SALMON FISHERIES OP PACIFIC COAST. 51 



siderable part of the tremendous annual waste of the salmon can- 

 neries. 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 in a few canneries, 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 those 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 

 the outer ends. They are mounted on an axle having a large iron 

 lever at one end, and when this lever is raised the ends of the gang 

 knives are thrown up and back. The fish is then placed in position 

 under them and the lever pulled forward, the knives, with a scimitar- 

 like movement, dividing the fish. 



The original method of cutting was by means of a long knife 

 wielded by a Chinaman who stood at a regular butcher's block. 

 Although his strokes were incredibly quick, the rotary cutting ma- 

 chine is a vast improvement over the old way. 



SALTING. 



Every can of salmon is seasoned with one-fourth of an ounce of 

 salt, which, to insure uniformity, is added by mechanical means. A 

 table is used, in the top of which are holes equal distances apart. 

 On the under side of the top is a sheet-iron plate, with an equal 

 number of holes, which slides in a groove at the sides, and is worked 

 either by a hand or foot lever. Just below is an open space large 

 enough to accommodate a tray holding 36 or 48 cans. A workman 

 stands in front of the table and slides a tray of cans into the open 

 space. He then throws a quantity of salt upon the table and im- 

 mediately scrapes this off with a thin piece of wood, each hole being 

 filled in the operation, and the salt being prevented from falling 

 through by the iron plate underneath. The lever is then pressed, the 

 iron plate moves forward until the holes in it are directly under the 

 table top, when the salt drops through into the cans. This opera- 

 tion can be repeated four or five times in a minute. 



FILLING THE CANS. 



Most canneries now use filling machines, although a few, more 

 particularly those packing flat and odd-sized cans, still fill by hand. 



The filling machine consists of a chute with a belt to which are 

 attached wire racks about 4 inches apart, set at an angle to prevent 

 the salt from spilling out, into which the salted cans are fed from the 

 floor above and pass into the machine. At the same time the divided 

 sections of salmon pass down another chute into the mouth of what 



