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, ete., operated two small seines at Chinook 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 this 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. Aldrich was a regular 
jack-of-all-trades, as he did everything from catching the fish to 
canning and cooking them ready for the market. 
In 1868 a cannery was built near Eagle Cliff by one of the Humes, 
while in 1873 R. D. Hume built another at Bay View, Wash. 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 difficulties, and the 
plant was ordered sold by the court. C. W. Fulton, of Astoria, 
later a United States Senator, had the matter in charge, but was 
unable to find a customer, and finally in desperation offered it to 
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 
sold 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 riffraff and criminal element 
of Portland. He had a Chinese working for him and through this 
man 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 laborer, but they proved more reliable in 
their work and gave less trouble. 
Donald and Kenneth Macleay, 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 
