PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 



471 



Reference has already been made to the salmon fishery carried on by the com- 

 pany at San Juan Island. In August, 1829, at Fort Langley (the name of this 

 place has since been clianged to Derby) 7,544 salmon were obtained from the 

 natiyes at a cost of £13 17s. 2d. in goods. The trade increased; in 1835 and for 

 many years thereafter 3,000 or 4,000 barrels of salt salmon were exported, prin- 

 cipally"^ to the Hawaiian Islands. With the reyocation of the license in 1858 this 

 claim of monopoly fell. . x t. u r> 



Capt. William Spring, in 1863, began salting and curing salmon at iSeechy Bay. 

 In the following year Mr. Annandale, with whom Mr. Alexander Ewen was asso- 

 ciated, opened a salmon saltery on Fraser River. This venture was almost a 

 complete failure, owning to the attempt to use the Scotch trap nets instead of 

 drift nets. The former were found utterly unsuited to the conditions on Fraser 

 River. When this enterprise failed, Mr. Ewen introduced drift rets and carried 

 on an extensive business in salted salmon with the Hawaiian Islands and Australia. 

 The first attempt, on the Fraser River, to preserve salmon in hermetically 

 sealed cans was made in 1867 by James Symes. This was not a commercial 

 effort, but a mere experimental test to ascertain the possibihty. A few cases 

 were prepared, filled, and cooked by boiling on an ordinary kitchen stove. The 

 result was most encouraging. The product was shown at the agricultural exhi- 

 bition held in New Westminster in October, 1867, and was pronounced excellent, 

 the directors making special mention of it. • a u 



About the same year Donald McLean established another salmon-curing estab- 

 lishment at New Westminster. Besides salted salmon, he put up pickled salmon, 

 salmon boiled and preserved in vinegar, and smoked and kippered salmon. 



The canning of salmon as a business was first undertaken on the Iraser by 

 Alexander Loggie & Co. The persons interested were Alexander Loggie, Alexan- 

 der Ewen, James Wise, and David S. Hennessy. Mr. Wise was an experienced 

 fisherman; Messrs. Loggie and Hennessy had had experience m the canneries of 

 New Brunswick. In June, 1870, these persons built, in connection with a salmon 

 saltery, the first salmon cannery in British Columbia. It was located at Annie- 

 ville, about 3 miles below New Westminster. The cannery was a very primitive 

 affair; the cylinders upon which the cans were shaped were of wood covered with 

 sheet iron; the travs were small wooden contrivances holding about three dozen 

 one-pound cans. 'There was practically no machinery; the operations were 

 almost entirely by hand. The fish after being put into the cans was preserved 

 by boiling in large w^ooden vats. Great difficulty was experienced m thoroughly 

 cooking the fish, the boiling point of ordinary water not pr6ving sufficient; to 

 overcome this, salt was added to the water, and by this means the temperature 

 was raised to 230°. The room in which the cooking was performed was, in tem- 

 perature like a Turkish bathroom; no windows or doors were allowed to be 

 opened, except of necessity, under the mistaken idea that the cold currents of air 

 would injure the product. 



Captain Stamp, who has been frequently mentioned in the foregoing pages, also 

 entered the business at the same time. His cannery was located at Sapperton, 

 New Westminster. He did not attempt to manufacture his cans, but obtained 

 his supply from Mr. Deas, a tinsmith of Victoria. 



About '1873, Loggie & Co. removed their cannery to New Westminster, where 

 in the meantime Messrs. Lane, Pike & Nelson had established themselves in the 

 same business. These latter persons conceived the plan of canning the salmon 

 whole; the sockeyes, being of an almost uniform size, lent themselves readily to 

 this attempt. It was, however, a failure, as owing to the great vacuum m the 

 cans they became much distorted. 



In L872 Holbrook & Co. purchased a small cannery which had been 

 started at Sapperton by Captain Stamp some time before, and oper- 

 ated it for a few years. 



In 1876 there were three canneries running, consisting of Holbrook & 

 Co., Ewen & Co., and the British Columbia Canning Co. (Deas 

 Island). . 



The following year this was increased by English & Co. and J^m- 

 layson & Lane,^ the latter quitting after one season, being succeeded 

 in 1878 by Lane, Pike & Nelson. King & Co., the British Columbia 

 cannery (Annieville), and the Delta cannery also commenced opera- 

 tions the latter year. 

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