PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIRBS. 139 
trade as Zanzibar carmine. This gives the outside of the fish a deep- 
- colored red gloss, but leaves the inside its natural white color. The 
steaks, averaging 1 pound each, are wrapped in paper and packed 
- in baskets holding 10 pounds each. 
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 in- 
tervals 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, which are smaller, re- 
main in the brine only about 16 hours. After bemg thoroughly 
salted the backs are removed from the brine and rinsed in fresh 
water, then hung in the air for about 24 hours to dry and to allow 
a thin skin to form on the outside. They are then hung 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 demand 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 im 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 im the late eighties. It was taken up 
in a small way on Puget Sound in 1892. That vear 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 wholesale dealers on 
the Sound took up the business. The Crescent Creamery, 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 Westminster, 
