North Pacific Cannery Museum

North Pacific Cannery Museum



North Pacific Cannery Community Buildings

Left Kumealon Is. Cove at 8:15 in the morning and arrived in Inverness Passage at the North Pacific Cannery Museum dock near Prince Rupert.  We had a fascinating tour of the cannery from our guide “Spider” (Native people learned how to knit nets by observing the spider).  This oldest standing cannery on the West Coast was in operation from 1889 to 1968.  Before mechanized equipment and automated machinery, the cans were made by hand – pieces of tin were cut and shaped then the seam and bottom were soldered on and the cans filled with fish, then the lid soldered on.  The cans were heated to expand the air, a hole was punched in the top to let the air out and the hole closed with solder.  The cans were then cooked for 90 minutes.  When automated machinery came about (the politically incorrect term “Iron Chink”), many people were out of work.  The cannery employed Chinese, Japanese, Natives, and Europeans, who all had separate housing facilities as well as social events.  We toured the mess hall, the company store, office, rows of housing, toured the net shed, and the processing plant housing various equipment.  The 45 foot guest dock is a convenient way for boaters to visit the cannery but we would recommend taking the bus from Prince Rupert instead.  The dock is exposed to extreme current from the Skeena River sweeping trees, limbs, and debris down Inverness Passage that collects around and underneath the boat!  We had to dig out large tree limbs that were wedged under the V-Strut near the prop before departing as not to cause damage to our boat.  One large tree limb got hung up in front of the dock extending in front of our boat acting like a dam which helped protect us from some of the debris.  In addition to the debris, the strong current turned the propellers, spinning the shafts.  It is our understanding that allowing the shafts to spin over a period of time without the engines running might damage the transmission and the “dripless shaft seals.”  To prevent potential damage, we placed boards propped against the shafts to stop them from spinning while we toured the cannery.  Luckily with some preventative measures and clearing debris out of the water, we didn’t sustain any damage.



Early Mechanical Processing



Automated Canning Process










Log Jam Around Boat