The Salmon-canning Industry 



house and take one. One, or a dozen, would not 

 be missed in that surfeit. 



The salmon are brought from the nets or 

 traps in lighters to the wharf. Here they are liter- 

 ally pitchforked into tubs, which are in turn hauled 

 up by the aid of a derrick to the wharf, and then 

 dumped into trucks that are waiting to receive 

 them. The truck when full is pushed to the fish- 

 house, where the fish are turned out on to the floor 

 to await the actual process of canning. There are 

 fish weighing from forty to twelve pounds ; no one 

 seems to care whether an extra big one is on the 

 dump, but I could not help my thoughts wander- 

 ing to rods and tackle, and wishing I could let 

 some of those monsters put up a fight for their 

 lives. The white residents in the district rarely 

 eat salmon there are too many of them, I 

 suppose. If they do fancy this fish they cut out 

 the belly portion only for consumption, as they 

 say this is the fattest and choicest part. Wether- 

 bee was, he told me, in the habit of salting in 

 barrels the bellies of some of the fish, which he 

 took back to San Francisco as presents for his 

 friends. 



The actual process of canning proceeds apace ; 

 every one is working at high pressure in order to 

 dispose of this huge amount of fish. Two or 

 more Chinamen stand at a table holding in their 

 hands a fish each. With a dexterous blow of a 

 knife they cut off the head, tail, and fins of the 



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