Tue, February 16, 2016
by Tim Troll The first cannery in Bristol Bay was the Arctic Packing Company cannery established at the Yup'ik village of Kanulik on the Nushagak River. It was built in 1883 and produced the first pack of canned salmon from Bristol Bay in 1884 - 400 cases of tall cans - maybe 6000 fish. It was sometimes known as Rohlff's Cannery after its founder businessman Carl Rohlffs of San Francisco. The name Rohlff survives (often misspelled) on some maps as the name of...
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Mon, February 15, 2016
By Tim Troll Richard Sturgill and the folks at the Alaska Packers Association Museum in Blaine, WA have been busy restoring Sailboat #59 from the APA Dimond NN Cannery in Naknek. The boat was originally saved by Katie Ringsmuth's father, superintendent of the cannery. It was kept and displayed by Trident Seafoods for many years. Not long ago Trident donated the boat to the APA museum. Former APA/Trident Shipwright Steve Alaniz along with fellow shipwright Steve Ince have volunteered their time and skill...
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Sun, February 14, 2016
Anniversary of Icebreaker Visit to Anchorage 1972 By J Pennelope Goforth [caption id="attachment_4345" align="alignright" width="216"] BURTON ISLAND Brochure. Photograph courtesy Port of Anchorage Historical Folios 1958-1989, Folio 2, Section 1, Page 67. Welcome Aboard Coast Guard Icebreaker BURTON ISLAND WAGB-283, page 3.[/caption] Twenty four years ago on February 15, 1972, Anchorage had a special visitor just in time for the 1972 Fur Rendezvous: the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker BURTON ISLAND. The ship was one of nine icebreakers operated by the...
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Fri, February 12, 2016
by Jim Mackovjak [caption id="attachment_4332" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Union Fish Co. codfish station at Pirate Cover on Popof Island, Alaska from May 1913. John N. Cobb Collection, Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, Wash.[/caption] The abundance of cod in the vicinity of the Shumagin Islands was well known, but Thomas McCollam, of the San Francisco-based Thomas W. McCollam & Company, was the first in the industry to perceive the advantages of establishing a shore-based fishing station in the Shumagins. In...
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Mon, January 25, 2016
by Anjuli Grantham 2017 not only marks the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Cession, through which Alaska went from being a Russian colony to an outpost of the United States, it is also the centennial celebration of the Alitak cannery. [caption id="attachment_4298" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Alitak processing plant, owned and operated by Ocean Beauty Seafoods. Image courtesy Ocean Beauty Seafoods.[/caption] Alitak is located near the Alutiiq village of Akhiok, on the south end of Kodiak Island. The Alitak Packing...
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