The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1900-02-01
CANNING OF SALMON.
IMPORTANT INDUSTRY OF THE
PACIFIC COAST.
Value of the Alaskan Fisheries Is
Little Appreciated-In Twenty Years
the Amount of Salmon Taken In That
Country Reaches 100, 900, 900 Pounds.

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 more
rapid growth than salmon canning 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 7O0,00O,Ooo
pounds OF fresh salmon have been
taken In Alaska, and the value of the
canned and sailed product has been
nearly S33, 1000, 900. over a third of all
the salmon canned and packed on the
Pacific coast now comes from Alaska
and the industry is growing every year.
1t IL spread along the coast from the
neighborhood of Sltka in southeast
Alaska TO Kadak Island near the
Alaskan peninsula, and then farther
north into the waters OF Behring Sea,
and that region now contributes about
q fifth of the entire catch. kadiak and
Chignik contribute three-seyenths
of 1t, southeastern Alaska n 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 canneries aud more
than half of them are owned by one
packing association.
Capt Glenn. OF the army. who has
been describing his Alaskan explora-
lions 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 recently that IL
could not DE accurately placed on the
maps. This eannery has capacity of
$4,000 cans per annum, and employs
from 125 to $50 men of whom sixty are
Chinese The Chinese do all the work
In the cannery, making, packing and
labelling the cans and boxing them for
shipment. 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
vessel of the company came into Orca
having on board $4,000 fish, represent
ing single days catch at the mouth
of the Copper river. THIS was by no
means an ordinary catch, but large
catches have been made. and II was
enough to keep the cannery running
continuously for three days. Here, the
captain says, he ate from can that
had Just been packed some Of the fam
Gus 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 can
dlefish, which in the summer months
puts In an appearance In Immense
numbers. Capt. Glenn says their
schools are so thick that with every out
going tide they are cast upon the beach,
unable to get back into the water 1t
is easy to gather up bucketful of them
in five minutes, selecting only those
that are alive. The squaws catch great
quantities by simply dipping basket
into the water. They are much like
the ordinary smelt In texture and flavor,
through much oilier and two or three
times as large. 1t is said the fish Is
called candlefish because when 1t Is
dried 1t will light and burn like an or
binary candle.
In Lieut.. Learnard's report he says
that along the coast In Prince William
Sound, and also in Cook Inlet. there
are plenty OF fish, the principal varieties
being cod, halibut, founders, candlefish
and salmon. Thousands of cases OF
salmon are packed and shipped away,
while many thousands of salmon are
simply thrown away because they are
not of the choicest varieties. By this
wasteful policy several others 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 York
Sun.