540 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



of parchment paper and packed in a box or basket which holds 10 

 pounds. 



The product is quite perishable, and if it can not be used at once, 

 when of course it is at its best, must be placed in cold storage. The 

 packer endeavors to turn out daily only the amount he can market 

 that day. 



Beleke. — A smoked product, known locally as ''beleke," is put up 

 at Kodiak, Alaska, from red and coho salmons. Steelhead trout are 

 the best for this purpose, but are not often utilized owing to their 

 scarcity in this region. In preparing "beleke" only the backs of the 

 fish are used, the belly part being cut out and pickled separately. 

 The backs are divided into three grades, according to size, viz, 

 "small," "medium," and "large." They are first put into a brine, the 

 "large" being put in first, followed by the "medium" and "small" 

 at intervals of one hour each, so that all will be cured at about the 

 same time. The coho backs, being the largest, are kept in the brine 

 from 19 to 20 hours, while the red salmon backs, w^hich are smaller, 

 remain in the brine only about 16 hours. After being thoroughly 

 salted the backs are removed from the brine and rinsed in fresh 

 water, then himg in the air for about 24 houi's to dry and to allow 

 a thin skin to form on the outside. They are then himg in the smoke- 

 house, in the presence of a little fire of Cottonwood or alder. On dry 

 days the gable windows are thrown open and the wind allowed to 

 pass through while the smoking is going on. The smoking must be 

 done slowly, two weeks being devoted to it. 



There is a good demiand for this product locally, the fish selling 

 for from 15 to 20 cents a pair, but little effort has been made to 

 extend its sale outside of central Alaska. 



FREEZING 



The process of preserving fish by freezing was first introduced in 

 1888. Previous to this the comparatively ancient method of packing 

 with ice, or in rare instances letting the fish freeze naturally during 

 the winter months, was followed. Packing with ice is in quite general 

 use to-day for shipments of fish which are to be preserved for short 

 periods of time. Cooling with ice never results in a temperature 

 lower than 32° F., which, of course, does not freeze the fish. 



The freezing of salmon and steelhead trout began on the Sacra- 

 mento and Columbia Rivers in the late eighties. It was taken up 

 in a small w^ay on Puget Sound in 1892. That year Wallace Bros, 

 and Ainsworth & Dunn froze a small lot, the work being done for 

 them by the Seattle Ice Co. (now the Ice Delivery Co.), and the 

 venture was so successful that the next year nearly all of the whole- 

 sale dealers on the Sound took up the business. The Crescent 

 Creamer}^, of Tacoma, also engaged in the business for the fish dealers 

 for a year or two shortly thereafter. In 1902 the British Columbia 

 Packers Association bought a large cold-storage plant at New West- 

 minster, British Columbia, at that time the only large and modern 

 plant in the Province, and began the active freezing of fish. Since 

 then a number of excellent plants have been built and operated. In 

 Alaska the preparing of frozen salmon began in 1902. The San Juan 

 Fishing & Pacldng Co., soon to be succeeded by the Pacific Cold 

 Storage Co., put up a cannery and cold-storage plant at Taku Harbor, 

 in southeast Alaska, in 1901, though it did not operate the cold- 



