The Alaska sourdough. [volume] (Douglas, Alaska) 1911-1911, 1911-10-24
FISHERIES OF ALASKA
Continued from Page Three)

success
The industry began in 1866 with
pack Of 1000 cases on the Columbia
river. 1t has grown until now fishing
is done in most rivers and inlets from
the Sacramento in California to the
Nushagak Bristol bay, Bering sea.
In 1909, the record year, the Pacific
coast pack of canned salmon was 2S3,
500 cases, representing a value Of more
than 2O,0OO,O0O. In this total Alaska's
contribution was half the entire amount.
The manner Of handling and process
ing has improved greatly as the indus
try increased and spread and as the
quantities handled became larger. Salm
on packing as carried on today has re-
duced the handling of raw material to
minimum, as well as the time con-
sumed from fish boat to can. The pack
ing methods have been modernized, so
that it is now one of the most sanitary
of the packing processes Automatic
machinery does the work formerly done
by hand labor, and the visitor, passing
through the packing plant, is impressed
with the fact that salmon and can are
hardly touched by human hands from
the time the fish arrives at the cannery
dock until it lands, Theoretically sealed,
on the packing floor.
The canneries are located in the cen
ter of the fishing district adjacent to the
streams where the fish run, so that the
fish are received fresh daily. It is a
wonderful sight to watch the lifting Of
a trap or seine on the banks, with the
thousands of shining, splashing, impris-
oned fish.
The days catch is taken aboard the
cannery tender or on a lighter in tow
Arriving at the cannery the fish are
thrown on an elevator, consisting of a
runway from the receiving dock to the
tide water at an angle of forty-fve de-
grees and supplied with an endless chain
with buckets that carry the fish to the
floor of the fish house. Here they are
washed in cold water on a perforated
floor
They pass next Though the "iron
chink'' remark able invention for
cleaning fish. Head, tail, fins and en-
trails are removed, and the fish passed
on to the ''fish Tank where the skin
is scrubbed clean in cold water. A
rinsing0 in cold water comes next,
then the dripping tank with perforated
bottom, allowing all water to drain.
A conveyor takes the fish through the
"cutter'' machine with revolving cir
cular knives, where it is cut into steaks
the size Of hte can. In he "filler' an
matically. Here, too, they receive each
iron plunger forces the fish into the tins,
which pass through the machine auto
automatically, also) one-quarter ounce
of salt.
The cans are lifted from the filler and
placed on conveyor for the "wiping.'
They are topped, soldered tested, and
given first cooking of forty-fve min
utes without being touched by hand, ex-
cept once, when the can is placed on the
belt conveyor.
The final cooking is for an hour IN
der heavy pressure of steam. They are
cooled, then lacquered and labeled, by
machinery also. Before each operation
they are tested, six times in all, for de-
fective cans. In boxing forty-eight
cans are packed in case.
This describes the processing and
packing method now in vogue in all
modern plants for the one-pound "tall y
cans, which is the standard package.
Flat and oval cans, as well as two pound
cans are hand packed as no machinery
for filing these cans has yet been in
vented.
Hatcheries for the planting of salmon
fry are conducted at Yes lake, Afog-
max, Fortmann Karluk, Klawak, Hetta,