30 | U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
The banner year in the canning industry was 1884, when 620,000 
cases of chinook salmon were marketed. At this time the runs were 
so enormous that tons and tons of salmon were thrown overboard 
by the fishermen because the canneries were unable to handle them. 
As in other sections, there came a time when the market began to 
be glutted by the packs of the numerous canneries, and it was found 
necessary to combine some of the plants in order to operate more 
cheaply and also to reduce the output. 
In 1885 W. H. Barker and George H. George, who had been con- 
nected with various canneries, formed a erie et as George & 
Barker and purchased the Astoria cannery of the Port Adams Packing 
Co., then 2 years old. 
Shortly before this a combination which was 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 frames 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. Mr. 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. 
Karly 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 was started at Asto- 
ria, with Mr. F. P. Kendall in charge. The latter, who is one of the 
deans of the industry, has 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 
machinery in the salmon industry, the wenture being made in 1911, 
at the Sanborn-Cutting plant in Astoria. 
At the present time (1919) there are 21 canneries in operation on 
the river, while large quantities of salmon are also frozen, mild cured, 
pickled, smoked, and sold fresh in the markets of the world. 
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, Dut 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. 
