Okay, Mike, this is the famous skimmer.
39:07The famous skimmer?
39:08Yeah, this is the place where we kind of collect all the grease from the plant that overflows
39:13and washes down and everything.
39:15I'll let it get out of control a little bit.
39:17We need to clean this mess up, get these paddles working again.
39:20So, we've got to do a little manual labor here.
39:22Who's this poor guy?
39:23This guy's Todd right here.
39:24He's a good old man.
39:25How you doing, Todd?
39:27Is that an extra shovel you have there, Todd?
39:29Yes, sir.
39:30You stay on this side of the board, okay?
39:31This side of the board?
39:32Yes, sir.
39:33How deep is it on this side?
39:34It's over your head.
39:35Everything is essentially covered with grease, right?
39:38Yes, sir.
39:40Oh.
39:42Remember, stay on that side of the board.
39:44Safe point on this point?
39:46Yeah.
39:48Oh.
39:49What the heck is that?
39:50That's a pump coming on you.
39:54Ah.
39:55Wait.
39:56We're putting it here?
39:57Yes, sir.
39:58You've got to stop calling me sir, my friend.
40:03It's almost as frightening as this stuff.
40:08This is some kind of day, Todd.
40:10Yes, sir.
40:10What we do around here every day.
40:14Unfortunately, things do break.
40:16You're the maintenance guy at a rendering plant?
40:18Yes, sir.
40:19I just got to tell you, that's a good one.
40:23Again, if you're just tuning in, this is not mud.
40:26This is grease from grease traps in restaurants.
40:30Collected all through California.
40:32Yeah, it lines up here.
40:35There's a little clog.
40:38Excuse me, I'll be right back.
40:40Okay, I'll keep an eye on this.
40:41All right.
40:42We've got to turn this thing on.
40:43Oh, I know what you're thinking.
40:46Naked envy.
40:48You're looking at me and you're wondering
40:50how you can tap into an opportunity like this.
40:55Well, I'll tell you.
40:58I have no idea.
40:58I have no idea.
40:58I have no idea.
40:58I have no idea.
41:00I have no idea.
41:02But everything's working now the way it's supposed to?
41:06Yes, sir.
41:07It's all done?
41:08Well, that's the good news.
41:09Here's the bad news.
41:11I'm leaving.
41:12I'm sorry.
41:13I'd love to chat, but it's been a long day
41:16and I don't think I smell very good.
41:18No, sir.
41:19Thank you for the help.
41:20Anytime.
41:21Call me.
41:22I'll be back.
41:27Not exactly a clean exit.
41:33Well, Chris, I can't thank you enough, so I'll just say goodbye.
41:37Well, I appreciate you.
41:37You've been a great employee.
41:39You're too kind.
41:39And I've had a good time.
41:39I've got something here for you.
41:40Uh-huh.
41:41It's the fruits of your labor.
41:42This is a rendered cow.
41:44This is a rendered cow.
41:45I'll cherish it forever.
41:46See you.
41:47I know.
41:49You saw some things today that were difficult to look at.
41:52Some of you might even be pissed off, but listen.
41:56The cows were dead when we found them.
41:58They could have gone to the landfill, but instead, they came here to be rendered,
42:01and I'm glad they did.
42:02We took off their hides so you can have your shoes and your boots and your belts.
42:07Keep your pants up.
42:08We extracted all of their juices to make a high-quality grease to help keep our polite society lubricated.
42:14And what's left is pure, unadulterated cow, or in this case, chicken feed.
42:23And that's food for thought.
42:27Every now and then, people ask me, Mike, they say, what exactly do you mean when you say you're looking for a dirty job?
42:33And I say, well, dirty can mean anything.
42:36It can mean disgusting.
42:37It can mean gross.
42:39It can mean difficult.
42:41It can be dangerous.
42:42It can be cold.
42:44It could be warm.
42:45It could be downright hot.
42:48But whatever it is, if you got one, I'd love to hear about it.
42:53Sooner than later.
42:54Before I go out in flames.
42:57Would you mind?
42:58Discovery.com forward slash dirtyjobs.
43:01While there's time.
43:03I can't believe you're literally on international television right now,
43:07and you're making a point, and we're hanging on to your every word,
43:09and you're suddenly hopelessly distracted by a worm.
43:13You've been here for 12 hours, and I forgot to tell you that I've been rendered speechless.
43:16Now it's all covered with asphalt.
43:20Oh, my God.
43:20And this, this, oh, important calls coming in?
43:23Sorry about that.
43:24No, I'm sure it's important.
43:25Yeah.
43:26That was your phone.
43:27It's no big.
43:28It's like five years old.
43:31Like the way you think.
43:32Okay.
43:32Let's see.
43:37Hi.
43:40Hi.
43:40Hi.
43:42Hi.
43:45Hi.
43:45Hi.
43:48Hmm?
43:49Hi.
43:56Hi.
43:56Hi.
43:58Hi.
43:59Hi.
44:00Hi.
44:00Hi.
44:01Hi.
44:01Hi.
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