IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^ .^^4b. ^^-^ ^,< 1.0 I.I ■^■M |2.5 ■ 50 ■^~ M^H III 1.8 1.25 1 ,.4 ^ ^ 6" - ► VQ VI /: o 7 /A Photographic Sciencr id 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.N.Y. MS80 (716)S72-4S03 S. ■^ \ \\ ^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The c to th« The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. 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Thaii possll of th< filmin Orlglr begin the la sion. other first f sion. or illu Theli shall TINU whici Maps differ entire begir right raqui meth 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X SOX y 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here hes been reproduced thenks to the generosity of: University of British Columbia Library L'exempiaire film6 f ut reproduit grAce A ia gAnArositA de: University of British Columbia Library The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the originel copy and in Iceeping with the filming contract specifications. Les Images sulvantes ont AtA reproduites avec ie plus grand soln, compte tenu de la condition at de ie nettetA de l'exempiaire fllmA, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies In printed paper covers are filmed beglnriing with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. 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Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction retlos. Those too ierge to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning In the upper left hend corner, left to right end top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fiim^s A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour 6trs reproduit en un seui clichA. il est film4 A partir de Tengie sup6rieur gauche, de gauche h droite, et de heut en bas. en prenant Ie nombre d'images n6cesseire. Les diagrammes suivants lllustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 8 6 I A M W il i » 4tS^'*^'^L^ /d7^ By CATHARINE KIRBY PEACOCK, JUST a round tin of salmon, measuring some six inciies in lioight, an insig- lificant little object, perhaps, when viewed )y itself, and yet the representative of a irge, lucrative, and ever-increasing indus- Iry in one of our British colonies. What J^ multitude of hopes and fears, what Iftrange minglings of races and types have all been bound up in the gaily-coloured 'ttle cylinder since the days early in the was originally made on the banks of the ;)ring of the year, when tho tin or can Frasor, in the same cannery vs'hich later on 606 GOOD WORDS. Chinamen lifting trajs or coolers. was destined to show industry of a very diftercnt nature. The city of New Westminster, situated on the north bank of the river at a distance of about fifteen miles from the Gulf of Georgia, is perhaps seen to best advantage when on approaching by steamer it unfolds itself before you, trim, yet picturesque, with an air of individuality quite its own, as street after street of brightly -painted wooden houses and leafy orchard trees rises steeply one be- hind the other, until the summit of the high hill is reached. Eastward to Sapperton, so called by the Royal Engineers, the original pioneers of the district, in 1859, under Colonel .Moody, and westward through the large yards of the Royal City Planing Mill, the town stretches over a distance of nearly four miles. Like .almost every other colonial town in all parts of the world, this city of New AVestminster is subject to periods of " ups and downs"; and after being, perhaps, un- duly elated during a small boom three years ago, the inevitable depression has followed, and has been feU the more severely because of the recent gjod times, when money was j)lentiful and wages at an abnormal figure — .£1 per duy, for instance, being the usual pay for plasterers, while other artisans and labourers were remunerated in proportion. But the " Royal City," as she is proud to call herself, in recognition of the fact that her name was originally chosen by (.jjucon Victoria, possesses what should l)e the high road to wealth in the beautiful Eraser River, which, in places nearly a mile broad, tra- verses the finest agricultural land of the dis- trict, putting a means of transit into the hands of all in places where rail- roads are but a dream of the distant future, and communication by waggon is well-nigh impossible over the newly- made, rough roads of the forest. So it is to the Eraser, with its marvellous supply of salmon in the summer, and its practically unlimited stores of ice in winter, that New AVestminster largely owes her ability to weather tem- porary storms and fogs, and hopes fin- ally to settle again to steady-going ways on a firmer basis than is ever afforded by speculations in land, however tempting the}' may appear at the time. Never perhaps, however, in the me- mory of any settler has the salmon-run at all equalled that of the season of 1893, though it is a well-known and oft-proved saying among the Indians that only on every fourth year do the fish come in their full numbers. Yet there can be but little doubt that much of the excessive quantity this year is due to the co-operation of the Government Hatchery, which annually preserves and deposits some millions of fry or small fish into the waters, the number last year being 5,764,000. As a rule, the size of the pack for the next season is decided as early as the preceding autumn, and all arrangements are made accordingly. The boxes containing sheets of tin are ordered at once from Eng- land, and take their long journey round by the Horn, when, upon their arrival, they are taken in hand by the much-execrated, but ever useful Chinamen, who, as a rule, con- tract to make the tins at so much the case, containing forty-eight of them, often turning out as many as from four to five thousaiul cans in one day. But it is not so much with the making of the recci)tacle as the actual method of canning itself that we are con- cerned, a jn'ocess involving more care, skill, and expedition than would be credited from any mere casual consideration of the M'oi'k. Of the five different kinds of salmon which abound in the river, the sockeyc is the one universally used for the purpose of cainiing, and it was to\\ards the end of July the goocl news came that the great run of fish had begun. Erom that time onward for three weeks the one word in everybody's mouth, the one thought in each mind, and the piin- ci])al prevailing odour along the wharves was — salmon. The morning [)aners were seized ui)on eagei'ly, and " last night s catch " formed the topic for the! day's conversation. Lucky, indeed, were those fishermen who, having Mid th( licence, f ; sport as cents eai nets. L was hea the cons all swam watery g around t It was when th accepted MacXab, to take a see for c industry. A brill fierce in down thi trast to matter Ik breeze is Was not use of S( we had 1 journey. On we by degre their bai Standing in height this part the rich Island, farmstcac chard s, bridge Island w couvor, odour, several buildings Us, annou our anib tained. and the alongside and we st Wooden Sedgy bar little Lk dad in tl were anu ttimbliiig their big 0}'cs, and carrying ^on to t H SALMON-CANNING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. GO't isit into lere rail- 1 distant waggon le newly- 'est. So irvellous mer, and Bs of ice itminster ther tem- lopes fin- ling ways ■ afforded however the time. 1 the me- hnon-run season of own and ) Indians ar do the there can excessive operation . annually ins of fry mbcr last he size of d as eai'ly ngements ;ontaining rom Eng- round by they are ated, but rule, con- 1 the case, n turning thousand inch with ;ho actual are con- care, skill, litud from 10 work, non which is the one f canning, the good fish had for three s mouth, 1 the prin- larvos was 'cro seized h " formed Lucky, 10, liaving fKiid the $20 (£i) necessary to obtain a icence, found that as the result of one night's sport as many as eight hundred fish at ten cents each (value <£1G) had fallen to their nets. In more than one instance the load was heavier than the boats could hold, with the consequence that men and booty were all swamped, and owed their escape from a watery griP'o to the assistance given by those around them. It was, therefore, with no small pleasure, when the season was at its height, that we accepted an invitation kindly given by Mr. MacXab, Government Inspector of Fisheries, to take a trip in the little steam-launch and see for ourselves the working of this great industry. r . . ^ A brilliant August sun shifaing down with fierce intensity made the fifteen-mile run down the river a perfect luxury in its con- trast to the white and dusty town, for, no jBiatter how hot it may be elsewhere, a fresh breeze is always blowing off' the Gulf, and it was not long before we were glad to make use of some of the extra coats and wraps we had brought in readiness for the return journey. On we Avent steadily, but surely, leaving by degrees the familiar hills covered with their bare and blackened fir-tree stumps. Standing some of them three hundred feet in height (relics of a forest fire which ravaged this part of the country some years ago), past the rich alluvial land of Lulu Island, with its prosperous farmsteads and smiling or- chards, till coming under the bridge which connects this Island with the City of Van- couver, a most unmistakable Otlour, and the ])rcsonce of several large white wooden buildings looming in front of Us, announced that the goal of our ambition was almost at- taineil. Five minutes more and the little boat was brought alongside at tho landing-stage, and we stejipcd out tn to the Wooden platform, and by the •edgy bank of the river, where little Indian children coolly dad in the scantiest of frocks #erc anuising themselves by tUnd)ling about on the grass, their big I'ound faces, black ej-cs, and straight, daik hair, carrying one iKU'k in imagina- ^ou to the davs not so lonu' distant, when their immediate progenitors were practically the monarchs of all they surveyed, and before the time when the wliite man with his trains, his- steam- boats, and electric cars had come to teach them the doubtful advantages of European and other forms of civilisation, in return for the possession of whatever land they might require or desire to obtain. A branch of the Flatheads, those Indians are jet a most peaceable and, when taught, a fairly moral people, squarely built and stunted in growth ; a race who for many generations have depended for their live- lihood upon the water, and are, therefore, accustomed to long and continuous pad- dling of their heavy wooden canoes or "dug-outs," hollowed by themselves from the trunk of some giant of the forest. To this day wdiole large families of relations will travel along the coast, or down from the mountains, to the town in these primitive, yet capacious boats, bringing with them their various household goods, and, after sojourn- ing for a few months in dimiiuitive shanties or tents, according to circumstances, will re- turn later in the year laden with their recent purchases, the result of their summer labours. No small amu.sement was it during the first weeks in September of last year to stroll down to the wharves and watch the packing in of their stores, for, owing to the aforesaid wonderful drift, the Indians were in a posi- mm^i ;v ^ ^ '-h i < ■ :^J ^ iii *if\« '. i' ' .1 )J o 'it r"^ m-^r" •>• IEL" ia4>^ '^rr 1 -SM^ 'n J •1 ^'i^:: .^ :■ .-. ' '"^^r^ "■*" ^"^"^taH A \(.'\v Wcstmiustor Group. '•^ ^B Salmon Cannery, Xew Westminster, tion to gratify whatever fancy occurred to them. Some idea of their Uivish expendi- ture may be giiined from tlie fact that vnc among the five drapery stores in the town took £180 in three days from these dusky purchasers. The Chinamen, of whom we saw several at the cannery, are deservedly less popular among their neighbours ; few, indeed, and far between are the cents which " Honest John ' expends in this country, and the con- stant drain to China is undoubtedl} felt at such times of depression as these. Eut to proceed with the matter in liand. On entering the buildinc we were taken at once to the fish-house, where the salmon were lying in great heaps of some thousands, awaiting the hand of the Chinamen splitters, who, seizing them rapidly one after another, first decapitating and cutting oft' the fins, then taking oft" the tail, throw them into troughs of water. From these they are lifted and further entrailed by kloochmen (Indian women) ; and very unprepossessing did some of these rather elderly ladies look, with the \viry hair straggling out from under their .soiled handkercliiefs, which took the place of other head-gear ; but the unusual sight of a .small black note-book raised a hum of com- ments in the Chinook jargon, and the greet- ing, "Kla-ha-ya 1"— "How do you do?"— met with a hearty laughing response. This row, having finished their most un- savoury part of the work, pass the fish again to another row, who brush thorn and clean them yet more thorougldy, and in their turn hand them over to the Divider — a most inge- nious arrangement of curved knivesworked by a lever, so that the whole fish is at one stroke cut into sections the exact length of the can. This accomplished, it next falls to the lot of the choppers, who are generally Chinamen, to subdivide these pieces, so that they can be the more readily fitted into place, after which they are all immersed in weak brine, where they are allowed to remain for perhaps a quarter of an hour. Thence they are fished out with nets and thrown on draineis to dry them, before being again taken in hand by other Chinamen, who proceed to fill the cans with a marvellous rapidity and neatness, allowing an equal ])i'oportion of belly and back to ench up to the amount of one pound, which must be regularly tested upon the scales. Next comes a washing and cleaning of the cans, by either water or steam, before send- ing them to receive the small square piece of tin always found on the top of the fish, in order that no solder may penetrate through the hole at the end, which is of necessit) left unclosed until the lid is secured. Tho lids arc then put on loosely, and the can l)laced in what is called tho Crimping m:i- chine, tho ])ressuro of a revolving wheel fixing them on firm!}' before pa.ssing along tl gully or trough holding the melted solder. Taken from this machine they are next put in huge iron frames called Coolers, holding ionc lun: by chaii and th( solder t tanks < bubbles age, the before b hold six 4:*o each is ca: linutes ,t its CO very in can is pierced 1 a vacui instrunK being I Wooden with a ^pike i r ipeneath *^I|b wieldf theuneri cision ai terity foi a China famous, which, CO with his pertinaci powers oi ance, ma «o valu; •crvant holes an soldered, Itfe loat to waggoi ing som< coolers 01 ateam-boi gons can *ic kept <|f 240^ lAiey are «se. Af alkali is Urease, an . At a la lesting is IJn rapit |ftr rajjid l|nobserv( three wer is again r \ t, i. XXXV- mm SALMOX-CANNIXG IX BRITISH COLUMBIA. 609 their turn most ingc- worked Wy one stroke )f the can. • the lot of Chinamen, ■j they can )lace, after •eak brine, or perhaps they are )n drainers I taken in )roceetl to pidity and portion of amount of iirly tested iiinp; of the lefore seml- irc piece of the fish, in itc tln-otigh f necessity nrcd. Tlio lid the can mping m:i- vinj^ wheel ssing along )lted solder. next put )r8, holding one lunidred and seventy-five tins, and moved by chain and pulley for convenience in transit, and the hole in the top being filled up -with solder the cans are tested by immersion into tanks of boiling water. Should any air- bubbles appear, to show the presence of leak- age, they are at once swung out and repaired before being boiled in the large kettles, which hold six coolers at a time. Indicators affixed to each kettle mark the time allowed — in this case fifty ininutes — and — . iat its conclusion every individual can is again pierced to create a vacuum, the instrument/ used being a small wooden hammer with a sharp •pike inserted beneath it. This fe wielded with the unerring pre- cision and (lex- terity for which a Chinaman is famous, and which, combined Hffiih his stolid pertinacit}' and powers of endur- ance, make him *o valuable a •ervant. The holes are again «oldered, the tins «re loaded on to waggons hold- ing some seven coolers or trays, and taken to the retorts or «team-boilers, where as many as three wag- gons can be placed at a time. Here they Ve kept for one hour, at a temperature