The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-10-18
CANNING THE SALMON.
THE WORK AS EXTENSIVELY DONE
ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER.
How the Kingliest of All Fishes Is
Caught, Killed, Dismembered. Cooked
and Canned-The Chinese Butcher at
Work-Remarkable Labelling Feat.

Work-ReInarkable Labelling Feat.
He was that king of all kingly
fishes-a Royal Chinook. Fresh from
the Iimitless freedom of unfathomed
seas from untracked journeys to mys-
FERROUS feeding grounds, whose loca-
ton no man has yet been able to
guess, he was beautiful beyond com
pare; i'll form, graceful, symmetrical;
in color. a silvered harmony. Science
stands bafled in the presence of the
salmon. For whittier he goes. on de-
parting from his native stream, or by
what strange fate he is drawn to re-
visit the scenes of his early infancy,
not even the wisest can tell
1t was early morning. The lordly
Chinook lay in lowered cage where
his captor had flung him. There was
score of others Of his kind in this
cage, all of which had been consider
ately knocked in the head by the boat
puller, as they were drawn up, splash
ing and struggling, out of their native
element.
Hell tip the scales atsiXty pounds,
remarked the boat puller, with a touch
Of enthusiasm,
"Sixty-fve," sententiously replied
his companions; hell weigh siXty-fve
as sure as he weighs an Ounce-the
finest fish we've caught this season.
Later, when reCounting the notable
events of the years catch to inter
ested comrades and rivals, that fish
doomed large in memory and they
swore him an eighty
which, according to the late Hollister
d. Mcclure is the ChinOOk's maxi
mum weight. But the Acknowledged
Celestial who delivered him over to
the butcher" by means of Il gait
hooked into his gills, regarded him
with sullen resentment. SiXty-fve
pounds taxes ones strength somewhat
to lift. The Chinaman was not partial
to big fish; besides they were monoto-
nously common in his experience.
The cage. full to overlooking. was
swung slowly upward. its contents
cleaning and glinting in the sunlight.
Magnificent creatures, every one of
them, but the FOUNDER had
an air of regality that was all his
own. He was lifted to the butchers
block, where 4 Mongolian decapitated
him at a single stroke. Another sweep
of the knife deprived him of fins and
tail, and Il swift incision. accompanied
by 4 deXterous turn of the wrist, left
him minus his limited internal mech
anism.
y mere shapeless lump, shorn of
every grace save that of color, the
shining, coral-sided salmon was slid
into Il vat of running water, washed
with care and rapidity. and lifted out
upon a slightly slanting table, before
which stood the sinner" who gave
him Il few effective downward strokes
with sword-shapcd blade, and
passed him on. The next man treated
him to a shower bath, and put him
into the draining tank From the
draining tank he went to the cutting
block, and was cut into small slices
by an automatic knife.
1t was here that he lost his identity.
He was still salmon, but no longer
salmon. He had become just an in
distinguishable part of mass of cor
al-colored section of fish, and in this
divided condition he was carried by
Chinese helpers to the filters The
"fillers,' also Chinese, packed the sew
cred salmon into cans, which were
then placed in trays-two dozen cans
to tpn Inv, cf
an automatically revolving brush. The
cans then went to man who fitted
tops on them, and who, having re-
turned them to the trays, dispatched
them to the "crimper," who clamped
the tops with a little hand tool and
sent them rolling down shallow
trough, or boxed incline, where they
were soldered as they rolled. Then
they were rolled down another incline
to give the solder a chance to cool.
After this cooling process they were
placed again in the trays, and the
was touched with the soldering stick,
and thereby rendered alright.
They We're now ready for the boiling
watts, in which they We're allowed to
cook a certain fixed time, after which
they were taken out and placed in a
large iron cooler" a man, Chi
nese, with Il hammer, in which was
sharp pointed tack, then punctured
each can, with a single light tap, to let
out the air and steam.
Another man, again a Chinese. sol
dering stick and iron in hand, imme-
diately sealed the punctures, and the
| cans We're then in readiness for the
second cooking. This differed some
what from the first, in that the cool
ers, each of which, square in shape
was large enough to contain IA cans
| and so heavy that the aid of block
| and tackle was required in the hand
ling, were swung into place, in great
retorts, wherein was room for twenty
four coolers, and the steam turned on
for sixty minutes. At the end of this
period the block and tackle being
again in requisition, they We're lifted
out and submerged in Il bath of slight
ly diluted I've, rinsed under cold