1883-09-22ll

When, by chance, a reporter for the Hamilton Spectator happened to meet the manager of the Ontario Canning Company, he asked how business was going at the company`s factory on Liberty street. The manager replied that things were going well and then invited the reporter to tour the facility to see for himself.

Arriving at the factory, the first things the reporter noticed were a dozen large barrels standing in the yard, all bearing the unmistakable smell of tomatoes :

“ ‘Are those all full?’

“ ‘Yes; but not of canned goods. Those are the peelings of tomatoes and will be taken away immediately.’

“After passing between great piles of boxes of tomatoes, which would make anyone forget that this was a bad season for fruit, a small, clear space was reached in which one could see the work of canning.

“Here stands two large scalding vats with a capacity of scalding from 600 to 1,000 bushels a day. From these the tomatoes are passed to two long tables on which they are peeled, and again passed to a ‘tomato machine’ which puts them into cans.”¹

¹ “Fruit for the Winter : How Canned Fruit is Prepared”

Hamilton Spectator.   September  22, 1883.

The tomato machine was capable of filling 20 cans per minute, or 1,200 cans per hour . With a ten hour day worked at the Ontario Canning factory, a total of 12,000 cans of tomatoes were filled in a day. After being filled, the cans were taken to a number of girls who wiped them off perfectly clean and filled them up if the level was too low and vice versa. A cover was then put on the can, which was then sealed airtight, except for a tiny hole in the center of the top.

The cans were then placed in a huge boiler to be cooked:

“There is no water in the boiler, but a cover is put on and sealed up and the steam turned on. The cans remain in for 15 minutes, when they are taken out, all the air that was in them having been expelled by the steam.”¹

The reporter was then taken by hoist to the can room where over 600,000 cans were stored for use in the one upcoming season of fruit canning.

Outside, the reporter heard some commotion. Three loads of peaches had just arrived, and they all had to be canned immediately, even if it meant working all night:

“To show how rapidly the work could be done, while the reporter was looking around, the first lot had been put through the entire process. A can was cooled and opened, and set before a number of gentlemen present.

“There are no spoons, but the difficulty is soon surmounted. Mr. Brown, who manages the cooking department, procures some round pieces of tin used as covers, and melting the end of a corresponding number of sticks of solder, fastens the tins to them, forming as good spoons as the best; at least, they answer the purpose as well.

“The peaches are delicious and the tin is punished in short order.”¹