PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 15 
DRESSING. 
A number of the small canneries still use the old hand method of 
dressing the fish, and in such places the selection of the butchering 
or dressing gangs is of prime importance. ‘Two men constitute a 
“butcher's gang,’ and the number of these gangs is deyendent upon 
the output of the plant. Boys place the fish, with the head out, 
upon the cutting tables. One man cuts off the heads, and is followed 
by another who removes the fins, tails, and viscera. The offal is 
thrown into a chute, whence it passes into the, water under the 
cannery or into a scow moored underneath, while the dressed fish is 
transferred to a tank of water, to be scaled, washed, and scraped. 
It is then passed to another tank of water, where it receives a second 
washing, scraping, and final brushing with a whisklike broom, which 
removes any ftal, blood, and scales that were overlooked in the first 
washing, after which it is removed to large bins on either side of the 
cutting machine. 
The most useful cannery inventions in recent years have been of 
machines for doing the work of the dressing gangs. The one com- 
monly known as the ‘‘Iron Chink,” now in general use in canneries 
where such machines are employed, was first used in 1903 at Fair- 
haven (now Bellingham), Wash. It removes the head, tail, and fins 
and opens and thoroughly cleans the fish ready to cut into pieces for 
the cans. By the use of these machines the dressing gang is almost 
entirely done away with, dispensing with 15 to 20 men. This same 
machine is now so sirenpell that the fish after dressing are also 
‘“‘slimed;”’ i. e., the thick mucus covering the skin removed, and the 
inside of the fish cleaned. 
CUTTING. 
The usual method of cutting the salmon is by a machine. This is 
poy a large wooden cylindrical carrier, elliptical in shape, thus 
aving a larger carrying capacity. Ledges or rests on the outside 
the length of the carrier are wide enough to hold the fish, and are 
slit in cross section through the ledges and outer casing to receive 
the gang knives. The latter are circular, fixed on an axle at the 
proper distances apart, and revolve at the highest point reached by 
the carrier and independently of the latter. The carrier and gang 
knives are set in motion, each revolving on its own shaft. As a rest 
on the carrier comes to a horizontal position, men stationed at the 
fish bins lay a fish on each ledge as it passes. Thence it is conveyed 
to the revolving gang knives and, after being divided, passes through 
on the downward course, sliding off the rest into the filling chute. 
The knives in these machines are so arranged as to cut the fish 
transversely in sections the exact length of the cans to be filled. 
The rotary cutter shunts the tail pieces to one side, and these are 
carried by means of a chute to baskets. The tail pieces are generally 
canned separately. As the tail portion is much smaller, with less 
meat, it can not be placed in the cans with the middle and head 
sections without detracting from their value, but if packed under a 
distinct and separate label, as is now done, there is no reason why 
the tails should not supply the demand for a cheap grade of fish. 
In some of the smaller canneries, especially in fuga packing flat 
cans, the gang knives are worked by hand. In this case, the knives 
are not circular, but elongated or semicircular in shape, tapering at 
