The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-04
HOW SALMON ARE CANNED.
Even One OF the small Canneries Handles
10000 Fish Daily.

"
Even One Of the small Canneries Handles
10000 Fish Daily.
Nobody unfamiliar with the Pacific Coast
can realize in what enormous numbers
salmon are there caught One dismisaes
with an incredulous laugh ira vellers' tales
Of the salmon j~ostling one another out
Of the crowded Fraser River in their haste
to get up stream. an Englishman all the
time thinking Of the Fraser as like a Scotch
salmon river.
Though il would take a good many fish
TO fill "A Scotch river so full. vet even then
IL could not accommodate enough to keep
! ons Of the smaller Canadian canneries at
work for a season.
At one Of these smaller canneries 10. 900 to
IL, 600 fish can be dealt with in IA day in a
busy season. and there are canneries, some
Of enormous capacity, all along the coast.
in the States as well a. in Canada.
Yet. in spite of the multitudes OF fish
taken, there does not seem to be any diminu-
ton in the numbers left. The Dominion
Government enforces close times strictly,
says the Queen, and much Is also done in
fish hatcheries 10 protect the young fish
till they grow sizeable; salmon may he only
Melted for a few weeks in July and August.
Even then there is a close time from
o o'clock every Saturday morning till y
o'clock on Sunday night. Ii il a pretty
sight on a Sunday. when the sun begins
TO dip. TO see the fleet Of fishing boats all
out on the broad. smooth Fraser River
waiting TO cast their nets the moment the
. O'Clock gun il fired at New Westminster
The fishermen are mostly Japanese.
This IL only one fishing ground ont OF
many. and The Steveston canneries on
Puget Sound. a few miles tram ride out
of Vancouver City, though the largest in
Canada, are by no means the only flourish
ing businesses Of the kind. Steveston IL
quite a large town. a Chinatown In great
part, for Cinnamon and native Indians
do most Of the canning work. The Indian
settlements are quite deserted in the sum
mer time. except for a few old women and
children; for every man. woman, or girl
who can hold a knife is sure Of employment
al the salmon canneries.
In VanCouv yer in the canning season IL
Is almost i'm possible To get servants, for
cooks are generally Chinese, and they
like the change of employment; besides,
they earn high wages and are sure OF being
welcomed back again when the salmon
has gone down 10 the sea and the works
are shut till next year.
When the fishing boats have taken IN
their haul they set sail for the Steveston
wharves and the salmon is flung out in
great heaps-hundreds, thousands OF them
on the wide floor, men wading IN them
knee deep. heaping them up conveniently
for the machines and the men and women
to begin work.
Several kinds Of salmon there are and
two are easily pointed out. The spring
| salmon il best in flavor and is the only
sort served on British Columbia tables,
but II is pale colored and the ignorant
public will not buy IL, 80 1t il not used for
canning. The sockeye Is what is timed
II ia more abundant. with deep red flesh,
and all the fish are OF a size.
Some OF h spring salmon are larger
than others and most OF them are larger
than the sockeye. but then spring salmon
vary In age and sockeyes are all just 4
years old. After four years OF ocean life
they go up the river TO spawn and, having
spawned, they die-die all along the river
banks, or, IL they are prevented from
getting up stream, die in heaps beneath
the barrier.
Every four years there is "A glut. when
fish have to be thrown into the sea again
(because the canneries cannot dispose OF
| all that the fishermen BRING. when wasted
| salmon lie all about the Steveston wharves.
and when salmon are sold in Vancouver
for a cent a piece. which is less even than It
sounds, because a cent il not a recognized
coin in British Columbia; nothing costs
less than five cents; there are no coppers
in circulation, and. as for the salmon,
the housekeeper would have TO take five
for her nickel, inasmuch as there Is no
such thing as change. Fortunately the
glut did not come this year. for there was
a shortage of labor as 1t was and spring
salmon we're selling at IS TO 40 cents apiece.
A long row of Indian women working at
a board seize the fish from the heap and gut
them, the next worker cutting of the heads,
tails and fins. Then they are washed and
sliced by machinery (by means OF circular
knives, similar TO those used for cutting
planks of wood), 40 that the slices are all OF
one thickness, and fit exactly into the tins,
these also, with their lids. are cut out and
soldered by machinery and hold just a
pound Of fish each.
The slices Of fish have to be fitted into
the tins by hand This women do; but once
thisi is done there is no more handling OF the
fish.
The processes through which zach tin
goes are elaborate, but machines have been
gradually perfected to accomplish them all.
All that the men nave to do is TO keep the
machinery in order, 10 lift and shift III .
trays full OF tins and to wat CHI for the de-
feots revealed by ca refully devised proc
esses.
On each filed tin a lid is fixed and soldered
a hole being left in the middle. This hole
has TO be soldered by hand land so also has
another hole pierced at the side, to lot of
the steam after the first hcating), which is
done in huge iron ovens, the process lasting
an hou
No plan has vet been discovered by which
salmon can be timed and yet not cooked
more han one would like to have IL. The
germs must be killed and the air in the tins
must be completely sterilized; and in order
TO effect this great heat and considerable
length of time are necessary.
Finally, when the tins ave been soldered
for the last time they are lowered by tray
fuls INTO tanks OF boiling water. men stand
ing over them with great pincers to remove
any tin that emits bubbles. After this, they
are cooled and stacked and left not less
h a month, on the chance Of further
leakage showing itself by the bullying of
the tin owing to the formation Of gas in
side. Then they are labelled and are put
Upon the market.