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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
The first salmon were canned on the Fraser River in 1863, when Mr. Annandale 
canned a limited quantity for local use (Doyle 1920). This pre-dates by 1 year the 
establishment of the first salmon cannery on the Pacific coast by Hapgood, Hume & 
Company, in 1864, on the Sacramento River. The first real cannery on the Fraser 
River was built in 1866 at New Westminster. The first cannery on the Columbia 
River was built the same year at Eagle Cliff. Thus, salmon canning on the Pacific 
coast started almost simultaneously on three of the largest salmon streams. The 
first recorded pack on the Fraser River, in 1873 (Rathbun 1899), was 8,125 cases. 
Howay (1914), mentions the unsuccessful use of Scotch trap nets in 1864 by the 
Annandale saltery, and the change to drift gill nets. The gill netting during the 
earlier years was done by Indian fishermen from canoes and flat-bottomed skiffs. 
The packs were restricted because of the crudeness and inefficiency of the canning 
equipment, and because the necessary tinplate had to be shipped around Cape Horn 
in sailing vessels in advance of the season. Thus, in 1882, because of an unexpectedly 
large run of salmon, the supply of tinplate became exhausted in the middle of the 
season and the packers were forced to close down. 
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE VARIOUS SPECIES 
In the early development of the Fraser River fishery the sockeye was by far the 
most important species. The deep color and firmness of its flesh was most important 
for producing an attractive product with the crude canning methods then in use. 
Also, sockeyes were tremendously abundant, the run reaching its peak during the 
summer months when fishing conditions were at their best. So important were they 
to the canning industry that, for the period before 1900, when accurate records of the 
number of cases of each species canned were not always available, the total canned 
pack has often been used to represent the sockeye pack. 
In seasons when sockeye were not abundant the canners would often, even during 
the earlier years, supplement their pack with coho and king salmon. However, when 
the packers were unable to handle all of the sockeye that the fishermen delivered they 
could not afford to waste time, effort, or their sometimes inadequate supply of tin- 
plate, to put up a cheaper product. Thus, 1905 was the first of the “big” years of the 
quadrennial sockeye run to the Fraser River in which as many as 30,000 cases were 
canned of the other four species combined. 
Meanwhile the fishery for king salmon began to attain importance after freezers 
were built on the Fraser River. The first of these appeared in 1886 and two others in 
1887. In early years the canning of king salmon usually began before the sockeye 
runs made their appearance. Thus, one cannery, in the period from 1887-91, usually 
started canning king salmon during the latter half of April, more than 2 months 
before the sockeyes were due to appear. Gradually they commenced operations later 
in the season until, from 1900-1902, they did not start until after the sockeyes had 
arrived. There was much variation between individual canneries, however, as to 
their season of operation. 
Since the 1880’s a few canneries have remained open, after poor sockeye runs, for 
the fall fishing. For many years this fishing was confined largely to cohos, and the 
fall run of king salmon, which are inferior to those running in the spring. 
