Alaska Packers Cannery
by James Williamson
Original - Not For Sale
Price
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Dimensions
26.000 x 20.000 inches
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Title
Alaska Packers Cannery
Artist
James Williamson
Medium
Painting - Pen & Ink Watercolor
Description
Alaska Packers Cannery pen and ink, watercolor painting by artist James Williamson.
Artist James Williamson, ASMA
Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists
History by Marjorie Reichhardt, Museum Curator, Semi-ah-moo Park, Blaine, Washington - 1984
Blaine, Washington is located on the United States-Canada boundary line. Tall ships, sloops and ferries plied the waters of Drayton Harbor, Blaine's busy port during the early 1900s. Being on the border and a waterfront has offered many opportunities as a port of entry. In the year 1906 it was recorded that 345 vessels entered Blaine's harbor and 338 cleared for foreign ports. Because of the closeness to Canada, sloops and large vessels bearing the Union Jack were often seen in Drayton Harbor. Drayton Harbor, named for Joseph Drayton, the artist, engraver and illustrator of the Charles Wilkes Expedition, 1838-1842, that visited the Pacific Northwest.
Shingle mills, lumber mills and fish canneries that were in operation on Blaine's waterfront and on Semiahmoo Spit in the early 1900s provided a solid economic base for the community. Ainsworth & Dunn Cannery was one of those industries. It was built in 1898 by Ainsworth & Dunn of Seattle and by 1909 the Blaine cannery was the second largest of the five canneries around Drayton Harbor until it closed in 1920.
The Semi-ah-moo Cannery on Semi-ah-moo Spit, owned by The Alaska Packers Association through much of their period of operation, ran between nine and twelve cannery lines. This was one of the largest canning plants in the world from 1900 to 1909. In 1891 Daniel Drysdale bought the Semiahmoo Cannery from John Elwood and James Martin, who had built a small crude operation at Semiahmoo in 1876. In 1894 the newly formed Alaska Packers Association bought the cannery from Daniel Drysdale. The A.P.A Semi-ah-moo Cannery packed fish from that date until 1964. Can labeling was done until 1974 and boat rebuilding and cannery machine repair was done by A.P.A. until 1983. The Alaska Packers Association existed on Semiahmoo Spit 89 years, from 1894 to 1983.
The A.P.A. of San Francisco acquired the first of its large sailing vessels in 1898 for cannery shipping. They soon built up the largest fleet of vessels sailing under one company's flag. In the spring of each year, men and equipment were loaded on these ships in San Francisco and sent to A.P.A. canneries in Puget Sound and Alaska. The ships waited in bays near the canneries until the end of the summer fishing season. Then men loaded the canned salmon onto the vessels and returned to San Francisco where the cans were sold and shipped to markets all over the world. The ships wintered at the shipyards in Alameda, California where they were repaired for the next season. The two A.P.A. vessels regularly sent to Semiahmoo were the Star of Lapland and Star of Holland.
The Star of Holland was a three-masted bark. She was built in 1885 at Belfast, Ireland by Harland and Wolff. She sailed under the names Otto Gildemeister and Homeward Bound. In February 1909 Homeward Bound was bought by Alaska Packers and named Star of Holland. After A.P.A. bought her, the poop deck was lengthened about 70 feet. This ship was registered at 2301 tons. It provided additional living quarters for fishermen and cannery workers, as it was necessary to carry at least a hundred man and supplies to keep canning operations going through the season.
Soon after being purchased by A.P.A., Star of Holland made a voyage from Melbourne, Australia to Caleta Buena, Peru in 36 days. This was a remarkable performance for speed by a sailing vessel. The Star of Holland docked regularly at the Semiahmoo Cannery until she was retired in 1927. In 1934 it was purchased by a Japanese wrecking company for scrap.
The Star of Lapland, a four-masted bark with a sloping sharp stern and low jib boom was built in Bath, Maine by Arthur Sewall and Company for Standard Oil in 1902 and christened Atlas. The Atlas was purchased by Alaska Packers Association from Standard Oil in 1910 and renamed Star of Lapland. It was registered at 3381 tons, making it the largest of the A.P.A. tall ships.
The George E. Starr, a side-wheel passenger steamer, made regular runs from Seattle to Victoria. This included stops in upper Puget Sound at Bellingham, Blaine and Port Townsend. The George E. Starr was owned by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company and in 1884 replaced the Eliza Anderson on this run. She was built in Seattle in 1879 for Puget Sound Steam Navigation Company and was 150 feet long with a 28 foot beam. She had a 9 foot draw which caused her to roll making passengers seasick. Her design was originally created for river transportation. The heavy side-wheels added to her instability. George E. Starr was part of the historic Mosquito Fleet.
Mount Baker, located in Whatcom County, Washington State, elevation 10,750 feet, was rediscovered in 1790 by Spanish Navy explorers party led by Ensign Manuel Quimper and was first placed on a chart in 1790 by Gonzalo Lopes de Haro. He entitled the mountain La Gran Montana del Carmelo. But these finding s and charts were not published at that time. Captain George Vancouver sighted and named the mountain Mt. Baker in 1792 for Lieutenant Baker of Vancouver's exploration party. It is in latitude 40 degrees 39 feet, longitude 30 degrees 20 feet. Natives of the Pacific Northwest were the first to discover the mountain. Names for the mountain varied from tribe to tribe. The Nooksacks Koma Kulshan, for white steep mountain, and the Lummis Kulshan, meaning shot at the point, apparently in reference to an eruption that shattered the once conical peak of the volcano. Mt. Baker is an active steaming volcano that may erupt at any time.
Blaine celebrated its Centennial year in 1984. It was officially platted and named in 1884 for presidential candidate James G. Blaine. One of the fond memories of early day residents were the small cat-rigged boats that transported cannery workers from Blaine to Semi-ah-moo Spit. The small Whitehall rowing or sailing work-boats best represent that service. These boats were often fitted with a sail, a small center board and spritsail. They rowed easily and fast and were safe and dependable.
Semi-ah-moo Resort is located on Semi-ah-moo Spit in Blaine, Washington. The buildings of the Alaska Packers Cannery have been turned into a resort hotel. Retaining the appearance of the original cannery, the refurbished buildings now receive guests from around the world. The resort is a fitting tribute to the Alaska Packers Association's contribution to local history.
General History of the Mosquito Fleet: Puget Sound's historic Mosquito Fleet consisted of thousands of steamships that steamed from port to port around the sound from the 1850s to the 1930s. Steamers departed and arrived from Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Bremerton, Everett, La Conner, Port Townsend, Victoria B. C., Fairhaven, Bellingham and many other ports around the Inland Sea. They were so numerous that people said they resembled a "swarm of mosquitoes." The heyday of the Mosquito Fleet ended in the 1930s when competition with rail and road transportation put the fleet out of business.
From the days of the earliest tribal canoes to the early 1930s, Puget Sound and the Inside Passage (the sheltered channel of water that runs between the British Columbia/Alaska coasts and the islands) constituted the major transportation corridor of the Northwest. Along this corridor, stretching from its southern reaches near Olympia, north to the Alaskan Panhandle, nearly everything people needed moved by water transport.
Eventually, thousands of steam vessels, large and small, were built to move settlers, troops, farm produce and livestock, machinery, timber, the mail, and everything else needed to build and serve the settlements that sprang up along the coastline. Every settlement, no matter how small, had a pier or float. These "whistle stops" were their link to the greater community.
Steam power promised more reliable service -- something that could be scheduled -- than did the sailing ships that were at the mercy of Northwest's fickle winds.
Steam power was not firmly established on the Sound until 1859 with the arrival of the 140-foot side-wheeler Eliza Anderson from Portland, Oregon. "Old Anderson" would be the first of many grand steamers on the Sound, and she proved to be a gold mine for her owners. Her name became a household word during her 40-year career. Many other grand steamers soon followed, including: Alida, North Pacific, Grayhound, Olympian, T. J. Potter, George E. Star and the Bailey Gatzert.
The halcyon years of the Mosquito Fleet lasted from the 1880s to the early 1920s. Over the years, some 2,500 individual steamers were part of the Mosquito Fleet. Each community, no matter how small, depended on the steamers for their link to the greater community.
The fastest and grandest steamers were put on the best and most profitable routes. The Seattle-Tacoma route was served by such famous steamers as: Flyer, H. B. Kennedy, Indianapolis, Iroquois and Tacoma.
Over the years the majority of Mosquito Fleet vessels did not survive competition from the electric interurban lines and later from the rapidly developing highway systems with their automobiles and trucks plus the addition of airports and airlines.
By the late 1920s and early 1930s, regular passenger and freight service among Puget Sound communities had reached the end. The completion of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 1935, released a fleet of diesel-electric auto ferries that would soon come to Puget Sound to replace the old Mosquito Fleet vessels. The last scheduled run occurred in 1939. There is only a handful left; the rest were scrapped or left to rot, replaced by the cars and trucks on the Interstate 5 corridor and by Washington States modern ferry system.
The last remaining steam-powered survivor of the Mosquito Fleet is the National Historic Landmark Vessel Virginia V. She was built in 1922 to serve the communities along Colvos Passage on the west side of Vashon Island. She was restored for use as a working museum and excursion vessel and is once again steaming on throughout Puget Sound as a living reminder of Puget Sound's historic Mosquito Fleet.
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January 28th, 2014
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