PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 113 



After the salmon had been cleaned by remo'v-ing the entrails and washing them out- 

 side the covered portion of the scow, they were brought inside and placed on the table, 

 and a man with a butcher knife in one hand and a stick in the other, which had a mark 

 showing the length of the pieces desired, cut gashes in the side of the salmon as a 

 guide and then cut the fish into sections corresponding to the length of the mark on 

 the stick. He then proceeded to cut the sections in pieces to suit the cans. Then 

 three or four operators placed the salmons in the cans and shoved them along the table 

 to where a boy wiped the top edge and passed them along to two others who placed 

 tops which fitted inside of the rim. The cans were then taken in wooden trays to 

 the bench opposite the starting point, wliich was fitted with four sheet-iron pots, 

 and at the one nearest the entrance to the house on the scow a man put a soldering 

 flux on the top edge, which was made by adding zinc to muriatic acid, and then with 

 a pointed soldering copper and a stick of solder melted the solder until a small portion 

 could be draR'n around the groove formed by the edge of the can and the bevel of the 

 top. From there the cans were taken to the other parts of the bench, where two men 

 finished soldering the head in, and then taken to the third man, who soldered, or, as it 

 was called, buttoned, the end of the seam lap. The cooking department or bathroom, 

 as it was called, was separated from the filling and soldering room by a partition. 

 The cans were shoved through a hole in the partition. 



At this time the process was a secret. Mr. Hapgood did the cooking and all the 

 work done inside, no one but a member of the firm being allo'ned to go in. This 

 privacy was continued until the firm moved to the Columbia River, and, the labor 

 noroming too arduous for Mr. Hapgood to perform alone, a boy by the name of Charlie 

 Taylor was taken in aa an assistant. * * * 



I'ut to return to the original proposition: When the filled cans had been soldered 

 and entered the bathroom they were put in the coolers and lowered into the cast- 

 iron pot, one cooler of cans being cooked at a time. The cooler was lowered into the 

 boiling fresh water until the cans were submerged to within 1 inch of the top ends and 

 left to cook for one hour; then they were hoisted out and the vent holes in the center 

 of the top soldered up. after which they were dumped into the boiler-iron kettle, 

 which held a solution of salt and water of density suflicient to produce, when boiling, 

 a heat of 228° to 2W F. They were cooked in this solution for one hour and then 

 taken out of the kettle %vith an iron scoop shaped like a dip net, ^vith a wooden handle 

 about 6 feet in length. They were dumped into a tank of water on the other side of the 

 partition which separated the bathroom from the packing room through an opening 

 m the partition, receiving many a bump and bruise in the operation. Then they 

 were washed with soap and rag to remove the dirt and grease, each can being handled 

 separately. When this waa done they were piled on the floor of the packing room 

 and in a few days were painted with a mixture of red lead, turpentine, and linseed 

 oil, for at that time buyers would have no canned salmon, no matter how good the 

 quality, unless the cans were painted red. 



When packs of 10,000 to 15,000 cases were made in a season 

 only the absolutoly essential machinery was used, the rest of the 

 work, such as cuttino; and cleaning the fish and placing tiiem in the 

 cans, being done by hand. When larger canneries were constructed, 

 especially in Alaska, where labor is expensive and difficult to obtain, 

 the greater part of the workmen having to be brought up from the 

 States, macninery to do as much as possible of the work became 

 absolutely essential. The inventive genius of the country came to 

 the rescue and one by one machines for cutting, sliming, and 

 cleaning the fish, filling the cans, putting the tops on, and washing 

 them were invented and put into use, while automatic weighing 

 machines were produced and extensive improvements and alterations 

 were made in the machines previously in use. There are to-day 

 many large manufacturing establishments which devote all or the 

 greater part of their facilities to furnishing machinery and supplies 

 to this giant branch of the salmon industry. 



When salmon canning was in its infancy j^ a pack of from 150 to 200 

 cases was considered a good day's work. Now it is not an uncommon 

 occurrence for a cannery to turn out from 2,500 to 4,000 cases in one 

 day, and there an; a number which have even greater capacity. 

 11312°— 21 8 



