PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 533 



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 

 carload of mild-cured salmon at Kalama, Wash., and shipped it to 

 Germany. In 189G Charles Ruckles and Wallace Bros., of Kalama, 

 packed several carloads for the German market. It was not until 

 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 

 the industry really began as such. In that year J. Lindenberger (Inc.) 

 started packing at Ketchikan, Alaska. The following year several 

 other plants were started, and in 1910 almost all of the king salmon 

 taken in southeast Alaska were mild cured. The same is true to-day. 



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

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

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

 to make sure of this 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 table 

 under a spray of water, and removes the membrane of skin which 

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

 thick blood I'es, by means of a large spoon or some similar form of 

 scraper. A knife should not be employed. Some curers do not 

 remove the fins at this stage, while others do. 



The body is then scored along the sides with a small knife, care 

 being used to cut the skin only ; this allows the salt to penetrate more 

 freely and thus assist the process of cure. A specially prepared ec- 

 centric wheel is sometimes used for this purpose, which makes a series 

 of small cuts varying from half an inch at the tail to Iji inches long 

 at the shoulder, and from 2 to 3 inches apart. 



The fish is now ready for the splitter, who turns it on its back with 

 the open belly toward him and forces the shoulder down on a sharp • 

 pointed nail, so the fish will not slip during the operation. A cross- 

 cut is first made across the root of the tail to the bone, but no deeper. 



