PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 27 



The year this first cannery operated the following fishermen were 

 operating in the river: Jotham Reed used a trap and a small gill 

 net opposite Oak Point; Mr. Wallace fished a small seine from the 

 shore of an island of that name a short distance below; John T. M. 

 Harrington (who was later to establish the Pillar Rock cannery), in 

 conjunction with a man named Fitzpatrick, operated a seine at 

 Tenasillihe, as did also a Mr. Welch; P. J. McGowan, who, with his 

 sons, in 1884 started a cannery at McGowan, and later, at Warrendale, 

 Ilwaco, etc., operated two small seines at Cliinook Beach; and Hap- 

 good, Hume & Co. had two small gill nets about 125 fathoms in length 

 and 32 meshes deep. The gill net of Mr. Reed was much smaller than 

 these. At tliis period the river literally swarmed with salmon, and 

 the cannery had no trouble in packing 4,000 cases, which it increased 

 to 18,000 the next year and to 28,000 cases in 1868. 



In 1867 a crude cannery on a scow was started by S. W. Aldrich, 

 a ship carpenter. The scow was about 50 by 20 feet, with a cabin 

 on it, and in one end of this he constructed a brick furnace in which 

 he set a large cast-iron cauldron for a cooker. Along one side he 

 rigged a bench and manufactured the cans. Ahlrich was a reo;nlar 

 jacl<-of-all- trades, as he cUd everything from catching the fisii to 

 canning and cooking them ready for the market. 



In 1.S6S a canneiy was l)uilt near Eagle ClilF by one of the Humes, 

 while in 1873 R. D. Hume built another at Bay View, Wasli. He 

 operated it until 1876. when Mr. Leveridge, of Leveridge, Wadhams 

 & Co., of San Francisco, bought it and operated it during 1877 and 

 1878. George W. Hume took it then and a few years later sold it 

 to David Morgan, jr., who got into financial diiliculties, and the 

 plant was ordered sold by the court. C. W. Fulton, of Astoria, 

 later a United States Senator, had tlio matter in charge, but was 

 unable to find a customer, and finally in desperation offered it to 

 W. II. Barker, of George ct Barker, "for S6()(). Mr. Fulton closed 

 with him the same day. It proA'ecl a most profitable transaction for 

 the purchasers, who acfpiired a million and a half labels which could 

 be utilized, the machinery was taken out for other |)lants, the timber 

 on the land belonging to the tract sold, and the floating proj)erty 

 sold for a considerable sum. after which the stripped plant and land 

 were sold back to Mr. Morgan for S600. the purchase price. He 

 sold it to George W. Hume, who wanted it to correct a title. It 

 was sold for taxes a couple of years later and was bought in by 

 B. A. Seaborg, who operated it for two years, since when it has 

 been idle. 



George W. Hume was the first salmon catuier to employ Chinese. 

 This was at Fagle Cliff in 1872. At this neriod the white laborers 

 in the canneries were recrnited from the riffraff and crimiiud element 

 of Portland. He had a Cl!ines(^ working for I ini and tlirough this 

 man secured a Chinese gang from Poitland. This labor proved so 

 satisfactory that the custom soon spread to the other canntn-ies. It 

 was not found that the Chinese could do the work any b(>tter or 

 quicker than the white laborer, but they proved more reliable in 

 their work and wave less trf)nble. 



Donald an(l Kenneth Maclcay, of Portland, and William Corbitt, 

 of San Francisco, who were in business in Portland, were the first 

 to make a direct shipment of canned salmon to Liverpool. This 



