SALMON FISHERIES OF PACIFIC COAST. 61 



S. Ellmore & Company started the industry in 1002 at Tillamook, 

 and the business began on Puget Sound in 1001, when the San Juan 

 Fishing & Packing Company and the Seattle Fish Company took 

 it up. 



Prior to 100G several of the Alaska cannery men put up each season 

 a few tierces of mild-cured salmon, but it was not until this time 

 that the ♦industry really began as such. In that year J. Lindenberger 

 (Inc.) started packing at Ketchikan, Alaska. The following year 

 several other plants were started, and in 1010 almost all of the king 

 salmon taken in southeast Alaska were mild cured. 



In mild curing the fish are split down the middle, the head, tail, 

 and all fins except the pectorals removed, and the backbone cut out. 

 The fish is then in two halves. Each of these halves, or sections, is 

 then scored on the outside eight or nine times with the knife. They 

 are then thrown into a cleaning vat, and here the inner side of each 

 section is carefully scraped clear of blood and membrane with a 

 knife, while the outside is thoroughly cleaned with a scrubbing 

 brush. The sections are then laid carefully inner side up in another 

 vat partly filled with clear, cold, running water, or into a tierce 

 partly filled with fresh water and cracked ice, in which they remain 

 for an hour. Formerly the fish were put into brine, but it has been 

 found that ice water answers the purpose much better. After being 

 thoroughly cooled, the sections are salted down in the tierces, each 

 one being laid with its tail toward the center. Usually about 50 

 whole fish are required to fill a tierce. The fish are but lightly 

 salted, and owing to this fact must be kept in cold storage until used. 



In the early days of the industry different preparations, which 

 included salicylic and boracic acids, were used to help preserve the 

 fish. This caused much complaint from the Germans, and finally 

 their Government subjected our product to a rigid inspection, with 

 most salutary results, as now it is one of the purest and best prod- 

 ucts put up on this coast, the use of acids being done away with 

 entirely. 



The king salmon is almost invariably the species mild cured, being 

 the only one large enough to answer the requirements of the trade. 

 In 1007 a Ketchikan, Alaska, packer put up a quantity of coho, dog, 

 and humpback salmon, but he found so much difficulty in disposing 

 of the product that he abandoned further efforts in this line. 



The principal consumers of the mild-cured salmon are the smokers, 

 who take them from the tierce, wash them for a few minutes, and 

 then have a practically fresh fish to smoke, and not, as in the days 

 when hard-pickled salmon were used, one that had lost most of its 

 oil and flavor through the excessive amount of salt needed to pre- 

 serve it. 



