FISHEEIES OF ALASKA, 1908. 27 



them from the tierce, wash them for a few minutes, and then 

 have a practically fresh fish to smoke, and not, as in the days when 

 hard-pickled salmon were used, one that had lost most of its oil and 

 flavor through the excessive amount of salt needed to preserve it. 



With the exception of a large plant at Kenai, on Cook Inlet, the 

 total pack was put up in southeast Alaska, and amounted to 1,122 

 tierces, valued at $62,451, in southeast Alaska, and 256 tierces, 

 valued at $15,360, in central Alaska, a somewhat smaller pack than 

 in 1907. 



MINOR PRESERVING PROCESSES. 



Dry salting and drying. — At English Bay, in Cook Inlet, and a 

 few other places in central Alaska, the bellies of red and coho salmon 

 are cut out and salted, after which the backs are dried in the sun and 

 after being thus cured are used for fox food at the fox ranches. This 

 product is called "ukalu." 



For several years a large quantity of dog salmon was dry salted 

 for the Japanese trade, but owing to a rapidly diminishing demand 

 since the Russian-Japanese war, less and less of this is prepared each 

 season, the pack this year amounting to but 20,800 pounds, valued 

 at $416, a decrease of 86,780 pounds in quantity and $1,089 in value, 

 as compared with 1907. 



Smoking. — Adehcious smoked product, known locally as "beleke," 

 is put up at Kodiak, red and coho salmon being utilized. In prepar- 

 ing this only the backs of the fish are used, the belly part being cut 

 out and salted 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, this being done so 

 that all will be cured at about the same time, the larger fish requiring 

 longer time than the smaller. The red salmon backs are allowed to 

 remain in the brine about sixteen hours, but as the coho backs are 

 larger they are kept in the brine from nineteen to twenty hours. 

 After being thoroughly salted the backs are removed from the brine 

 and rinsed in fresh water, then hung up in the sun for about twenty- 

 four hours to dry and to allow a thin skin to form on the outside. 

 They are then hung up in the smokehouse, 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, a couple 

 of weeks being devoted to it. . There is a good demand for this prod- 

 uct locally, and the fish sell for from 15 to 20 cents a pair. 



Freezing.- — The only establishment engaged in freezing salmon is 

 at Taku Harbor, in southeast Alaska. The species handled this 

 year were king, red, silver, and dog. Other species of fish frozen 



