PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 135 
Salmon loaf, made by mixing salmon with flour and various other 
ingredients, thus producing a paste, is also being canned by several 
packers. 
A straight salmon paste, made solely from the flesh of the salmon, 
is being manufactured by one of the leading packers. 
HOME CANNING. 
At a number of places along the coast it has become the custom for 
the thrifty housewives to do a little home canning of salmon for winter 
use when the fish are abundant and cheap, and they find canning 
salmon as easy as canning vegetables and fruit. The fish is dressed, 
skinned, and the backbone removed. It is then cut into transverse 
strips of a size to fit either a pint or a quart glass jar, whichever is to 
be used. The jars are then filled with the pieces, salted to taste, the 
rubber ring put on, after which the can cover is put on loosely so that 
the steam may escape. Strips of thin wood are placed at the bottom 
of a kettle or wash boiler and the cans set down on them. Enough 
cold water is then poured into the kettle to bring it up to within an 
inch or two of the top of the cans. The kettle is then put on the stove 
and, after it comes to a boil, note is made of the time and the cans are 
cooked from one and one-half to three hours. There seems to be a 
great variation in the time of cooking on the part of the operators. 
Some even cook only one hour, but these generally use a preservaline. 
About two hours seems to be the best time, as the bones are then quite 
soft. At the end of the cooking period the tops are tightened, the 
kettle removed from the stove, and the water and cans allowed to 
cool in the kettle. 
: MILD CURING. 
The beginning of the business of mild-curing salmon, or ‘“‘sweet 
pickling,” as it is sometimes called, is of comparatively recent date. 
In 1889 a German dealer came to the Columbia River and tried to 
interest some of the cannery men in the business. J. O. Hanthorn, 
M. J. Kinney, and J. W. Cook were persuaded to prepare some, and 
the plant of the Northwest Cold Storage Co., at Portland, was used to 
keep the fish at a low temperature during repacking and preparation 
for shipment. These fish were shipped to Germany, but the shippers 
received no financial returns, word coming back that the fish were not 
‘satisfactory. 
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 car- 
load of mild-cured salmon at Kalama, Wash., and shipped it to Ger- 
many. In 1896 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, 
