PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 433 



necessary to combine some of the ])lant.s in onlei- to operate more 

 cheaply and also to reduce tJK^ oiiti|)iit. 



hi ISSf) W. II. Barker and (ieor<i;c II. Oeorge, who had been con- 

 n(H'ted with various canneries, lornied a ])artnership as George & 

 Barker and purchased the Astoria cannery of the Port Adams Packing 

 Co., then 2 years old. 



Shortly before this a combination which w^as named the Eureka & 

 Epicure Packing Co. had been formed and comprised the following 

 plants: Knappton Packing Co., Knappton; North Shore Packing 

 Co., just below^ Knappton; and the Eureka Packing Co. This 

 combination got into financial difficulties, and the reorganizers per- 

 suaded George & Barker to join the combination and take charge. 



In 1887 the Eureka & Epicure Packing Co., the plants of Samuel 

 Elmore, M. J. Kinney, and J. W. Seaborg, all of Astoria; J. O. Han- 

 thorn & Co., Astoria; Fishermen's Packing Co., Astoria; Scandinavian 

 Packing Co., Astoria; Columbia Canning Co., and J. W. & V. Cook, 

 Clifton, were combined under the name of the Columbia River 

 Packers Association. In 1889 the association built a new cannery 

 at Rooster Rock. ^Ir. George was with the association until his 

 death, but Mr. Barker left it to become general manager of the 

 British Columbia Packers Association, where he is at present, the 

 dean of the Pacific coast cannerymen. 



Early in the eighties the California Can Co. was engaged in the 

 business of making cans in San Francisco. Later the Pacific Sheet 

 Metal Works absorbed the company. A factory w^as started at Asto- 

 ria, with F. P. Kendall in charge. The latter was one of the deans 

 of the industry and had a long and interesting connection with all 

 branches of the industry and in most sections. The American Can 

 Co. later on bought the Pacific Sheet Metal Works, and the Astoria 

 plant was moved to Portland. 



The American Can Co. was the first to install sanitary can-packing 

 nurchinery in the salmon industry, the venture being made in 1911, 

 at the Sanborn-Cutting plant in Astoria. 



At the present time (1928) there are 24 canneries in operation on 

 the river, while large cpiantities of salmon are also frozen, mild cured, 

 pickled, smoked, and sold fresh in the markets of the w^orld. 



Commercial fishing is carried on mainly between the mouth of the 

 Columbia and Celilo, a distance of about 200 miles, and in the Wil- 

 lamette River. The most of it is in the lower part of the river, within 

 about 40 miles of its mouth. Bakers Bay, on the Washington or 

 north side, and just within the river's mouth, is the favorite ground 

 for pound-net fishing. The principal gill-net drifting ground is from 

 the river's mouth to about 20 miles above Astoria, but drifting is 

 done wherever convenient reaches are found much farther up the 

 river. Most of the drag seines are hauled on the sandy bars in the 

 river near Astoria, which are uncovered at low water. Wheels are 

 operated in the upper river above the junction of the Willamette 

 with the main river. 



Astoria is the principal center for all branches of the industry, but 

 more especially for canning. Other places in addition to Astoria at 

 which canneries are located are Ilwaco, Eagle Cliff, Altoona, Brook- 

 field, Pillar Rock, Cathlamet, Longview, Chinook, Ellsworth, and Pt. 

 Ellice on the Washington shore, and at Warrendale, Rooster Rock, 

 Rainier, Warrenton, Hammond, and Seuferts, on the Oregon shore. 



