Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-02-06

, age weight of hve pounds. It is found
4 All over Alaska, and IL runs CHIEF.
! from June until the middle Of August
! The silver or Coho salmon ls not sc
valuable. on account OF tho paleness OF
I light color OF It's flesh. 1t weighs on
the average OF six pounds. and runs
/ later than tho sock-cye. The hump
back is tho smallest of our salmon. II
is cnuSht by the millions In southeast
ern Alaska. and many OF tho cannerics
depend upon 1t. II weighs up to eleven
pounds. In addition to these four spc-
cies we have also the dog salmon.
which Is good for freezing. sailing ana
. smoking. but poor for canning. This
salmon is shipped largely to Japan.
OF the s37. 100000 invested in the
fishing industry of Alaska about S34.-
100000 are devoted to the catching,
canning and shipping OF salmon. The
number caught in single year is
so great that II the fish were equally
divided among the families Of the
United states there would he three for
every household and leave some to
spare. So many salmon were caught in
Niaskan waters last year that If they
were loaded on freight cars at thirty
pounds to tn" car the train required
10 carry them would fll three lines or
track reaching from New York TO San
Francisco. Such Il train would he more
than 5000 miles long. or 1000 miles
longer than the distance through tn.
earth at the center.
The value Of the salmon taken that
year Was almost S2O.000.O00. II came
from cighty-sev@n canneries and it
included co per cent of the salmon
catch Of the Pacific Coast. The num-
Der Of cans put mp was close to 200 :
100000. enough to give two cans to
~, II
ing under the American Gag. In adj
dition TO this many thousand barrels
of picked salmon. mi1d-cured salmon
and OF smoked salmon bellies and
backs were shipped from Alaska. In
deed. the whole produce now forms an
important part II our food supply.
The business OF the Alaskan can
neries is enormous. went through
one in Ketclliliau tina; will put up ST.
100000 cans II salmon this year and
in addition. Will freeze hundreds Of
thousands OF pounds to be sent in Il
frozen state to the east. The build
ings OF the cannery cover several
acres, and the nsn are brought In by
the boatloads and dumped out by the
thousand when they reach the
wharves they are so fresh that they
are still Kicking, aud they fairly fly
through the iron chuk.'' machine
which cleans each fish. cutting off it's
head. tail and fms and taking out It's
!nsidcs within the time OF = watch
tick. II used 10 he that all this work
was done 10y hand. and those hands
were usually owrSd by Chnaman
When the machine was invented to
take ,he place of the Chlnaman il was
niclinamcd the iron chink," and 20 IL
Is known 10 this day. The inventor
was a cook Of Seattle named Smith
who made a fortune out OF his invcn-
ton. His machine will clean 10000
fish in run Of ten hours, or as much
as was formerly done by fifty Of the
most expert Chinese. Nevertheless. tho
whole machine liz not much bigger
around than hour barrel. and not
more than eight feet in height, II
consists OF number of knives SO ar
RANGED by machinery that as the fish
ny in one knife cuts off the head and
at the same time another chops off the
tail. AS the fish moves third knife
rips up the belly and other knives
take off the fins.
Al the end the fish has been split and
the backbone taken out. The blood
has been removed and the salmon Is
ready for the can. 1t Is carefully in
spected, however. before being put Into
the can by men who watch the strea m