222 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



stock-fish. I have tasted boneless cod from Gloucester side by side with a similar article pre- 

 pared at Saint Paul, and I fully believe that the fish made at the latter place is equal in quality 

 to the Gloucester fish in its prime condition. 



Up to 1877 the salt used in the Pacific fishery was principally, if not entirely, what is known 

 as bay salt, which was made by solar evaporation near Alvarado. From all that I can learn, bay 

 salt is principally used now, but the quality has been vastly improved. There has been much 

 complaint as to the presence of lime in the salt, which was believed to make the cod hard and 

 brittle. A correspondent of the San Francisco Post, who made a trip to the Shumagins in the 

 schooner Alaska in 1876, has this to say about the salt: "The cod brought into San Francisco for 

 the last few seasons was notably hard, and did not command a fair price in the market. This 

 hardness was given by the salt used in preserving them not having been properly refined. It con- 

 tained a quantity of sulphate of lime and other impurities, which dried and burned up the fish. 

 This season the fleet took out 1,200 tons of salt of a much superior character. That which we had 

 on the Alaska was fiue enough for table use, the crystals being large, translucent, and beau- 

 tifully white." In 1879 about 800 tons of salt was used for 1,000 tons of fish, according to the 

 San Francisco Alta (quoted in Sea World, August 4, 1879). I quote from the San Francisco Com- 

 mercial Herald and Market Eeview of January 18, 1877, with reference to the preparation of cod: 

 " Previously it was thought best to dry the fish for preservation, but it is now kept in pickle until 

 the time for using it in market approaches, when it is dried in lots to suit. By this means a uni- 

 form article is offered from month to month, instead of the hard, dry, and tasteless stuff with which 

 the seasons wound up. The plan of using brine a number of times has been given up, as it was 

 found to cause the unpleasant odor peculiar to the poorly-cured codfish. Another cause of the 

 success attending this interest is in the improved quality of the salt used. An analysis of the 

 common bay-salt, that heretofore used, gave 40 per cent, of lime, soda, and magnesia, and these 

 ingredients made the fish hard and brittle. The salt now in use is manufactured mostly by the 

 Union Pacific Salt Company, and is guaranteed to contain 98 per cent, chloride of sodium and 

 equal to the best imported from Liverpool. Under these favorable changes we are now producing 

 an article equal to any the world can afford, and invoices of Eastern cod are falling off, only enough 

 coming in to meet the wants of a few who still persist in using it." 



The price of coarse salt is from $6.50 to $7 per ton. The salt used at the Pirate Cove station 

 costs $16 delivered there. 



I conclude my account of the methods of the fishery with a quotation from the article in the 

 San Francisco Post, to which I have previously referred, which conveys a good idea of the manner 

 of handling cod when they are transferred from the vessels to the curing establishments : 



" Over at California City, Lynde & Hough have built a yard at an expense of $10,000, for 

 curing and preserving fish. As the codfish arrive on the vessel they are packed as closely as 

 possible, one over the other, in layers, with strata of salt between them. At the yard the first 

 operation is to break cargo. The fish are then placed in a perforated wooden box, open on top, 

 and let into the water by tackle from the ship. Across the top of the box boards are put for two 

 men to sit on. They take the fish one by one, and by the aid of water and elbow-grease rub the 

 black inner skin off. Their feet are in the water, and, although it is rather rough on the hands, 

 especially to a beginner, we face it as Jeffrey faced the cat, and after a while one's hands get 

 callous and as insensible to pain as the hide of the " armed rhinoceros." The next operation is to 

 place the washed fish in pickle, for which purpose they are conveyed to the packing-house. In 

 the packing-house a long series of barrels are arranged in rows sufficient in number to pickle 500 

 tons of fish. The pickle consists simply of a strong solution of salt, made with pure spring water, 



