22 PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. x 
In 1897 the Chlopeck Fish Co. (now the Booth Fisheries Co.), 
which had been operating in Portland for several years, started a 
fresh fish and freezing business at Seattle. 
The first salmon cannery on Puget Sound was erected by Jackson, 
Myers & Co., in 1877, at Mukilteo, in Snohomish County. The mem- 
bers of this firm had all been engaged previously in salmon canning 
on the Columbia River. The first pack was of 5,000 cases, composed 
wholly of silver, or coho, salmon. Later at this plant were put up 
the first humpbacks ever canned. In order to divert the minds of 
purchasers from the fact that the meat of the humpback was much 
lighter in color than the grades then known to the consuming public, 
the company printed on its label the legend, ‘‘Warranted not to turn 
red in the can.” Even with this shrewd sizing up of the weak side 
of the consuming public the demand for humpback, or pink, salmon 
developed very slowly, and it was some years before it became a 
factor in the markets. 
Within a year or two after the opening of the above plant another 
was started at Mukilteo by a man named Bigelow. 
In 1880 the Myers’ cannery was destroyed by a heavy fall of snow. 
It was rebuilt in West Seattle and was operated till 1888, when it was 
destroyed by fire. George T. Myers, now sole owner, built a new 
cannery at Milton, which was burned two years later, and he then 
came back to Seattle and built a cannery about where Ainsworth &. 
Dunn’s dock now stands. He remained here only one season, after 
which he moved to where the Pacific Coal Co.’s bunkers now are. 
Late in 1901 he sold out his plant to the United Fish Co., which com- 
pany moved the plant to the foot of Connecticut Avenue, where they 
continued operations for two or three years and then quit. : 
In 1889 a man named Morse established a cannery at Seattle and 
operated it for only one year. 
The first Puget Sound sockeye cannery was built at Semiahmoo, 
near Blaine, by J. A. Martin and John Elwood about 1887 or 1888. 
It was bought in 1892 for $500 by D. Drysdale, who shortly after- 
wards rebuilt and greatly enlarged the plant. In the same year Mr. 
Drysdale demonstrated the commercial success of fish traps. Traps 
had been in operation before this, however. In 1893 Ainsworth 
& Dunn had a trap at Five Mile Rock, just beyond the light 
house at Magnolia Bluff (now a part of Seattle), and there had been 
a trap or two in Elliott Bay even prior to this. Traps had not been 
profitable in this section, however, owing to the cheapness and 
abundance of salmon, haul seines being cheaper and more profitable 
to operate. A man named Kirby, who came originally from Nova 
Scotia, and another named Goodfellow (now living at Point Roberts) 
put in the first trap for Mr. Drysdale. 
BS 
