140 PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 
British Columbia, at that time the only large and modern plant 
in the province, and began the active freezing of fish. Since then 
a number of excellent plants have been built and operated. In 
Alaska the preparing of frozen salmon began in 1902. The San Juan 
Fishing & Packing Co., soon to be succeeded by the Pacific Cold 
Storage Co., put up a cannery and cold-storage plant at Taku Harbor, 
in southeast Alaska, in 1901, though it did not operate the cold- 
storage portion until 1902. This is the only plant which was operated 
in Alaska until the New England Fish Co. erected in 1909 a large 
plant at Ketchikan for the freezing of halibut primarily, but con- 
siderable quantities of salmon have been frozen also. 
In 1911 the schooner Metha Nelson was fitted up as a floating 
freezer by the Alaska Packers Association and sent to Kodiak Island. 
As the vessel arrived in San Francisco shortly before the State’s closed 
season on salmon began, and it was a difficult matter to dispose of 
the catch before then, the business was abandoned. 
In 1912 J. Lindenberger (Inc.) opened a freezing plant at Craig, 
on Fish Egg Island, Alaska, while the ship William H. Smith was out- 
fitted as a floating cannery and freezer by the Weiding & Independent 
Fisheries Co., at Saginaw Bay, Alaska. The latter operated only one 
season. 
The year 1913 saw quite a development in the industry. The Co- 
lumbia & Northern Fishing & Packing Co., at Wrangell, the Juneau 
Cold Storage Co., at Juneau, the Booth Fisheries Co., at Sitka, and 
the floating cold-storage ship Glory of the Seas, by the Glacier Fish 
Co., at Idaho Inlet, were all started this year. 
In 1914 the Ketchikan Cold Storage Co. opened a freezer for the 
general commercial freezing of fish. 
The freezing of salmon is almost invariably carried on in connec- 
tion with other methods of handling and preserving, and the purpose 
is usually to secure the fish when numerous and cheap, freeze them, 
and then hold them until the runs are over and the fish are once 
more in good demand at high prices. The business proved so profita- 
ble, however, that the dealers began to look for wider markets for 
their product. Europe, more especially Germany, was prospected 
and a profitable market soon developed, with the result that to-day 
frozen Pacific salmon can be secured in nearly every town of any 
size in western Europe, while large quantities are marketed all over 
our own country. 
There are four important features in packing and using frozen 
salmon: (1) To get fresh fish; (2) to keep them cold (about 15° 
above zero) after they are frozen; (3) to keep a coat of ice on them; 
and (4) to allow them to thaw slowly in cold water before cooking. 
In selecting salmon for freezing, only the finest and freshest of 
each species are used. The current belief that freezing destroys the . 
