Valdez daily prospector., 1914-10-09
WHALE BEEF THE
 LATEST 0N MENU
sailors Have Eaten 1t for Years- Average Mammal Will Furnish
 Twenty Tons of Meat.

A movement to form a company to can whale beef was started on the Pacific coast several weeks ago, says an exchange. and the prospectus shows what a great addition this meat will be to the daily menu. With the prices of food products rapidly ad- vancing. it is believed that whale beef will find ready market. Sailors on whaling vessels have eaten this
 beef for many years and have relish ed 1t. finding it both palatable and nourishing. It remained, however, for the Pacific coast to realize that 1t could be made merchantable con- modity
 In former years the flesh of the tuna was thrown away and it was on- ly recently that it was realized that 1t was palatable and could be canned. Tuna met with instant success, and now. less than year after the can neries started putting it up. there is a steady and growing demand for it. It is expected that it will be the same with the canned whale beef. It is proposed that the salmon can neries be used to prepare the beef for market. They are idle the great CT part of the year and this slack season would be eliminated entirely, owing to the fact that as soon as the salmon runs" are over the whale beef would be coming in.
 The average whale weighs from 9 to 80 and more tons, and the meat suitable for canning on each carcass would run from seven or eight 'o 30 and 40 tons. An average whale with about 20 tons of beef on it's bones will make close to 40,000 one-pound a meal to about three persons. This same whale will supply about 12o.ooo meals.
 The cost of tte meat is going to be low. It is proposed that where the whales are taken within a few hun dred miles of the canneries the whole carcass be lowed ashore. Where this is impracticable the meat will be cut from the bones and pickled in brine until the cannery ship reaches home. Either way will be cheaper by far than shipping steers to market. Hitherto this valuable meat has been thrown away.
 It is expected that number of the Puget Sound Whaling companies will go into the whale beef business ser iously. The price of whale oil has been reduced from about $2.5O a gal lon to 55 cents, and this has made serious reductions in the profits of the business. The time is not far distant when the whalers will be ac- companied by canning ship which will take the carcasses after the blub- Der has been removed and can the beef on the high seas. This will save cost and allow the whale beef men to land whole shiploads of goods all ready for market.
 Whales will not be taken in the same manner as of old. The old days of harpooning from whaleboat are past. and now the whale is killed with artillery. The gun is short-barrel- ed howitzer mounted on swivel in the bows of the whaler. It shoots a dart in the head of which is time shell. The dart has number of barbs that prevent the whale shaking 1t out of his side, and it is connected to winch by a thin, wov- en wire line. When whale is "struck" the mammal usually "sounds" and dashes of for short distance. The winch huns and the wire line runs out rapidly. This lasts only a moment or two, and then the bomb in the dart explodes. and in a short time the whale is ready for the oil and beef men.
 As soon as the wire line slackens the winch Is started and the whale reeled in. When the carcass reaches the surface a hollow lance attached to an air hose is thrust through the thick skin, and the dead whale Is pumped full of air, so that 1t floats high above the water. The removal of the blubber and later the beef then begins.