286 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
rice’s saltery, karta bay. 
dice’s saltery , Karta Bay . — Owing to the failure of the salmon run in Puget 
Sound, Mr. J. E. Rice, of Whatcom, Wash., came to Karta Bay, August 20, with a 
small outfit and commenced salting salmon on the southeastern shore of the inner 
bight, in a shack rented from the Baronovich family. The pack consisted largely 
of dog salmon, dry-salted and shipped in boxes, though other species were not 
neglected and were salted direct in barrels. No salting tanks were used. 
The equipment consisted of 2 seine boats, $50 each; 1 fish scow, rented from the 
Loring cannery; 3 dories, $30 each; 1 seine, 175 fathoms by 6£ fathoms, 3-inch mesh, 
valued at $1.50 per fathom. All labor was hired in the vicinity; 15 to 20 men were 
employed during the season, and were paid $3 per day without board or lodging. 
Fish were also purchased from the Indians at the following rates: Redfish and cohoes, 
10 cents each; humpbacks, $6 per thousand; dog salmon, $15 per thousand. 
The following was the output for the season: Seventy-five barrels redfish, 25 
half-barrels redfish, 75 barrels cohoes, 50 half-barrels cohoes, 575 boxes dry-salt dog 
salmon, averaging 55 fish to the box, or 31,625 cured fish, weighing 211,100 pounds. 
The barrels used were full size, machine-made, with galvanized hoops, and cost, 
in Puget Sound, $1.50 each. In salting without tanks the fresh fish are salted in the 
barrels, the fish forming their own pickle; after four or five days’ shrinking the 
barrels are filled with fish to the top and weighted, and after complete shrinkage they 
are resalted, the barrels headed and placed chime up; an auger hole is then bored in 
the upper chime and the barrel kept filled with pickle. 
Mr. Rice prepares his dog salmon by butchering in the usual manner, except 
that the head is left on. After thorough cleansing in salt water they are salted 
down with coarse salt, flesh up, in piles called “benches,” about 4 feet square and 
4 feet high. In from four to six days, depending upon the weather, the fish having 
shrunk sufficiently, the excess of salt is shaken off, the inside is sprinkled with clean 
Liverpool salt, folded back in the shape of the fish, and boxed; a sprinkling of salt 
is placed on the outside to keep the fish from sticking together. It is said that fish 
prepared in this manner keep a lung period. 
Mr. Rice also purchased all halibut of 40 pounds weight and over at a uniform 
rate of 50 cents each; these were Hitched, dry-salted in benches, and shipped to the 
Sound, where they were washed and smoked for market. 
KARTA BAY STREAM. 
This stream, described on pages 88 to 90 in my former report, has been very 
much overfished during the past few years; it is said there were as many as 30 seines 
at work in the vicinity of the mouth of the stream during the height of the last run. 
The following contains only the catch of three canneries for 1898, 1899, and 1900; 
that of the salteries and smaller fisheries is unknown. 
Species. 
1898. 
1899. 
1900. 
No. 
Date. 
No. 
Date. 
No. 
Date. 
106, 876 
14, 855 
25, 680 
June 16-Aug. 11 
Aug. 25-Sept. 15 
Aug. 1-Aug. 11 
55, 730 
4, 000 
114,713 
June 18-Aug. 15 
Aug.. 14-Sept. 12 
July 22-Aug. 14 
63, 305 
6, 224 
185, 676 
June 19-Aug. 20 
Aug. 30-Sept. 20 
July 18-Aug. 20 
Humpbacks 
