Category: Alaska’s Historic Canneries

Fri, November 06, 2015

Memory of Northwestern Fisheries Company Cannery Ship CHARLES E. MOODY

by J. Pennelope Goforth Last month the Bristol Bay Historical Society marked the opening of their new museum with a familiar Naknek landmark−the iron kedge anchor of the CHARLES E. MOODY. Since about 1962 the anchor has lain next to the D&D [caption id="attachment_4165" align="alignleft" width="300"] A young Ted Hadfield, somewhat dwarfed stands by the anchor of the CHARLES E. MOODY in Naknek, Alaska in 1962. (Photograph courtesy Ted Hadfield.)[/caption] Restaurant and Hotel on the highest point of uptown Naknek.... (Read More)

Mon, November 02, 2015

Putting an End to the Peugh

by Ross Coen In the summer of 1919, Doctor C. L. Alsberg visited salmon canneries throughout Southeast Alaska. The chief of the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry, in order to verify compliance with federal pure food laws, inspected each facility and its products. While standing on the docks of canneries throughout the territory, Alsberg watched the fishermen and cannery hands move salmon from the boats to the landings and then up to the cannery floor. Each man held a long-handled, single-tined... (Read More)

Mon, November 02, 2015

A Nickel a Tail

by Ross Coen Among the countless conservation measures that have been applied to Alaska’s salmon fisheries throughout history, one of the least effective—but at the same time most interesting—is predator control. Few sights got a canneryman’s blood boiling quite like eagles, gulls, sea lions, trout, and all the rest snatching up mature or juvenile salmon from a spawning stream. The heyday of predator control in western Alaska occurred in the 1920s and 1930s when the federal and territorial governments collaborated... (Read More)

Mon, October 19, 2015

Filipino American History Month: The Spanish-American War and Filipino Cannery Workers

by Anjuli Grantham October is Filipino American History Month and serves as a yearly opportunity for Alaskans to consider the important role that those of Filipino descent play both now and in the history of the state. From Manila men who sailed aboard 18th and 19th century voyages of exploration within Alaska’s waters, to those that laid cable aboard the Burnside and served in the US Navy and US Coast Guard, the history of Filipinos in Alaska is decidedly... (Read More)

Fri, September 18, 2015

Chronological History of Cannery Locations in the Petersburg Area

Compiled by Karen Hofstad Petersburg was named after Peter Buschmann, a Norwegian immigrant who arrived in the late 1890s and homesteaded on the north end of Mitkof Island. He built a cannery, a sawmill, and a dock between 1890 and 1900. His family's homesteads grew into Petersburg, which was populated largely by people of Scandinavian origin. The cannery has operated continuously since its completion. Petersburg is now one of Alaska's major fishing communities. ─City of Petersburg, Alaska Start of... (Read More)