THE SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 
31 
are ready for the cooling room. After cooling they are lacquered by placing them on 
a tray in an inclined position, which is lowered into the lacquer contained in a rectan- 
gular wooden tank, lifted, drained, and removed. W hen the lacquer is dry the cans are 
labeled and cased. 
After the second cooking they are twice tapped for leaks. Certain Chinese are 
very expert at this test. With a tenpenny nail they pass rapidly over the cans, 
striking the top of each, and judge by the sound whether there are any defects. 
During tlie process of canning imperfect cans are found by inspection and testing, 
and if repaired before the first cooking and immediately processed they are naturally 
in the same condition as if there had been no defects. If the leaks are discovered 
after cooking and are repaired at once and the contents recooked, they are still very 
good, the only difliculty being that by blowing them a second time they lose weight. 
The above goods usually go in with the regular pack of their kind and are not classed 
as regular “do-overs.” 
When a cannery is running to its full capacity defective cans can not be repaired 
and recooked at once, and are set aside sometimes for days before they are recooked, 
the result being that decomposition follows, the same as with any other meat that is 
exposed to the air, and the fish becomes unfit for food. When recooked the fish is 
mushy, and the blowing makes the cans very light, which is frequently corrected by 
adding salt water. This, the “do-over,” is the lowest grade of goods, and is fit only 
for chicken food. Such cans are frequently sold to brokers without labels, or else 
labeled with the name of some fictitious cannery, and find their way into country, 
lumber, mining, or negro districts, or are sent to the South Seas and semibarbarous 
localities. Defective cans run from to 2^ per cent of the output, and those intended 
to go with the regular pack are usually vented by opening one of the first vents, or 
the seam at the top, so that additional vent marks may not lead to suspecting the 
goods. 
WEIGHT OF FISH. 
Cannery iieople, in referring to the weight of salmon, always speak of so many to 
the case. They never weigh the fish, but estimate them by the case, and sometimes 
make fishing contracts in that manner. This naturally involves another subject: 
How many live fish are required to make a case of 48 one-pound cans? Much 
depends upon how the fish are cut. The largest company doing business in Alaska 
cuts ofi' a considerable portion of the tail and the head well back as waste. Another 
cannery saves these end pieces and packs them under special labels. A liberal esti- 
mate of the loss in cleaning and preparing the fish for the cans is one-third, which 
would be about 75 pounds of live fish to a case, or 72 pounds if each can contained 
exactly 1 pound; but as the cream of the pack goes to foreign markets, the cans are 
always slightly overweight, about an ounce, to prevent a rebate on short weights. 
My own observation and inquiry among canners who seemed to have given the subject 
some attention lead me to believe that 65 to 68 pounds of live fish will make a liberal 
case, depending somewhat on the size of the fish. Fish that run 10 to 12 to the case can 
be gauged very closely on a 65-pound basis, but for smaller fish this must be increased. 
The waste of redfish and cohoes at the canneries is not large, but with humpbacks 
many are culled out, either on account of being very small or in bad condition. This 
species, late in the season, when the hump commences to be marked, becomes watery, 
and it is then difficult to properly fill a can, as much of the weight is in liquor, which 
