The item is a reel of industrial film. It depicts the design, construction and operation of the wooden-hulled fish packer "Canfisco", whose launching coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the Canadian Fishing Company. Includes scenes at the shipyard, in Vancouver harbour, and along the route to the northern end of Vancouver Island, where the company has a floating outpost called "Mills' Bay". Fishing boats transfer their catch to the "Canfisco", which heads back to Vancouver to unload at the company's Gore Road dock and cannery.

CALL NUMBER: T0745:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Acton Kilby recalls his father; Thomas Kilby, coming from Ottawa with the first carload of settler's effects on the CPR; his father worked at various jobs in the area; the Brunette Sawmill store in Sapperton; the milk delivery business; the livery business at Barnet; operating the Harrison Mills Timber and Trading Company boarding house in 1902; owning the Kilby Store in 1904; the family; farm and family store; the Chilliwack ferry and Cheam station; and the Harrison family and Menten family. TRACK 2: Mr. Kilby continues with the history of the Chilliwack ferry service and the Albion ferry; anecdotes about rowing to Chilliwack; incidents on the family farm; the Harrison River; Captain Dick Ward; Mrs. Menten.

CALL NUMBER: T0745:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Kilby talks about an incident with Joe Davidson; Morris Valley; residents of the Chehalis Reserve; logging; working in the canneries; hop picking; stocking winter supplies for the reserve; 24th of May excursions; Indians and hop picking; Port Douglas; Purcell; transportation on Harrison Lake; Harrison Hot Springs; C.F. Pretty; the Kilby Store at Harrison Mills; business practices past; and present. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Alden Wesley Huson (1832-1911), also known as West Huson, was a Vancouver Island entrepreneur, promoter, trader, and businessman with interests in a salmon saltery and cannery at Alert Bay, a coal mine at Suquash near Fort Rupert, and a quarry on Haddington Island.
A.H. Huson, also known as “West” Huson, was born in Oneonta, New York in 1832, the son of David Tomkin Huson and Sally Jackson. A.W. Huson arrived in British Columbia in 1858, and by 1867 he was living in Victoria and running the Adelphi Saloon. He established a close friendship with the photographer Stephen A. Spencer and opened a salmon saltery at Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, with Spencer acting as his agent in Victoria. Huson had obtained a lease to the entire island around 1870 and established a cannery, but by 1880 his lease was reduced to 160 acres as a result of the allotment of most of the island as an Indian Reserve. He transferred his interest in the cannery to Spencer in 1884. Huson married Mary Lyons, a First Nations woman from Alaska, also known as Ekegat, in 1873, and adopted her son Charlie Lyons. They had at least 9 children together. Although his wife and most of his family lived at Alert Bay, Huson travelled to Victoria frequently in order to trade and negotiate business deals, and later to visit his granddaughter Stella. He eventually moved to Victoria permanently. In his later life, Huson attempted to sue various parties over his rights to the property on Haddington Island. He died in Alert Bay in 1911.
The records consist of correspondence, invoices, receipts, agreements, land and tax records, a genealogy of A.W. Huson’s ancestors, and one photograph of A.W. Huson’s stepson, Charlie Lyons Huson.
The correspondence is primarily inward correspondence to A.W. Huson from his father David T. Huson, his sister Elizabeth Huson, his wife Mary, children Charlie [aka Charley], Spencer, Alfred, David, and George, grand-daughter Stella, friends such as Stephen Spencer, and other business associates. Huson’s stepson Charley lived for a time with Stephen Spencer and his wife “Em” in Victoria while attending school.

The records document the business activities of an early entrepreneur on Vancouver Island, and the life of a significant historical figure on Vancouver Island.

Of particular note is an 1871 letter from Father Leon Fouquet of the Jesuit Mission on Harbledown Island offering to vaccinate Huson’s children against smallpox (File 1); four letters (1874-1878) from Stephen A. Spencer in File 2; 1895 and 1897 letters written by Alfred J. Huson while a student at the Coqualeetza Indian Institute (File 4), and letters from Stella Pamphlet in Files 7 and 8, written while she was a child. Stella was the daughter of Ada Elvina Huson and Frederick William Pamphlet. There are also letters from James McGrath, who ran a store in Alert Bay, Stephen Cook, and A. Mouat of Barkerville.

Barry McClung transcribed many of the letters, and the transcriptions are filed with the originals.

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1979?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ildstead [or Ildstad?] discusses the Norwegian settlement at Quatsino; transportation; life in the settlement; Winter Harbour; the salmon run; fishing; canneries; whaling; early settlers; Ned Frigo, an early fur trader in the area (born 1819, died 1917); Indians; Port Alice pulp mill; Quatsino today; Mr. Ildstead's employment; and the Danes at Cape Scott. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T0963:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-05 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Allan Robertson describes his family history leading up to their arrival on Cortes Island between 1889 and 1905. He describes his education with John Manson's family; how eggs were the ;main industry; the first settlers of Cortes from 1870 to 1890; Whaletown; Mansons Landing; the growth of Cortes, including the fluctuations and flow of settlers from 1908 to 1920; the climate on the island; more on the development of Cortes; a description of John and Mike Manson; and Allan describes his early life, supporting his family and beginning to log. TRACK 2: Mr. Robertson describes his ;mother as a midwife; and the hospitals of Powell River and Vancouver and Campbell River. He then describes the conditions; clothes; steamship travel; and drinking in logging camps. He then discusses; the Columbia Coast Mission and ministers Alan Greene and John Antle.

CALL NUMBER: T0963:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1968 [summer] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Robertson talks about logging: horse logging; skid roads; steam donkey logging between 1905 and 1910; judging and preparing logs for riding skid roads; getting logs into the water; Gilchrist Jack; hand logging; the employment of oxen and horses; more on steam donkeys; log booms; the use of tow boats; the type of person a logger back then was; cork boots and typical logging clothes. ;TRACK 2: Mr. Robertson continues with more on logging: food in the logging camps; the Union Steamships; logging jargon; origin of "haywire"; different axes; more logging terms; his first job at a log;ging camp in 1911; his early years on Cortes Island and his introduction to logging; the authority of a camp foreman; wages; risks taken and compared to present; and an anecdote about drinking.

CALL NUMBER: T0963:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1968 [summer] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Robertson discusses growing up on Cortes Island; beginning his career as a logger at the age of thirteen; his experience enlisting in WWI; and his various occupations between the World Wars, including his work for the Crown Zellerbach Company. Mr. Robertson then recalls the history of the pulp and paper industry through the history of the Crown Zellerbach, including the reason for t;he odor produced by pulp mills; and he describes the process of paper making. TRACK 2: Mr. Robertson continues with more on the paper making process: the effects of waste on the environment; and reforestation. Then Mr. Robertson discusses commercial and sport salmon fishing; the origins of the name Cortes Island; more on growing up there including a description of the area; canneries on Blind Channel; his own education; and a comparison between kids yesterday and today.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1966-09-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Sloman recounts her father, Jacob Arnet, coming to Clayoquot, circa 1893, from Norway; early fishing and processing of fish; pre-emptions; boat building; Indians; seasonal migration of Indians; Indian sealers; early Clayoquot; transportation; sawmill; family life; Methodist missionaries and Tofino in 1911. TRACK 2: Mrs. Sloman continues with her description of early Tofino; naming; of the community; life at Ucluelet; schooling; George Fraser; her family's return to Tofino; family life; their floating summer house; canneries; children from the Indian reserve; shipwreck; Long Beach; mail delivery; CPR passenger ships; Clayoquot; Walter Dawley; early tourism and fishing.

CALL NUMBER: T2049:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Art Moore RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-01-27 SUMMARY: Art Moore started fishing in 1930 when he got his first license. You were not allowed in those days to get a license until you were 14 years old. He tells of how he went fishing when he was 13 and hid in the boat from the fisheries officer, as he had no license. He says the fisheries officer knew he was there but he never interfered with Art. The license cost $1.00. That fisheries officer is dead now. Pollution so bad in the North Arm that the vast number of salmon going up has been drastically reduced, due to mills, etc. Claims that the mills dump their vats into the river when everyone is sleeping. Millions of fish have been killed by pollution. "If they don't watch this a little closer there won't be a salmon left". "The Fraser is the largest spawning salmon river in the world". Moore also attributes the decrease in salmon to the population explosion and consequential raw sewage outfall. Moore caught typhoid on the Fraser and also a disease on his face. Deep-water ships used to come into the Terra Nova Cannery. Now these ships can't get within 5 miles of the cannery on account of the fill on the river and the flats. Recounts a story of one of his friends, Mr. Takahashi, who celebrated the bombing of Pearl Harbour: "They actually believed that they were going to take our country". Of all they boys that Art Moore went to school with (in his last year) he is the only one still alive. Recounts the story of a classmate named Yeta who had poor eyesight and was a good friend of his. When Yeta was 18 he had to go to Japan for military training and he was put into the front lines (in a trench) in the Manchurian War and was machine-gunned to death by a bi-plane. Recounts the story of another friend who went to Japan for military training and came back selling bonds. Art Moore claims that the Japanese-Canadians got paid more for their boats and land than they ever paid for them. CALL NUMBER: T2049:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Art Moore RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-01-29 SUMMARY: Art Moore recounts stories of incidents concerning Japanese submarines on the B.C. coast during the War (the shelling of Estevan Point etc.) Recounts the story of Jack Homer who got a shell from a Canadian war vessel show through his bow (this happened on the B.C. coast).

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Parmiter recounts coming to Ladner in 1874; his father's involvement in coal mining in the Queen Charlotte Islands; early Ladner; the family farm; other residents; early roads; transportation; early farming; Vancouver; cattle; growing oats and hay; Pemberton's farm; sloughs; canneries; Deas Cannery; Canoe Pass; recreation; floods; dykes; flood boxes; his work at the Standard Cannery on the Skeena River; fishing and farming in Ladner; winters; ice skating; roads; dances. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-05-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Swenson talks about his father [Paul Swenson] who came to Westham Island in 1881 from Sweden, and later managed the British American and Canoe Pass Canneries and bought a farm on Westham; Island in 1886. Mr. Swenson discuses the bridge to the island in 1909; early family history; local Indians; anecdotes about his father and family; Tamboline Slough on Westham Island; history of the Ladner/Delta area; the sturgeon banks; farming; development; Canoe Pass; early settlers of Westham Island and dyke construction. TRACK 2: Mr. Swenson continues discussing dyke construction on Westham Island; Chinese labour; farming; canneries; fishermen; ethnic groups in the area; Japanese; inducements for fishermen to join a cannery; Icelandic immigrants; Finnish immigrants; getting fish to the canneries; local characters; strikes; Count [Alvo von] Alvensleben; Tsawwassen Reserve; raising sugar beet seed.

CALL NUMBER: T1016:0005 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): The Finnish community at Sointula, B.C. RECORDED: [location unknown], 1967-06-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Arvo Tynjala was born in 1897 and discusses the origins of Sointula. The arrival of the Tynjala family at Sointula in 1902. Early activities and settlers at Sointula. The meaning of the name.; Early buildings and living arrangements. The fire of 1903. TRACK 2: The fire of 1903 and its consequences. Plants and animals around Sointula. Fishing, lumbering. The end of the Kalevan Kansa Colonization Co. Ltd. Early settlers. Leaders of the community.

CALL NUMBER: T1016:0006 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): The Finnish community at Sointula, B.C. PERIOD COVERED: 1902-1940 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1967-06-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Arvo Tynjala discusses printing "Aika". The Finnish library. Opposition to religion. Temperance. Education. Athletics. Finnish organization and co-op store. Saunas. Fishing and working in the; canneries. TRACK 2: Fishing work in canneries. Chinese people. Native people. Farming. Finnish Sointula songs. Meaning of Kalevan Kansa.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-05 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Bill Law recounts his father's [William Law]arrival in BC and early life on Texada and Quadra Island. He describes his life on Quadra, including farming; logging; George "By-God" Stafford; George Verdier; and other interesting characters and their stories. TRACK 2: Mr. Law continues with his description of interesting local characters and their stories; "Skookum Tom", Tom Leask; the Hotel at Herriot Bay; Quathiaski Cove; canneries; Indians; his time in the Queen Charlottes.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Bob Atchison RECORDED: Richmond (B.C.), 1976-03-05 SUMMARY: Bob Atchison first started work in 1932 at the St. Mungo Cannery, one of the second or third earliest canneries on the Fraser River. Used four-spindle machinery, a type of seaming equipment used with sanitary cans. Prior to WWI, St. Mungo made its own cans. Describes canning process, and skill of Chinese workers. Discusses different machines used. Discusses living conditions and different nationalities of workers at the canneries. Canneries had nurseries. Paid by the hour, except when filling cans by hand, which was paid by the tray. There were 36 cans on a tray. He worked for 15 cents an hour in 1926, on machinery. Describes the exact canning process of salmon in the early 1900s. Talks about the sailing ships that were tied up on the Fraser River. In those days the canneries always supplied their own fish boats. In those days it was a 25 foot double ended sailing boat with a set of big oars and a man would row it. These boats brought in great amounts of fish because there were terrific amounts in the Fraser River. The collecting of fish was usually done by a tugboat pulling a scow around. The early boats didn't range so far. The first cannery in B.C. was the Annieville in Gunnerson Slough. Explains the story behind the name of the Annieville Cannery. Didn't notice any discrimination in those days, the Japanese were fishermen, the Chinese were shore workers, everyone got along fine. The better the machinery got the more people were employed because there was more fish processed. Discusses cannery output. Discusses unions. Believes the canneries didn't object to the unions coming in because it settled an awful lot of labour problems. Discusses the labour problems before the War. No fixed hours of work, poor working conditions, unfavourable living conditions. Some of the boats were pretty crude and there weren't any facilities on them. Companies welcomed the coming of unions. Remembers working at St. Mungo Cannery for $60.00 a month with board, with no overtime.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Bob Smith RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-01-22 SUMMARY: Bob Smith was born on Lulu Island at Steveston Hwy. Near the golf course in 1906. His father was a fisherman and also worked for Imperial Cannery in the net loft. He started fishing in the Rivers Inlet in 1926 with Wallace Fisheries, as wharfman, then to the Balmoral Cannery on the Skeena River in 1933. Lots of fish in those days. Worked in canneries all over Queen Charlottes, up the Skeena, Canadian Fish and B.C. Packers. Converted a sailboat on the Skeena into a gillnetter with a Chev engine. Took 16 days to come from the Skeena to the Fraser River. Fished with it for 4 or 5 years. Describes the conversion of the sailboat into a gillnetter. Returned to cannery work. Built another boat at Nelson ship yards, a bigger one (31 feet) at the time of the return of the Japanese. Nets these days are more efficient (tape become inaudible). Catches have become smaller, problem of conservation, not enough fish to catch. 12 mile limit is not enough. Long hours fishing in the old days, pulling the net by hand until drums were used. He stays mostly in the river now. Was a union member from the start. Talks of early union organizing difficulties. Talks of Japanese internment, too bad they had to; lose their nets, gradually they returned to the coast. There was not much discrimination between Indians and Japanese and whites. Housing conditions described. Housed were improved in 1926-1927 for Japanese, Indians, and whites. Safety measures improved with union. Bookkeepers were the first-aid men. American Can replaced canning by hand. There's more independence from the canneries now. Fraser River has changed a lot. Pollution affects the fingerlings, especially dog-salmon. Fishing regulations are a help but the fisheries department needs more money for its programs. Salmon enhancement programs have been worthwhile. Buy-back program has not been successful, too many seiners now. Future of fishing is ok if there is more money put into it and the 200 mile limit is enforced.

The fonds consists of films of British Columbia Packers Limited pertaining to herring and salmon fishing, canneries, fish processing, and the whaling industry.

The file consists of five reels of unedited film footage/out-takes. Contains footage of commercial salmon and halibut trolling; purse seining; gill netting; fish ladders (Hells Gate); cannery interiors; tagging salmon; salmon spawning; salmon eggs and fry in laboratory; Adams River salmon run; hatchery scenes. Also includes: aerial views of the B.C. coastline; docks at Zeballos; De Havilland Dragon Rapide passenger plane on floats (registration CF-AYE).
It includes some footage from the film "Commercial salmon trolling off the British Columbia Coast."