Salmon Canneries: British Columbia North Coast

Ann Turner is Financial and Budget Manager, University of British
Columbia Library.

British Columbia’s salmon fishery has been a vital element in the
provincial economy since earliest times, and of commercial significance
for more than 150 years. Changes in technology and the organization of
the industry led to the development and eventual decline of many small
canneries on B.C.’s northern coast in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Preserving their stories and documenting this chapter of
B.C.’s economic history is a particular concern of the author, who is
curator of the North Pacific Cannery Museum at Port Edward, B.C. She
chronicles the rise and fall of 38 individual canneries on the Nass and
Skeena rivers, and describes the technological settings in which they
operated. Entries include black-and-white photographs of the cannery
buildings and their labels, and survey maps of their sites. Additional
historical photographs show the fishers at work and illustrate the
canning procedures of the times. An interesting pictorial history,
carefully researched and documented.