150 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



but many improA^ements have been made in retorts, greatly facilitat- 

 ing the cooking of salmon, and the machinery for manufacturing can 

 bodies and tops has also undergone a change. 



AVhen the industr}^ was in its infancy a pack of 150 or 200 cases was 

 considered a good da3"''3 work. Now it is not an uncommon occurrence 

 for a cannery to turn out from l,.5O0 to 2,000 cases in a day, and there 

 are several canneries that have even a greater capacity. The daily 

 average for an Alaska canner}^ is from 800 to 1,000 cases for one filler, 

 and nearl}'^ double that amount for two. A few establishments have 

 three tillers, and one in the Bristol Bay region has six, but it is sel- 

 dom that this number of machines is kept in operation at one time. 



A pack of 1,000 cases a da}' requires a complete modern equipment 

 and the work of only skilled hands. In the early days of the industry 

 most of the men employed were inexperienced, and much confusion, 

 as well as considerable waste of material, was consequentlv occasioned. 

 Now, however, a large portion of the men are employed season after 

 season, in one canner^^ or another, and in a well- organized establish- 

 ment the same men are engaged in the same kind of work each 3'ear, 

 thus becoming expert in their particular lines. 



There are a few canneries that have not kept pace with the times in 

 the way of machinery, and still adhere to methods long discarded by 

 the modern plants. This lack of improvement is largelj- due to the 

 v/ant of capital, and also to the value of the stream where the can- 

 neries are situated. An establishment located at the mouth of a bay 

 or river which will yield not over 20,000 or 25,000 cases of salmon at 

 most in a season is under an expense too great to permit an outla}^ 

 such as would be required to place it on an equal footing with others 

 more favorably situated. It is not to be inferred, however, that the 

 canneries less fully supplied with labor-saving machines do not put up 

 as fine a qualit}^ of salmon as those more fully equipped; the quality 

 and commercial value of the packs are about the same, tJie only differ- 

 ence being that the result is attained by a slight variation in method. 



From the time a salmon is landed upon the wharf until cased and 

 ready for shipment, it is handled about twenty-four times. To watch 

 the rapid steps of the process is most interesting, particularly if the 

 old and new methods of packing be compared. 



Ilandling tJte sahnon. — Scows, boats, large dories, and steamers are 

 used in landing the catch. Formerly the fish were pitched by hand 

 into bins near the dressing tables on the wharf when the tide was out, 

 but this laborious method has been largely superseded b}^ the use of 

 an elevator built at the end of the wharf and reaching the wa,ter\s edge 

 at a slant, to be lowered or raised according to the stage of the tide. 

 The iish are caught up ]>v the elevator, and on reaching the top are 

 run into the building b}' means of chutes leading to the various bins. 

 At a number of canneries tracks have been laid on a slip cut through 



