Timeline / Defining Rights and Responsibilities / 1898: Canneries deplete salmon catch for Alaska Natives
1898: Canneries deplete salmon catch for Alaska Natives
Along Alaska’s coastline, 55 canneries are in operation. Most refuse to employ Alaska Natives, instead hiring Chinese laborers in the factories and whites to fish. Commercial canneries harvest salmon at a rate faster than ever before in history. The once plentiful salmon runs are depleted, forcing Alaska Native fishermen to travel farther to find the catch.
- Theme
- Land and Water
- Region
- Arctic, Northwest Coast
Cannery at Klawock, Alaska. The first salmon canneries in Alaska were built in Klawock and Sitka in 1878. The North Pacific Trading and Packing Company’s Klawock cannery operated for 51 years.
Courtesy Alaska State Library Photograph Collection