The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-06-10

within recent years done a profitable
business, but canning is still the prin-
cipaI industry. Last year the Columbia
river pack amounted to 20,000,0o0 ona
pound cans. The process Of canning is
very simple The fisherman unloads
his haul at the cannery. and the fish
are weighed. Then they are washed
and cleaned and sent to the cutting ia
bles. There they are placed under cir
cular saws, which separate the various
parts into pieces of a size suitable for
canning. Then they go to the packing
tables, where the deft fingers of China
men fill the cans and pass them on to
the washing machines, where they are
again cleaned. The tops are then put
on the cans, and the fish is cooked
thoroughly by steam.
Salmon Weighing over twenty-five
pounds are selected for cold storage
treatment. The cold storage pack for
1904 amounted to almost 5000 tons.
Those to be picked are split open,
cleaned and rid Of bones They are
then placed in huge casks, which are
sealed Most of the salmon preserved
in this manner is shipped to Germany
by way Of Cape Horn and is there es-
teemed a great delicacy. The Gamer
/ les employ Chinese labor almost exclu-
/ sively. 1t is obtained through the
/ agency Of the China boss" a China
man who makes contracts to supply
the packers with crews of his fellow
orientals.
All this will be illustrated and made
intensely interesting at the fair. Both
4 the general government and the states
Of Oregon and Washington have used
the utmost endeavor to make the COM
ing salmon industry display exhaus-
tive. and it will undoubtedly prove to
be the crowning feature Of the exposi-
ton. The governments effort in this
direction at the Pan-American was
unusually complete and instructive
but it was only a foretaste of what
may be expected at Portland. The IA
cilities for perfecting a display Of this
nature are nowhere else so available as
they are in the Pacific northwest. the
home of this noblest specimen Of the
fnny tribe.
The exposition opened June I
and VIII be continued until Oct is. It
will represent an outlay, approximate
Iy, of 100000. This includes the
cost of laying out the grounds and the
money expended for buildings exhibits
and all other purposes. The most gen
erous single participant is the govern
ment, which made an appropriation Of
$4,000 for the purpose. Next comeA
the state of Oregon, with an appropria-
ton of $450,000, which is at the rate OF
Z
and child in the state. 1t is note
worthy fact that no state with so small
a population as that of Oregon has
ever before devoted so large a sum to
Z an international exposition
The event which the fair is designed
to commemorate is really one of the
most important episodes in American
national history. In 1903, during JEFF
ferson's first term, it was decided to
send an exploring expedition into the
Louisiana country, for which the Unit
ed States was theRs negotiating with
France. At that time .ATeriwether Lew
: is. a Virginian of good family. was act
2 ing as the presidents private secretary
t and Mr.. Jefferson offered him the COM
E mand of the expedition. Lewis accept
ed and chose as his companion Cap
tain William Clark, an old army friend.
7 The party proceeded up the Mississippi
. to its head waters, crossed the great
: divide and followed the Columbia to
t the Pacific. AS a reward for his serv-
ices Lewis was given valuable grant
l of land and made governor of the new
r purchase, with headquarters at the
village of st. Louis" In his admins
tration of the Office he was assisted by
= Captain Clark, who was made Indian
agent. Lewis began the history Of his
great work as an explorer, but he did
2 not live to finish it. While on his way
: from his distant territory to Washing
ton he came to his death in the cabin
of a Tennessee pioneer. Whether his
] death was due to murder OF to suicide
is not definitely known
Ell EBERT O. WOODSON.