The Opelousas courier., 1890-01-04
THE TOOTHSOME SALMON.
CANNING AN IMPORTANT FOOD
FISH ON THE PACIFIC COAST.
Preparing the Fish for the Cans
Cooking the Raw Salmon After
1t Has Been Canned.

Preparing the Fish for the Cans
Cooking the Raw Salmon After
1t Has Been Canned.
The salmon canning industry of the
Pacific coast is one of great Importance
and this city, says a Seattle (Washington)
letter to the New York World, is well
represented in that line of business. The
canneries not only furnish employment
to those who are actually engaged ia the
work of canning the fish, but it also
brings a harvest to the numerous fisher
men and Indians who are located here.
The fishermen bring the fish to the dock,
where they unload them.
After leaving the hands of the white
fishermen, when they ore piled on the
wharf, they are handled entirely by
Cinnamon. The method of moving them
about is very simple. The mover is pro
vided with a stick in the end of which is
fastened a sharp spike, and this is thrust
into the head of the fish and sharp jerk
is given which lands him several feet
away, and perhaps or another pile. The
fish weigh all the way from five to forty
pounds each.
When the men are ready to commence
operations the fish are placed on a long
bench side by side and heads all pointed
in the one direction. When the bench
is filed, the man who has charge of that
portion of the work takes his knife and
| gives it a rub on his steel, and then cuts
Ct a.. Lo,I- o~I 4ha fronf fms The
, fish is then turned over to another man,
and the head is thrown to one side. This
man makes one or two sleight-of-h hand
movements with his knife and the fish IS
| shorn of its other fins and the tail.
Another motion cuts the fish open and
| another removes the entraiIs and throws
them into a receptacle prepared for them.
After the removal of the entrails the fish
are thrown into a large vessel of water,
where they are rinsed. They are re-
moved from here and each fish is given
a scraping both outside and in. may
az we'll state that the salmon mas no
| scales and hence the work of removing
them is dispensed with.
The man who scrapes them makes
lust two twists of his well trained wrist
and the work is done, and they are
thrown into the water again, where they
are thoroughly rinsed and every trace Of
blood removed. From this place the
fish so to the chopper, where they are
cut into convenient sizas for the cans.
The chopper is made as follows: There
is a table which, at o distance of two
inches apart, across the whole width,
has slots cut through. By the action of
! a lever curved knives are brought down.
ward through the slots, The fish are
Ia2sir Iengthwise across the table, and
: When the knives are forced downward
with a quick Jerk the fish are neatly dl-
vided into cross sections.
These cross sections are then split into
| smaller sizes. This is done by hand.
| The meat is now ready for the cans,
| which are made in the cannery by Chi
namen. The first operation of the can
ming process is the salting. This is done
in a very simple manner. A table or
board one inch in thickness is bored full
Of auger holes. think there are TWEEN
ty-four of these holes. A thin board
slides under the one which contains the
holes, thus making a bottom. Salt is
poured on the board, and after the holes
are filed it is seraped off. Two dozen
cans are placed in a tray and the tray is
showed under the table, so that a can is
under each hole. The board is then re-
moved and the salt falls through into the
can. Each can receives something like
a ~teaspoonful of salt.
The chopped fish is piled on tables,
i,,and the cans are taken to these tables as
I fast as they are ready. Here they are
| filled with the raw salmon. The pieces
are put in and then packed down until
the man cannot force in another ounce.
| Sometimes there will be some sticking
over the top of the can, and this is re-
moved with a knife. They are now
ready to be topped and sealed. The tops
are put on, and then the cans are run
through a soldering machine and the
work is completed with the exception of
soldering the small hole in the top of the
can. That is done by hand, but it is
deue very rapidly. The cannAhg is now
over. provided there are no flaws to be
found. From the time the can is filed
! until the labels are pasted on they are
being continually tested, in order that
there may be no chance of an imperfect
one being sent out.
The cooking is the next thing on the
J list. The cans are placed in a Large
J square iron tray, which holds about a
hundred. The tray is lifted by a rope
which runs over a pulley and then low
cred into a big vat of boiling water,
where they are allowed to remain two
hours. When the trays are removed they
are placed on a table, and a man comes
along with a malIet and strikes each can
in ordsr to see if they are sound. When
he finds one that is faulty he takes it out,
throws it to- me side to be patched up.
The sound ~ the blow on the can tells
him which is perfect and which is not,
and he will go over them SO rapidly that
YOU can scarcely keeptrack of the blows.
After he is gone another man comes with
4 mallet which contains a small awl. He
strikes each can, thus making a small
hole, through which the gas escapes.
! Sometimes the gas and fluid will squirt
upward to the height of three feet.
After the gas has escaped they are