PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
383 
they are retained in bulk in baskets, boxes, or barrels in the same room; but these 
methods are not productive of results even approximating those in the Great Lakes 
tish-freezers and should not be used where quantities of fish are handled. 
The cost of cold storage and the deterioration in quality make it inadvisable to 
carry frozen fish more than nine or ten months, but sometimes the exigencies of the 
trade result in carrying them two and even three years. In the latter case they are 
scarcely suitable for the fresh-fish trade unless the very best of care has been exer- 
cised in the freezing and storage, and it is usually better to salt or smoke them. 
The rate of charges in those houses Avhich make a business of freezing and storage 
for the general trade is usually from i cent to 1 cent for freezing and storage during 
the first mouth, and about half of that rate for storage during each subsequent mouth, 
dependent on the quantity of fish. However, the cost of running a first-class plant 
at its full capacity is probably less than one-third or even one-fourth of the minimum 
above quoted, since it costs no more to run a storage room full of fish than one-fifth or 
even one-tenth full. 
The refrigeration of fish on the Pacific coast, according to Mr.W. A. Wilcox, dates 
practically from 1890, since when it has steadily increased, the aggregate shipments 
from Oregon and Washington in 1895 being 236 refrigerator carloads, or 5,872,533 
pounds of fresh fish. This consisted chietly of salmon from Columbia Eiver and Puget 
Sound, with 1,161,715 pounds of dressed sturgeon and a small amount of halibut and 
smelt. Mr. Wilcox, on pp. 587-589 of the Fish Commission Eeport for 1896, describes 
the process of refrigeration and shipment as follows : 
On the reception of the fish at the cold-storage plant they are washed, wiped dry, and then 
placed on racks attached to trucks; these are run into the freezing rooms where, in a round or 
undressed condition, the fish are solidly frozen. From the freezing rooms the fish are taken to the 
packing and storage rooms and packed in cases holding 250 pounds of fish each. In packing, no ice 
is nsed. In some cases the lish are “glazed” with ice. This process consists in dipping the frozen 
fish in tanks of Avater that are in a room with a temperature of 20^ F. On removing the fish from 
the water they are at once glazed or coated with ice, repeated dippings adding to the thickness of the 
icy coat. Glazing is an extra precaution to keep the fish from the air. In some cases each fish is 
wrapped m brown rag paper, in oiled paper, and in brown jjaper, as an additional protection from 
the air. The fish having been frozen and packed, the cases are remoA'ed to cold-storage rooms and 
held until needed for shipment. When placed in the refrigerator cars the latter are charged with ice 
that, except from some unusual delay, lasts the entire trip to the Atlantic coast. 
During the past few years the experimental shipment of fresh frozen fish from America to Europe 
has become of considerable importance. The pioneer shijipers had much to learu and their shipments 
were often under many disadvantages. Sometimes shipments arrived at their destination in prime 
condition and again were only fair or poor. Frozen fish from America was a new article of food and 
time was necessary to acquaint the people with them. The markets, as in this country, were often 
fluctuating and shipments were sometimes sold at a loss. On the whole, results were satisfactory 
enough to encourage and luiild up this new branch of the fisheries. The shipments of 1895 included 
300 tons of steelhead trout and 200 tons of silver and Chinook salmon. Until quite recently the steel- 
head was but little thought of, but with the increasing demand for fresh fish it has grown to be the 
most popular of the several sjiecies .shijiped long distances. While not having as much oil as some 
other species, it is a fine fish, and stands transportation much better than other fish of the salmon 
family. One case is on record in which steelheads frozen solid and shipped to England, after being 
received and the frost removed, were placed on the market, and the fish had such a fresh look, as if 
just from the water, that the dealer was arrested for having on sale fresh fish illegally caught. 
Hamburg is as yet the favorite point shipped to, from which the fish are distributed all over the 
Continent. At New York the cases of frozen fish are transferred from the refrigerator cars or cold- 
storage rooms on shore to those on board of the steamer, the Hamburg steamers receiving and 2 iutting 
in cold storage any number of cases of fish offered. The distributions from Hamburg are made 
