PACIFIC COD FISHERIES. 59 
and splitter, and has in front of him a piece of iron fastened to the 
edge of the table, over which he breaks the backbone of the fish as they 
are passed to him. At the other end of the opposite side of the table 
stands the splitter. In front of him has been inserted in the top of 
the table a piece of wood about 15 inches long and about 10 inches 
wide. In this has been driven a sharpened nail, to which the fish 
are attached, so they will not slip away while he is splitting them, 
the board inset being for the purpose of obviating the necessity of 
renewing the whole top of the table after the splitter has cut and 
chopped here for a short time. 
There are usually two or three gangs at a station, and, in addition 
to the above, there are usually two men who trundle the dressed fish 
in large wheelbarrows to the butt house, where two salters receive 
and salt them in the large tanks. 
During the summer months the livers of the cod are saved and 
dumped into large casks just outside the dress house, this work being 
done by the header. Here they are allowed to rot out. The oil grad- 
ually comes to the surface and at intervals is dipped out into barrels 
or drums. No attempt at present is made to prepare medicinal oil, 
although the Union Fish Co. has a plant for this purpose at the 
Pirate Cove station. As the healthy and diseased livers are used to- 
gether, only oil stitable for use in the arts is rendered at present. 
The offal passes through chutes into the water under the dress 
house, from whence it is either washed away, rots, or is devoured 
by gulls and sand fleas. At some stations the latter are so numerous 
that in a surprisingly short space of time the bones of the fish are 
polished clean. 
The salting houses are long, low structures, with but few windows, 
which leaves them usually in deep twilight. They are generally ar- 
ranged with two rows of square or round tanks, with a passageway 
between them for the wheelbarrows to pass in and out. The large 
square tanks hold about 4,000 medium-sized fish, while the large 
round ones hold about 8,000 medium-sized fish. These tanks are 
generally made of redwood staves or planks held together with 
metal hoops or bolted together with iron bolts. At a few places 
small hogsheads are employed. These receptacles frequently are in 
use for years. 
Before the dressing begins each salter brings from the salt house 
about the number of bags of salt he expects to use. This is usually 
figured on the basis of 17 sacks (holding 100 pounds each) to 1,000 
fish. The quantity used varies, however, with the weather and the, 
fatness of the fish. 
The fish are carefully placed in the butts in layers, face, or flesh, 
side up. Salt is sprinkled over each layer, care being used to see 
