PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 29 
W. H. Barker, of George & Barker, for $600. Mr. Fulton closed 
with him the same day. It proved a most profitable transaction for 
the purchasers, who acquired a million and a half labels which could 
be utilized, the machinery was taken out for other plants, the timber 
on the land belonging to the tract sold, and the floating property 
disposed of for a considerable sum, after which the stripped plant and 
land were sold back to Mr. Morgan for $600, 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 canner to employ Chinese. 
This was at Eagle Cliff in 1872. At this period the white laborers 
in the canneries were recruited from the riff raff and criminal element 
of Portland. He had a Chinese working for him and through this 
Chinaman secured a Chinese gang from Portland. This labor 
proved so satisfactory that the custom soon spread to the other 
canneries. It was not found that the Chinese could do the work 
any better or quicker than the white laborers, but they proved more 
reliable in their work and gave less trouble. 
Of the 35 canneries on the Columbia River in 1881, it is said that 
about one-half had been established by the Hume brothers. G. W. 
and William Hume were partners in the firm of Hapgood, Hume & 
Co., on the Sacramento River, and established the first cannery on 
the Columbia. In 1881 William was the proprietor of two canneries, 
one at Astoria, Oreg., and one at Eagle Cliff, Wash. R.D. Hume, 
a third brother, in the same year had a cannery in operation on the 
Rogue River, and established three others, one at Eagle Cliff (then 
owned by Wiliam Hume), one at Rainier (then belonging to Jackson 
& Myers), and one at Astoria. The fourth brother, Joseph, came to 
the coast in 1871 and some time later established a cannery on the river. 
One of the pioneer canners on the river was the late F. M. Warren, 
operating as the Warren Packing Co., who established a cannery at 
Cathlamet, Wash., in 1869. The same company is still operating 
the plant. Later another cannery was established at Warrendale, 
Oreg., and both are still being operated by this company. Mr. 
Warren was the inventor of a retort, patented on April 10, 1877, 
which was in use by the principal canneries on the coast for a number 
of years. 
John West was another pioneer. He built a cannery at Hungry 
Harbor, Wash., about 1869. In 1881 he moved his plant to West- 
port, on the Oregon side of the river. Mr. West was the inventor 
of a packing machine for placing the fish in the cans. 
In 1871 the firm of Megler & Jewett. established a cannery on the 
present site of Brookfield, Wash., and named it in honor of Mrs. Meg- 
