A is for Aboriginal Fishing
An Aboriginal family relocates to a cannery town on Nootka Island for the summer, ca. 1920-1940. Find out why by visiting “C is for…The Cannery A-Z”. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives, G2001.009.170B.
An Aboriginal family relocates to a cannery town on Nootka Island for the summer, ca. 1920-1940. Find out why by visiting “C is for…The Cannery A-Z”. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives, G2001.009.170B.
Hazel, Esther and Marg pose for the camera on the steps of No. 51 cannery house in Steveston, ca. late 1940s. Not all bunkhouses were as well maintained! Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives, G2009.028.005.
Three boys enjoy an outing on “Nina II”’s skiff in Tofino BC, ca.1956. In the early days of canning, children would not have had time for such fun and games. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives, G2005.001.002ab.
Imagine reeling that net in by hand! Luckily for these herring fishermen, their table seiner “North Land” is pursing their catch up for them, thanks to advances in technology ca. 1900-1920. National Archives of Canada, PA 145356.
A Chinese cannery worker slices the heads off salmon before they are fed into the E.A. Smith butchering machine. This worker was one of the lucky few to keep his job when the machine revolutionized the canning line. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives, CFC-3-21-9.
A crisp winter morning dawns at Finn Slough, one of Richmond’s most picturesque and unconventional neighbourhoods. While the water looks calm, the settlement’s history is anything but. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives, G2009.031.018.
Canneries dot the Georgia Strait on this 1923 map. The Gulf of Georgia Cannery owes its name to a geographical error made by early explorers.
Those don’t look like salmon! Anyone who’s ever tasted a herring knows that they’re dealing with a love-it or hate-it dining experience. The herring in this BC gillnetter, ca. 1970s, could have been bound for a variety of different processes, some designed to amplify the taste, others to disguise it from picky eaters. Gulf of […]
Two men brave the chill of the cold storage area at Namu Cannery, BC ca. 1940. Big blocks of ice were also stored in a little known part of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery plant. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives, G2005.063.001q.
An old boiler retires at the Deas Island Regional Park. Now a prime photo op, in its heyday it may have served to power the machines at the bustling Deas Island Cannery. Photo by Stephen Rees.