222 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
stock-fish. I have tasted boneless cod from Gloucester side by side with a similar article pre- 
pared at Saint Paul, and I fully believe that the fish made at the latter place is equal in quality 
to the Gloucester fish in its prime condition. 
Up to 1877 the salt used in the Pacific fishery was principally, if not entirely, what is known 
as bay salt, which was made by solar evaporation near Alvarado. From all that I can learn, bay 
salt is principally used now, but the quality has been vastly improved. There has been much 
complaint as to the presence of lime in the salt, which was believed to make the cod hard and 
brittle. A correspondent of the San Francisco Post, who made a trip to the Shumagins in the 
schooner Alaska in 1876, has this to say about the salt: “The cod brought into San Francisco for 
the last few seasons was notably hard, and did not command a fair price in the market. This 
hardness was given by the salt used in preserving them not having been properly refined. It con- 
tained a quantity of sulphate of lime and other impurities, which dried and burned up the fish. 
This season the fleet took out 1,200 tons of salt of a much superior character. That which we had 
on the Alaska was fine enough for table use, the crystals being large, translucent, and beau- 
tifully white.” In 1879 about 800 tons of salt was used for 1,000 tons of fish, according to the 
San Francisco Alta (quoted in Sea World, August 4, 1879). I quote from the San Francisco Com- 
mercial Herald and Market Review of January 18, 1877, with reference to the preparation of cod: 
“ Previously it was thought best to dry the fish for preservation, but it is now kept in pickle until 
the time for using it in market approaches, when it is dried in lots to suit. By this means a uni- 
form article is offered from month to month, instead of the hard, dry, and tasteless stuff with which 
the seasons wound up. The plan of using brine a number of times has been given up, as it was 
found to cause the unpleasant odor peculiar to the poorly-cured codfish. Another cause of the 
success attending this interest is in the improved quality of the salt used. An analysis of the 
common bay-salt, that heretofore used, gave 40 per cent. of lime, soda, and magnesia, and these 
ingredients made the fish hard and brittle. The salt now in use is manufactured mostly by the 
Union Pacific Salt Company, and is guaranteed to contain 98 per cent. chloride of sodium and 
equal to the best imported from Liverpool. Under these favorable changes we are now producing 
an article equal to any the world can afford, and invoices of Eastern cod are falling off, only enoagh 
coming in to meet the wants of a few who still persist in using it.” 
The price of coarse salt is from $6.50 to $7 per ton. The salt used at the Pirate Cove station 
costs $16 delivered there. 
I conclude my account of the methods of the fishery with a quotation from the article in the 
San Francisco Post, to which I have previously referred, which conveys a good idea of the manner 
of handling cod when they are transferred from the vessels to the curing establishments: 
“Over at California City, Lynde & Hough have built a yard at an expense of $10,000, for 
curing and preserving fish. As the codfish arrive on the vessel they are packed as closely as 
possible, one over the other, in layers, with strata of salt between them. At the yard the first 
operation is to break cargo. The fish are then placed in a perforated wooden box, open on top, 
and let into the water by tackle from the ship. Across the top of the box boards are put for two 
men to siton. They take the fisb one by one, and by the aid of water and elbow-grease rub the 
black inner skin off. Their feet are in the water, and, although it is rather rough on the hands, 
especially to a beginner, we face it as Jeffrey faced the cat, and after a wiiile one’s hands get 
callous and as insensible to pain as the hide of the “armed rhinoceros.” The next operation is to 
place the washed fish in pickle, for which purpose they are conveyed to the packing-house. In 
the packing-house a long series of barrels are arranged in rows sufficient in number to pickle 500 
tons of fish. The pickle consists simply of a strong solution of salt, made with pure spring water, 
