A BRIEF HISTORY OF CASSIAR CANNERY
In 1889, Alfred E. Green put a $16 deposit a property on the Skeena Slough to participate in the salmon boom of the late 1800s after Inverness, the first cannery, opened in 1876. Green sold to the Cassiar Packing Company (Caspaco) in 1903 and Cassiar was in business, fully operational for over 80 years and holding the record as the longest consecutively operating cannery on the West Coast. By 1905, there were 12 canneries operating near the mouth of the Skeena River.
Cousins and best friends, Cyrus Peck (1863 – 1956) and Donald Moore (1877 – 1915), who founded Peck, Moore & Co, dived right in and built the Cassiar Cannery. They moved from New Brunswick to New Westminster then onto BC’s North Coast in the late 1800s. They were involved in sawmills, insurance and newspapers before branching out into salmon canneries. Donald Moore oversaw the operations here.
Both gentlemen enlisted for World War 1 in 1914 and both ended up in the prestigious 16th Canadian Scottish Battalion. Donald Moore died in combat on May 24, 1915 along with at least three other Prince Rupert residents. Cy Peck became commander of the Battalion in 1915 during the Battle of Somme. In 1917, he was elected as a Member of Parliament during the “Khaki” Election, one of the most divisive in Canadian history dealing with the conscription of men into the military three years in to World War 1. He was elected in the Skeena riding.
In 1918, Cy Peck won a Victoria Cross, the highest honour bestowed upon a military person in the Commonwealth, during a battle in Cagnicourt France
“War Office, 15th November, 1918.
His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned Officers, Noncommissioned Officers and Men: —Lt.-Col. Cyrus Wesley Peck, D.S.O., Manitoba R. For most conspicuous bravery and skilful leading when in attack under intense fire. His command quickly captured the first objective, but progress to the further objective was held up by enemy machine-gun fire on his right flank. The situation being critical in the extreme, Colonel Peck pushed forward and made a personal reconnaissance under heavy machine-gun and sniping fire, across a stretch of ground, which was heavily swept by fire. Having reconnoitred the position he returned, reorganised his battalion, and, acting upon the knowledge personally gained; pushed them forward and arranged to protect his flanks. He then went out under the most intense artillery and machine-gun fire, intercepted the Tanks, gave them the necessary directions, pointing out where they were to make for, and thus pave the way for a Canadian Infantry battalion to push forward. To this battalion he subsequently gave requisite support. His magnificent display of courage and fine qualities of leadership enabled the advance to be continued, although always under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, and contributed largely to the success of the brigade attack.” Wikipedia
To this day, Cy Peck remains the only Sitting Member of Parliament, in the entire Commonwealth, to be awarded a Victoria Cross. It’s now at the War Museum in Ottawa. A remarkable Canadian, Cy Peck died in New Westminster. As a side note, his great nephew has been in touch!
By 1921, the Cassiar Cannery was predominately owned by the Macmillan family – a salmon canning family from Vancouver. Col. J.M Macmillan stayed on as president until 1941. Colonel and Mrs. Macmillan owned 3/5, Henry Doyle and A Wallace each owned 1/5. The Macmillan family stewarded the Cassiar Cannery for the next six decades alongside many families from all over the world who also worked at the Cassiar Cannery for decades.
Stewarded by individual families, Caspaco at the Cassiar Cannery, grew into a remarkable industrial force eventually holding the title of the longest consecutively operated salmon cannery out of all 250 salmon canneries on the West Coast. Caspaco packed salmon from 1903 through 1983 without ever skipping a season unlike most canneries that sometimes sat a season out. In fact, Cassiar Cannery has always had things happening here right back to 1889 making it one of the longest, continuously operating sites around.
Canneries were self-contained company towns offering everything needed to live on site. They had to be as getting supplies in and out was by barge and boat only until 1917 when the Grand Trunk Railroad opened. It wasn’t until 1957 that Cannery Row was connected to Highway 16 by road. And it’s still the same corduroy road, which explains all the bumps!
It was also a place of people! At its peak, the Cassiar Cannery employed over 600 people with 1000 residents. People were born here, met their true loves here and have their ashes scattered here or into the ocean. For some, it was the best times of their lives – lots of work, family and friends all in one place. It’s humbling to stumble into a site like this so rich in cultural history.
In 1983, Caspaco went bankrupt. We did meet the head accountant so we know that they did overextend themselves opening another plant in Richmond, BC. However, there are two other factors that I also think played into Caspaco going bankrupt. Firstly, interest rates were ridiculously high in the 1980s – up to 18%! Secondly, there was a dramatic decline in fishing stocks and I think the Skeena Pulp and Paper Mill, discharging noxious effluent into Porpoise Harbour and over Flora Banks, the juvenile salmon nursery for all Skeena salmon species, played a role in the decline of fish stocks on top of close to a century of serious salmon fishing.
In 1983, Ocean Fisheries purchased the site and started to pick over what was left. It went through a couple other iterations before it was sold privately in 1999 and really went into decline. When we got here in 2006, Cassiar Cannery had experienced three decades of neglect and was in such a state of cosmetic disaster that it scared off professional property clean up companies. Our adventure was just beginning!
GALLERY
