PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 129 



MILD CURING. 



The beginnino: of the "business of mild-curing salmon, or "sweet 

 pickling," as it is sometimes called, is of comparatively recent date. 



In 1889 a German dealer came to the Columbia River and tried to 

 interest some of the cannery men in the business. J. O. Hanthorn, 

 M. J. Kinney, and J. W. Cook were persuaded to prepare some, and 

 the plant of the Northwest Cold Storage Co., at Portland, was used to 

 keep the fish at a low temperature during repacking and preparation 

 for shipment. These fish were shipped to Germany, but the shippers 

 received no financial returns, word coming back that the fish were not 

 satisfactory. 



Owing to this lack of success from the first effort, no further attempt 

 was made until 1894, when Mueller & Loring, of Chicago, put up a car- 

 load of mild-cured salmon at Kalama, Wash., and ship]KMl it to Ger- 

 many. In 1896 Charles Ruckles and Wallace Bros., of Kalama, 

 packed several carloads for the German market. It was not \mtil 

 1898 that the business was permanently established on the Columbia, 

 the Trescott Packing Co. and S. Schmidt & Sons putting up plants 

 at Warrenton and Astoria, respectively. 



In 1900 the Trescott Packing Co. began packing the spring and fall 

 runs, and the Sacramento River Packers' Association packed the fall 

 run, on the Sacramento River, the business being carried on here every 

 year since. 



In 1901 the Sacramento River Packers' Association began at Mon- 

 terey the mild curing of the spring salmon that were taken with hook 

 and line in the open ocean. 



S. Elmore & Co. started the industry in 1902 at Tillamook, and the 

 business began on Puget Sound in 1901, when the San Juan Fishing 

 & Packing Co. and the Seattle Fish Co. took it up. The Pacific Cold 

 Storage Co. began the next year at Anacortes. 



Prior to 1906 several of the Alaska cannery men put up each season 

 a few tierces of mild-cured salmon, but it was not until this time that 

 tiie industry really beo;an as such. In that year J. Lindenbcrger (Inc.) 

 started packing at Ketchikan, Alaska. The following year several 

 other plants were started, and in 1910 almost all of the l\ing salmon 

 tak<'n in soutlieast Alaska were mild cured. Tue same is true to-day. 



For mild curing the fresh fish must be given greater care in han- 

 dhng than is the case with any other process. Care must be exercised 

 to see that the ilesh of the fish is not bruised or broken, and in order 

 to make sure of tliis the handlers usually pack several fish in one 

 box, with cracked ice over and around them if the weather is warm. 

 As soon as a box is filled, it is put in the hold, where the boxes are 

 stacked one upon another, but prevent more weight than is repre- 

 sented inside one box coming upon any one fish. 



In dressing, the head is removed, care being taken to leave as much 

 of the bony structure of the head as possible to assist in holding the 

 side of the hooks when it is being smoked later on: the fish is then 

 split down the belly to the vent, the entrails removed, when a cut is 

 made on either side of the blood clot in the back, and the fish passed 

 to the "washer," who holds the fish on its back in a slot on the 

 tab](! under a spray of water, and removes the membrane of skin 

 which covers the inside of the backbone and inside of wliich a good 

 11312°— 21 9 



