PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 127 
In some canneries the retorts for first cooking are made of heavy 
plank, well bolted to resist the steam pressure. 
In the early days much secrecy and mystery was thrown about the 
cooking, and the work was carried on in a separate room, known as 
the ‘‘bathroom,” under lock and key. The first cooking was done in 
common tubs. The early retorts were made of wood. Later, round 
iron kettles were substituted, nearly one-half consisting of cover, and 
round crates were used for holding the cans. 
For many years cannery men believed that the double cooking of 
salmon was absolutely necessary, but in 1898 F. A. Seufert, at his 
cannery on the Columbia River, at Seuferts, Oreg., a short distance 
above The Dalles, discarded this idea, and has since used a one- 
cooking method. By the new process the cans are tested for leaks 
after the center hole in the top is soldered up, as before, and are left 
in the retort 70 minutes at 245° F. and 12 pounds steam pressure. 
According to its originator, this method saves more than one-half © 
the labor in the bathroom, saves nearly one-half the labor in washing 
the cans after cooking, and also better retains the color of the fish. 
SANITARY CANS. 
A comparatively recent improvement in the salmon-canning 
business, and one which accomplishes the same purpose as the single 
cooking in retorts, is that of ‘‘sanitary cans,’ so called. These cans 
are now used by the majority of the salmon canneries. In order to 
use these cans a quite radical, but economical, change in machinery 
is necessary. As the cans leave the filling machine they pass to the 
clinching machine, which attaches the top of the can loosely to the 
body in such a way that it allows the gas in the can to escape, yet 
prevents the fish from coming in direct contact with the steam of 
the exhaust box. In this way the condensed steam which accumu- 
lates in the exhaust box is kept from entering the can, thus keeping 
water out of the can. This overcomes the difficulty caused by the 
bleaching of the fish. 
The cans then pass into a steam exhauster, consisting in one type 
of a box about 30 feet in length, in which are three endless-chain belts 
running side by side. Under and over each belt are steam coils, and 
under each of the lower coils are single pipes, which through eniall 
holes throw jets of live steam upon the coils, creating an intense 
heat. The cans pass along the first belt, are then transferred to the 
second belt, on which they return to the entrance of the box, whence 
they pass to the third belt, and continuing along this to the end 
pass out to the topper and crimper, the whole operation occupying 
from 5 to 15 minutes’ time. One style of exhauster has 10 ovals 
formed by the pipe, and the cans pass along these from side to 
side of the exhauster until discharged at the far end. Upright ex- 
