FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
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wide, and 5 inches deep. The pans are then put into a freezer charged 
with ice and salt and their contents are frozen into solid blocks of 
fish weighing about 60 pounds to each pan. The process is precisely 
similar to that in vogue on the Great Lakes for freezing fish. When 
frozen the fish are’ removed from the pans and packed in boxes— 
four blocks to each box— and then loaded into refrigerator cars that go 
direct to New York City. The cars are charged with ice and salt to 
keep the temperature below the freezing point. In midwinter the 
cars do not usually require to be recharged before they reach their 
destination, but when the weather begins to grow warmer in spring it 
is sometimes necessary to recharge with ice and salt once or more while 
in transit. Shipments have been reported as arriving in good order. 
This system of shipping frozen fish will doubtless come into extensive 
use for transporting salmon. 
Secondary products . — Comparatively little effort has yet been made to 
utilize the waste products of the canneries. A small business is, how- 
ever, carried on at Astoria, where an attempt has been made to use the 
refuse of the canneries for the manufacture of oil and fertilizer ; but 
the price paid for the refuse is small, consequently the bulk of the mate- 
rial is dumped into the river. Notwithstanding this, and although the 
business was conducted jn a somewhat primitive manner, enough mate- 
rial was obtained to make 8,000 gallons of oil (chiefly from salmon heads) 
and 90 tons of fertilizer. The oil was worth 22J cents per gallon and the 
fertilizer had a market value of $20 per ton. With proper effort and 
requisite facilities for collecting the refuse of the canneries along the 
river, a profitable and extensive business could probably be supported, 
and much useful material produced from waste that now pollutes the 
river. 
The fish wheels often take in a day many tons of sturgeon less than 
50 pounds in weight. Such are not marketable, and are now thrown 
into the river. Their utilization would be a blessing to the fisherman, 
for they now help to contaminate the water. Many sturgeon are also 
taken near ihe mouth of the Columbia in pound nets, gill nets, etc. 
Their size and strength often enables them to tear the nets in their 
efforts to get free. They are, therefore, considered as pests by the fish- 
ermen of the lower river, who never save such fish, but generally knock 
them on the head and throw them back into the water. 
The roe of sturgeon is saved to some extent and cured as caviare. 
Markets and disposition of products . — The two principal markets and 
distributing centers on or near the Columbia are Astoria and Portland. 
From these points most of the fish products of the region are shipped 
over the United States or sent to foreign countries. Portland con- 
sumes a very considerable amount of fresh fish, and, with the exception 
of sturgeon, the greater v part of the fresh products received there is 
consumed locally. 
