516 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Much atteutiou is given to variety and styles in cans and labels, which yearly show improve- 
ment in style and design. Sixteen varieties of cans were used in the pack of 1895. Brands also receive 
much consideration, and in many cases have a high value on account of the enviable roputalion of the 
goods previously packed under them. 
To supply the annual demand for 60,000,000 to 80,000,000 tin cans in which to pack the salmon 
caught in the waters of the United States on the Pacific Coast is of itself a large business. Many 
packing firms make a part or all of the cans they need. This is more for the purpose of keeping 
desirable men employed between seasons than for any saving in expenses for cans. The bulk of the 
cans are turned out from factories at San Francisco. In April, 1893, the Pacific Can Company of San 
Francisco, by opening a branch factory at Astoria, filled a long-felt want of the packers in Oregon 
and Washington. For ten inonths in the year this Astoria branch gives employment to 80 persons, of 
whom 25 are females and 55 males. Chinese are not cmjjloyed in this establishment. The weekly 
l)ay roll averages $750, or $30,000 a year. The plant represents an investment of $80,000. 
Of late each year finds some new shape or size of can used in salmon packing, there being 16 
varieties of cans for salmon manufactured by this company in 1895. The total number of cans turned 
out in 1895 amounted to 18,500,000, of which 2,000,000 had the key attachment, on which the royalty 
is 75 cents per 1,0C0 cans. A large C|uantity of the various cans is kept on hand, from which the 
canneries of the Colirmbia and coast rivers and those of Puget Sound are supplied as needed. The 
tin plate used amounted to 45,000 boxes, of which 10,000 were of American manufacture and 35,000 
were imported. The average price of j)lato din ing 1895, including an imjmrt duty of $1.20 a box, 
was $4.10 a box, averaging 100 pounds with 112 sheets each. American-made plate is 50 cents a box 
lower at Chicago than that imported, but 50 cents higher by the time it reaches Astoria, owing to the 
difference in freight — by sailing vessel from Europe of $7 a ton, or by rail from the East of $14 a ton. 
Oomiuauder Jefferson F. Moser, U. S. Navy, conmiaiiding the U. S. Fish Ooiniuis- 
sion steamer Albatross, has given a description of tlie processes of canning salmon in 
Alaska, in the Fish Commission Bulletin for 1898, jiages 22-34, 
CANNING OYSTERS. 
Preserving oysters by cooking and hermetically sealing them originated in the 
United States in 1844, in the establishment of Thomas Keusett, Baltimore, Md., but 
the trade appears to have been developed by A. Field & Co. of that city. From the 
beginning of the industry up to the present time it has been prosecuted mainly at 
Baltimore, probably not 3 iier cent of the total ])roduct since 1844 having been pre- 
pared outside of that city. In addition to Baltimore, oysters are canned at one or two 
other Chesapeake ports and at Apalachicola, Fla., Biloxi and Bay St. Louis, Miss., 
and Morgan City, La. The term “cove” is sometimes applied to oysters prepared in 
this manner, and the higher prices prevailing in the fresh-oyster trade usually require 
that the medium and small-size oysters be used. 
Originally in the canning business the raw oysters were opened by hand, but 
about 1858 Lew McMurry, of Baltimore, began scalding them, this process causing 
the shells to open and allowing the oysters to be removed with far less labor than 
would be required if they had not been heated. Steaming originated about 1860, the 
oysters being placed in baskets holding about 3 pecks each, and these to the number 
of about 300 were placed in a large box and there steamed. In 1862 Henry Evans, of 
Baltimore, devised the present method of using, in combination with the steam box^ 
large cars, in which the oysters are placed." The sides and bottoms of these cars :ire 
made of iron bars, so that the steam may readily iiass among the oysters, partly 
See Letters Patent No. 35511, dated June 10, 1862. 
