Category: Alaska’s Historic Canneries

Fri, September 18, 2015

Centennial of a 1915 Larsen Bay Alaskero

By Diane Rodill, Phd.Despite my interloper lower 48 status, I can report a memorable visit and only warm “Filipino hospitality” from both the Filipino and other communities.My agenda for the centennial visit was two-fold: share my research findings at Kodiak’s Baranov Museum for my pending book on my father (A Filipino Rascal: Denis Rodill 1894-1977); and retrace Dad’s steps in Larsen Bay. In 1915, Denis worked there as an Alaskero (Filipino cannery worker). Peripherally, I fancied a day of fishing,... (Read More)

Tue, June 02, 2015

Last Voyages of the Alaska Codfishing Schooners GLEN and JOHN F. MILLER, 1907-1908

Cod fishing is a rather rough life. —Anacortes American, 1911[1] For any disobedience of lawful commands from said Master or the Officers of the Vessel, whoever they may be, it is agreed to forfeit to the Owner One Thousand Codfish for each offense and for a false report of catch of codfish to the Master, the Fisherman agrees to forfeit the catch so falsely reported. —Alaska Codfish Company, 1912[2] BY: James Mackovjak Fishing for codfish in the Bering Sea... (Read More)

Thu, April 02, 2015

Cannery Pioneer Eigil Buschmann

The following article comes from Pacific Fisherman (January 1955), page 44. Thanks to Jim Mackovjak for contributing this. Sixty Years of Salmon Canning Ready E. Buschmann for Next Move With 60 years of personal and continuous activity in the salmon fishing and canning business behind him, Eigil Buschmann retired this winter as general superintendent of Nakat Packing Corporation, a position he has held for 32 years, since the company was formed in 1922. This doesn’t mean that the man who... (Read More)

Fri, March 06, 2015

Captain Matthew Turner: Salt Cod Pioneer

[caption id="attachment_3615" align="alignleft" width="221"] Captain Matthew Turner is best known as the most prolific shipbuilder on the western coast with some 240 vessels to his name from racing yachts to merchant cargo vessels. In addition to introducing Pacific cod to San Francisco, Turner also pioneered the south seas fruit trade and supplied the J. D. Spreckles sugar company with ships. (Unknown photography studio, San Francisco, CA. ca 1878.)[/caption] By: Jim Mackovjak San Francisco had grown quickly from a sleepy... (Read More)

Tue, February 17, 2015

Historian Pat Roppel to be Sorely Missed

We lost a friend, a mentor, and a trailblazer of a historian at the beginning of January when Pat Roppel died. No one has done more to document the history of canneries in Alaska than Pat. From her seminal work, Salmon from Kodiak to her weekly columns that tracked the trajectory of canneries, salteries, and fishing boats published in the Capital City Weekly, Pat’s canon of work is voluminous and far-reaching. But even her published work is a small indication... (Read More)