Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-01-19
CANNING OF SALMON.
IMPORTANT INDUSTRY OF THE
PACIFIC COAST.

'ss's VT
PACIFIC COAST.
Value Of the Alaskan Fisheries Is Little Ap-
preciated-In Twenty Years the Amount Of
Salmon Taken in That Country Reaches
700.000.000 Pounds.
n. Y. Sun.
The value of the fisheries of the
United States has become far greater
than that of any other nation, and
no feature of our fisheries has had o
more rapid growth than salmon can.
ming on the Pacific Coast. Salmon
canning is by far the largest branch
OF the Pacific Coast fisheries, and the
market value of the canned salmon
put up on the Pacific Coast every
year is about twice that of the entire
annual product Of the lake fisheries
We have hardly realized yet how
much the waters of the Alaskan coast
are contributing to our wealth. In
twenty years nearly zoo, ,OO0, 900 pounds
of fresh salmon have been taken in
Alaska, and the value of the canned
and salted product has been nearly
$33, 100000. Nearly third of all the
salmon canned and packed on the
Pacific coast now comes from Alaska
and the industry is growing every
year. 1t is spread along the coast
from the neighborhood of Sitka in
southeast Alaska to Kadiak Island
near the Alaskan peninsula, and then
farther north into the waters of Ber-
ing Sea, and that water now con-
tributes about a fifth of the entire
catch. Kadiak and Chignik con.
tribute about three-sevenths of it,
southeastern Alaska a quarter and
Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound
and the Copper River make up the
balance. Along these hundreds OF
miles of coasts there are thirty can.
neries and more than half of them
are owned by one packing association.
Captain Glenn, of the army, who
has been describing his Alaskan ex.
plorations of last year in print, tells of
the little cannery at Orca, not far
from the mouth of the Copper river,
which was SO little known until re-
Gently that it could not be accurately
placed ON the maps. This cannery
has a capacity of $4,000 cans per an.
mum, and employs from 125 to $50
men of whom sixty are Chinese. The
Chinese do all the work in the can
merry, making, packing and labelling
the cans and boxing them for ship.
ment. The remainder of the force
are fishermen and boatmen, and
most of the fish are caught at the
mouth of the Copper river. One day
last year q vessel of the company
came into Orca having on. board 3d.
600 fish, representing a single days
catch at the mouth of the Copper
river. This was by no means an or.
binary catch, but large catches have
been made. and it was enough to keep
the cannery running continuously
for three days. Here, the captain
says, he ate "from a can that had
just been packed some of the famous
king salmon, which is indeed the
king of salmon, not only on account
OF its size and beauty, but also from
its very delicate flavor"
In this region too, is the famous
candlefish, which in the summer
months puts in an appearance in i'm
mense numbers. Capt. Glenn says
their schools are 90 thick that with
every outgoing tide they are cast upon
the beach, unable to get back into the
water. 1t is easy to gather up q
bucketful OF them in five minutes,
selecting only those that are alive.
The squaws catch great quantities by
simply dipping a basket into the
water. They are much like the ordi-
nary smelt in texture and flavor,
though much oilier and two or three
times as large. 1t is said the fish is
called candlefish because when it is
dried it will light and burn like an
ordinary candle.
In Lieut.. Learnard's report he says
that along the coast in Prince Will
liam Sound. and also in Cook Inlet,
there are plenty of fish, the principal
varieties being cod, halibut, founders,
candlefsh and salmon. Thousands of
cases of salmon are packed and
shipped away, while many thousands
OF salmon are simply thrown away be-
cause they are not Of the choicest
varieties. By this wasteful policy
several other species are being rapidly
destroyed. Every fresh water stream
contains plenty of salmon after they
start to run, as the fish endeavor to
get to the head Of the stream before
spawning.