The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-09-15


passengers on board the "Ajax." Tn
wind went down by night, and th,
next morning The ocean was smootl
and the wind in our favor. BY tel
the fog had cleared away and the SUI
came out warm. Most of The cabil
passengers were OH deck. The water
of the Pacific looks like mirror. Shit
aud sails could be seen. The wafer i
basket. Sea guIs followed our vessel
and Il great many of Mother Carey
chickens were to be seen. They seen
to be in broods of about dozen, no
much larger than a duck three or fou
days old, and cannot fly but few rods
they carry their eggs under thei
wings, and these are hatched. Tht
sailor considers it a sign of good lucl
to see them.
We passed seals and saw dozens o
whales sporting around and spoutinl
water, throwing wafer from 80 to Al
feet. When they arc swimming The
iiRt a'knlfc. Iphen they diye their tai
comes up, and looks 90 or 30 feet
across ii.
| During the night the ocean is lighted
by phosphorus in the water. When
the ship cuts through the wave it is
lighted. Can tell where the whales are
by the light when they are sporting.
Before night we were in sight of land,
and toward sundown came in sight OF
Cape Disappointment, at the mouth OF
the Columbia, the Amazon of North
America. AS it grew dark the light
| from the light house seemed to say,
EWplppmn' | will ,ru;1a fbao
When we reached the mouth of the
Columbia the tide was out, and we had
to wait till the tide returned before we
could cross The bar. This is a very
dangerous passage. The channel
changes and is very narrow. The lead
has to be used. About two a. m. we
reached Astoria. Before seeing Asto.
ria one forms some kind of an idea OF
the place, usually that ii is flourishing
seaport town at the mouth Of the large
river Columbia, on which ocean steam
ers ply, for hnndreds of miles, also
OF our salmon is shipped from, place
that is growing rapidly, and where
thousands of dollars of fur are shipped
from. All one has TO do to change his
idea of Astoria, is 10 get III there in the
dark as we did, and in the morning to
behold Astoria. The first thing we ask
ourselves is, where is Astoria We
went OH shore and from one end of the
street TO the other. The buildings are
low and poor, with one exception-a
new hotel. Only few stores, one Of
two tanyards, and Il saw mill that is
trying to drive the forest up The noun
tains, but looks rs il the forest was
getting the better OF il. The town is
built OIL very narrow strip of land,
between the river and the steep hills
that are covered with great fires a.
straight as All arrow, and so dense il
seems us if IN elk could not get through
them. The people here looked az il
they did not care whether they tished
Or not. There are great salmon fish
cries or canneries here. We went
through y. Booth & Co IS cannery, one
"a iso ,"ees' o~ d.a rirar All can;
tilcm built on piles out in the river |
The fishing season is from Nav till |
August. Fish can be caught most OF |
ne year, bat not by canneries. The |
nsh arc all caught by white men.
Italians are good hsnvr,->n 4 China.
man is not allowed on the river, but All
the work after the fish leave the boat
is done by Cinnamon. The fish are
all caught in the night in quill nets
Cannot catch them in the day time, as
they see The net and keep from it. Two
men go in one boat lone TO pull The
boat, the other to attend the net. The
net is run across the stream aud floats
with tie current. These nets are from
1850 to 1000 feet long, having weights
SO as 10 sink them. They are from 20
10 80 feet wide, and floats of cork to
lloat them. The holes in the net are
large enough for all the small fish to
pass through. The large ones usually
die in ihc net. The average weight OF
a salmon is from 10 TO 20 pounds. The
Il nsheruacn iloat all night with the cur.
rent. They have SO much apiece for
them. In Ihr ,nu, nini, "a small
'uS from the cannery picks up all the /
Uoats belonging 10 the establishment
and tugs them back. The fish are |
thrown on to IL platform, where we saw |
some weighing co pounds.
From hero they are taken by China
men, put in large trough and washed,
then taken ont and put on long bench. |
Their heads are cut of with one blow |
with sort Of meat axe. Another |
Chinaman, with large knife, with one !
slash cuts them open and disembowels |
them. Another takes the fins Oft |
They are then thrown into brine vat,
W ich soaks ont the blood and takes |
oil the slime. This is known by the |
name of shining. They are then taken
out the at time and put OH table, |
where they are cut into pieces, just the |
right size TO go into the can, with a |
l.ksat l-..ifn Of N
bones are taken out. Now they are |
put into cans and n small quantity OF
brine put in. The can is taken, the lid |
put on aud soldered. This is done by |
machinery. Next the cans are placed |
hundreds together, GOO or 500. and low
cred 10y crank into steam boiler and
cooked one hour. Whcn taken out a
Chinaman with an awl pricks each can
this is called venting, letting ont all the
steam and gas. Next they are closed |
by drop of solder, which you see on
each can, and let down again aud
cooked, taken out and cold water run
over them. Ii the vacuum or empty |
space in each can is air tight, the top OF
the can will sink in. Now they are
ready for the packing room. Millions
of cans are sent out OF this river each
year, and hundreds of barrels of salt
salmon. Fishermen say there seem to
he as many fish now US when the can-
neries We're first started. The first can
merry on the Pacific coast was across The
river from Sacramento. Ii did moi
prove a success, owing to lack OF expe-
ricnce. Hume, one of the firm, had
heard old irappers tell uf the salmon oi
the Colulr bia, and he went there.