158 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
This test reveals the leaks due to imperfect soldering. Two men 
superintend this work, and they, like all others connected with a can- 
nery, are very skillful. The slightest leak is immediately detected 
and located by small bubbles issuing from the cans. The spots are 
marked and the cans are taken out and placed in small wooden trays, 
in which they are carried to the bench men, whose duty it is to mend 
them. Cans that have been mended are again tested as before. In 
large canneries, from 20 to 25 men, stationed in front of a long bench 
at the side of the building, are employed in mending cans. Formerly 
tinsmith’s charcoal stoves were used for heating purposes, but these 
are now mostly out of use, the soldering irons being heated by kero- 
gene fire-pots, each pot supplied with oil and air led through small 
tubes, the heat and air being regulated by connecting valves. Gaso- 
line has been used as ftel to some extent. 
A cooler of cans having been tested, it is hoisted out, placed on a 
low square truck, and another takes its place in the bath. 
Cooking.—The cans are now ready for the first cooking. It is said 
that in the inception of the salmon industry the cooking was consid- 
ered by those not initiated in the method as an art in itself, and in 
consequence was guarded carefully by those possessing the knowledge. 
In a few years, however, the method employed became common prop- 
erty, since which time salmon have been cooked in the main portion of 
the cannery instead of in a separate room under lock and key. The 
first cooking was done in common tubs, hence the term bathroom now 
applied to that part of the building where the cooking takes place. 
The early retorts were of wood made on the same principle as a steam 
box in a shipyard for steaming plank. Later, round iron kettles were 
substituted, these set on end, nearly one-half consisting of cover; and 
round crates were used for holding the cans. Whena lot of salmon 
was to be cooked, the cover of the retort was lifted by block and tackle 
rigged overhead, the retort filled with crates and the cover lowered 
over them, the top and bottom being fastened perfectly tight by a set 
of screws and levers which extended all the way around. Steam was 
then turned on until the desired amount of heat was obtamed. 
The modern retort rests horizontally in a bed, the crates being 
rolled in on a track. The trucks which carry them hold six crates, 
one piled upon another, and four loaded trucks are rolled in at one 
time, representing on an average some 2,500 cans. 
The number of retorts in a cannery is governed by its capacity; 
few canneries at the present time have less than four or five. In 
front of each retort is a turntable, on which is an iron track, the pur- 
pose of the turntables being to receive the loaded trucks which come 
on tracks from different parts of the building; also to facilitate the 
transferring of cans from one retort to another, since it is necessary 
