<I>IRENE MARTIN COLLECTION</I><BR>The small peninsula formed by Rooster Rock extended into a stretch of the Columbia where Native Americans had fished for thousands of years. Eventually, dams and other modifications of the river caused the small embayment in front of the cannery to silt up.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Irene Martin, the foremost historian of the Columbia River fishing industry, has written a series of articles about the Columbia River Packers Association.

The CRPA was the product of a historic merger of several of the Columbia’s major salmon canners in 1899. It dominated the industry for most of the 20th century, employing thousands of individuals on both sides of the river, in Alaska and elsewhere. Eventually changing its name to Bumble Bee Seafoods, CRPA is a fascinating story of capitalism, adventure and social change.

Eventually to be gathered in a book, this series represents years of effort undertaken at the behest of Bumble Bee retirees. Originally started by historian Roger Tetlow, who before his death in 1999 lived on the Peninsula and in Hammond, Ore., the CRPA project was taken up by the Chinook Observer as part of its commitment to preserving and telling local history.

We are proud to publish this series. We will soon begin soliciting pre-sales for the richly illustrated book that we anticipate publishing in about one year.

The bulk of the salmon catches occurred in the lower Columbia River in the earliest years, and the majority of the canneries were located there too. However, Native Americans had taken huge quantities of fish from time immemorial at the Cascades, located where Bonneville dam is now, and at the Dalles. Both areas consisted of a series of fast rapids and waterfalls with whirlpools and swift currents swirling over a rocky river bed. Native Americans dipnetted for fish from small wooden platforms, and smoked the salmon or dried it in the warm climate for winter use and for trade. They also speared fish.

In 1862 the first railroad was constructed around the Cascades at Bonneville. In 1879 Henry Villard formed the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and built a railroad from the Dalles to Portland, which was completed in 1882. In 1874 Congress authorized a survey of the Columbia to see if a canal could be built at the Cascades. The canal at Cascade Locks opened in 1896.

An adaptation for salmon fishing that was peculiar to the upper river was the fishwheel, which was uniquely adapted for the swift water conditions found in that locale. The first stationary fishwheel was built by Samuel Wilson in 1879 on the Washington side of the river, but it was a crude affair, too small to catch much fish. The second wheel, built by Thornton Williams, suffered the same problems. Frank Warren, a Portland banker and fish packer with a plant in Cathlamet and William McCord, a blacksmith and inventor, set about building their own wheel in 1882.

Fishwheels were large open-framed wheels that rotated on an axle attached to a heavy wooden frame structure that was anchored to the river bottom by wooden cribs, usually filled with heavy rocks. The swift river current in selected locations was strong enough to push the wheels and cause them to rotate. Dippers or baskets of wire mesh were attached to the wheel, and dipped into the water as the wheel turned and scooped up salmon that happened to be in the wrong place at that moment. As the wheel continued turning the baskets rose and eventually dumped their slippery cargo down a chute into a fish box or holding pen.

Stationary fishwheels were usually built on the shoreline of the river and leads were constructed in order to direct and lead the salmon into the passage under the turning wheel so that the moving baskets would catch them. Because the Columbia River constantly changed its depths, getting deeper because of floods and freshets and shallower because of rainfall and hot weather, the fishwheels had to be raised and lowered occasionally to keep the baskets in the water at the proper depths. To do this, a pulley system was used to move the wheel up and down on its stationary supports.

Each fishwheel was usually manned by men who had to be on hand constantly to keep the wheel at the right depth in the water. They had to guard against floating debris that might come downstream, enter the chute and jam the wheel. They also had to ensure that the baskets were not catching so many fish that the weight of them would stop the wheel. And then there was the occasional huge sturgeon that would get caught in the wheel and jam it and cause enormous damage.

Due to problems experienced by stationary fishwheels that were expensive failures if salmon did not choose to migrate through their particular channels, the idea of a floating fishwheel developed. This type of wheel sat on a floating platform with the wheel placed in the center and pulleys to raise and lower it. The whole apparatus was designed to move from one good fishing location to another, and even be taken out of the water at dangerous flood times.

Frank Warren and P.J. McGowan, who both owned canneries in the lower river, had built canneries near the Cascades to buy and pack salmon there. Warren’s cannery was two miles below Bonneville and McGowan’s about two miles below Warren’s. Both bought fish from local gillnetters, seiners, native fishers and from private fishwheel owners, and both owned their own fishwheels. They had a competitive edge because their multiple facilities, stretched out along the river as they were, could pack salmon for a longer period of time than those dependent on fish caught in the Astoria area alone. They also had a competitive edge in the upper river, being, for practical purposes, the most significant market there. As a result, they could offer lower purchase prices for fish to their fishermen, as Samuel Elmore noted: “So effective, indeed, has been the combination among the upper river packers that in times of heavy runs both fine Chinook and steelhead salmon have been forced down to a price which left no remuneration to the fishermen …”

Samuel Elmore realized that CRPA would have to establish a new cannery and buying stations somewhere below the Cascades if the company was to compete. He also knew that CRPA would have to acquire its own fishwheels if it was to get enough salmon to pack profitably in the upper river. In an interview given to a Daily Astorian reporter, May 19, 1899, Elmore said:

“I have thought for several years that there was too much tendency on the part of the packers to crowd the lower river while some of the upper sections were left comparatively open. Before another season, it is our expectation to select one or more of the available sites which are now under construction and erect our own plants on the upper river. We think we have mastered the science of salmon packing as well as any corresponding group of operators on the coast. Our reputation and labels are well established and we do not propose to leave anything undone which can be accomplished by square dealing and up-to-date business methods to maintain our standing and the complete success of our business.

“We will not build a cannery this season, but we have definitely decided to extend our scope of operations so as to take in the entire river as far as the Cascades at least.”

In the spring of 1899 Elmore sent Walter W. Ridehalgh, a young Englishman from Liverpool and one of his trusted employees, to the upper river to check on possible sites for a new cannery and to make a report on the fishermen, fishwheels and canneries operating in the region. Ridehalgh wrote a lengthy summary of his impressions and observations on May 10, 1899, from which the following excerpts are taken.

“As per your instructions, I proceeded to Portland on Sunday last, interviewed Mr. Cram, and together we left Portland on the 8 p.m. train, arriving at Cascade Locks at 10 p.m. There we interviewed Mr. Ash, the storekeeper at the Locks who has a one-half interest in two fishwheels situated about a mile below the Locks. McGowan owns the other half but owing to some dispute between them, Ash declines selling any of his half of the catch to McGowan. These wheels are good in an ordinary year like 1898 for about 60 tons, and in order to obtain Ash’s interest in the fish, we shall have to pay him a trifle over 4 cents for Chinooks.

“Several miles from the locks is Bonneville where there are several gillnetters with a probable catch of say 60 tons.

“Opposite Warren’s is the Ludzig wheel which is good for about 15 tons … above Butler’s place is the Pacquet wheels which are good for about 40 tons … on the lower side of Warren’s cannery is Dodson’s two fish wheels. These wheels last year caught 100 tons … 14 miles below Warren’s is Corbett where Reed Bros. have two fishwheels and four gillnets. They are good for about 75 tons.”

Most of the fishwheels were named either for the men who built them or for their location.

Realizing that there was not enough time left in 1899 to build a new cannery below the Cascades, Elmore leased a small antiquated cannery owned by the Northwest Cold Storage Company of Portland, formerly operated by F.C. Barnes. He planned to buy and freeze salmon from the Cascades area and establish a buying system there which would transfer to a new CRPA facility when built. Unfortunately, the leased cannery caught fire. Ridehalgh estimated the damage to be sufficient to render it useless for packing that year. However, CRPA had already signed contracts with individuals in the area to deliver salmon to the leased plants. He was able to deflect some of the fish to another buyer, a Mr. Cram, retaining the best quality product to be shipped down to CRPA. The fire and its resulting fish shuffle also caused skepticism among the locals as to the CRPA’s real intentions. As Ridehalgh wrote to Elmore: “The wheel men think you are trying to run a bluff and they will hardly sign any contracts until the cannery is in the course of construction …” The CRPA realized it would have to acquire fish wheels.

In a letter dated Jan. 4, 1900, the Reed Brothers of Corbett, Ore., sent a letter to Samuel Elmore: “I now offer to construct the Mount Pleasant wheel, a fifty foot diameter wheel, for $2,000, and the Rooster Rock wheel, a fifty foot diameter wheel, for $2,500, each wheel to be in full and complete order, ready to operate, run, and catch fish by May 1st.” CRPA signed the contract to construct these two and a third wheel, the Sampson Wheel, for an additional $2,000. Still later, Reed Brothers built another wheel for CRPA at Cape Horn. In addition, all of the Reeds agreed to deliver all fish caught by any of them to CRPA’s cannery at Rooster Rock, providing they were paid the prevailing rate for salmon at that time. Later that year, Elmore bought the Supple Wheel from Joseph Supple for $700, but had to lease the land it was on from Reed. The company also managed to buy the Totten wheel, which caused Ridehalgh to write, “We are in fine shape up there and that buy of Totten’s clinches matters. Warren cursed Totten for selling to us and told him he would have given him more. Charley McGowan camped on my trail the whole of the way but with poor success.”

Obviously, both McGowan and Warren were prepared to fight hard to keep CRPA out of what they viewed as their own fishing and packing area. They both knew that CRPA would prove to be a formidable competitor once the huge company got a foothold in the area and they did everything they could to delay and obstruct this move. Ridehalgh proved to be an able agent for CRPA. As he wrote to Elmore, “Ash at the Locks wants to see me Tuesday. He has several gillnetters ready. I would have stayed there but Charley McGowan hung on and told Ash he would stay with him till Monday. He is a little nervous that Ash is not thoroughly McGowanized and he is not far off either.”

On Jan. 10, 1900, Samuel Elmore signed a contract with J.A. Fastabend, an Astoria contractor, to build a cannery for CRPA at Rooster Rock on the same level as the nearby south bank railroad right of way. The facility would include cannery, warehouse, a remodeled house that was already on the property, and a China house for the cannery crew.

Elmore also signed a contract with Ah Dogg, a Chinese labor contractor, on Jan. 20, 1900, to “provide all help necessary to the business of packing salmon at the CRPA cannery at Rooster Rock during the salmon season of 1900.” The contract called for packing at least 600 cases of salmon per day and also specified that the Chinese would do all of the other labor required, including unloading boats, maintenance of machinery and other work normally done by a white crew. Chin Liou was foreman. The only other workers besides the Chinese would be a fireman, a watchman, and the superintendent, all to be furnished by CRPA.

Elmore stripped the Hanthorn Cannery in Astoria of all its machinery and everything else usable and shipped it up to Rooster Rock in March 1900. He planned to use the Hanthorn facility as a cold storage. The Kinney Cannery also contributed a number of items for the new cannery, including everything from a boiler to a gangknife. While the Rooster Rock Cannery would depend upon fish wheels to provide the bulk of the salmon needed to operate, the management knew that gillnetters would supply additional fish from below the Cascades. They shipped a number of gillnet boats upriver from their Clifton, Eurekaa, Kinney and George and Barkers facilities to lease to fishermen.

By mid-May 1900 the wheels had begun to catch a small amount of fish. However, the snowmelt from the mountains which caused the annual freshet caused the river to rise during the course of the next two weeks. Ridehalgh wrote on May 31st that:

“The river this morning is 19’8″ and still rising. It is now three feet off the top of the Rooster Rock lead. Yesterday, Warren’s No. 3 wheel smashed up with the drift and is now helpless and it will take at least 12 men two weeks hard labor and $200 on top of that to put it in fishing shape again. You can see that it becomes absolutely necessary to have men watching the wheels at this stage of the river.”

The high water was also causing Ridehalgh other problems, as the vessel charged with getting fish down from the Totten Wheel could not operate under such river conditions. However, the Rooster Rock superintendent learned fast and had found out that because many of the fishwheels were located in places which were hard to reach by boat, other cannery operators had developed unique methods for getting their product down, using empty barrels.

They would thread a string through the eyes of the dead salmon and then attach each string to a rope, which they then attached to an empty barrel. When they had strung approximately 800-1,500 pounds of salmon to the barrel, they pushed it out into the current which carried it down river, where cannery crews retrieved it. Each barrel carried the identification of the cannery to which it belonged, and although some were lost along the way, the method worked well enough to be in universal use.

Rooster Rock closed at the end of the 1900 season and a watchman guarded the property until the opening of the 1901 season. Each of the wheels was raised above high water and chained and locked so that neither wind nor vandals could damage them. Walter Ridehalgh took inventory, shipped the remaining cased fish down to Astoria and then traveled to Garibaldi on the Oregon coast to work for CRPA as a station manager during the winter.

He returned to Rooster Rock in early 1901 to prepare the cannery for the upcoming season. However, 1901 proved to be a slow year for fishing on the upper river. He wrote to Elmore on May 13 that “We have still to report no fish up here. Neither Warren nor McGowan are getting any so we are all in the same boat. McGowan, who started up some of his wheels, is now thinking of stopping them as he cannot pack suckers, eels and carp.”

Elmore, ever open to a new idea, conceived the idea of packing eels from this note, and sent ice up to Ridehalgh and instructions to ship down eels to the Lindenberger Packing Co. in Astoria. There is no record of the success of this venture, nor any record of any more eels being shipped after this one order. The Rooster Rock Cannery closed in July 1901 due to poor fishing conditions. They had held their own with their competitors. Ridehalgh took a much needed vacation and went back to his previous post at Garibaldi. Elmore continued to rely on his expertise to resolve problems at the Rooster Rock Cannery, but it became obvious after the first few years that CRPA had built the facility in a poor location. Situated on a lagoon below Rooster Rock, out of the main current of the river, sand washing downriver created shoals at the cannery site.

Eventually the company had to build a long wooden walkway out across the shoals to deep water so that boats could deliver salmon to the cannery. They installed a set of old streetcar rails which they bought from a scrap iron dealer in Portland and built small cars to run on these rails, to facilitate transport of fish along the walkway. But this solution proved temporary, as the area continued shoaling. The shoaling also made it difficult to dump fish offal into the river for disposal. All scraps had to be loaded into the cars, taken to the end of the tramway and dumped into the river there.

In 1915 the company closed the facility in favor of a new cannery located at Ellsworth, near Vancouver.