The Chinese canners in Port Essington

Abstract

PORT Essington is a ghost town located on a rugged peninsula west of Ecstall River, about 30 kilometres away from the mouth of the Skeena River. In 1883, Robert Cunningham, the founder of the village, established the first fish cannery. Subsequently other merchants went there to set up different kinds of businesses. During its heyday Port Essington had a bank, two hotels with bars and saloons, restaurants, meat and butcher shops, several general stores, a drug store, a dress shop, and a laundry shop, an employment office, and a medical clinic where a doctor and a dentist practiced their professions in the community. There were three newspapers, The Port Essington Loyalist, The Port Essington Star and The Port Essington Sun. However, it was a small village with narrow streets of wooden boardwalks, and 30 or more buildings that included two churches, two schools and a community hall. The chief industries consisted of sawmills and fish canneries. During the fishing season this village boasted a population of approximately 2,000 people, but only about 500 were year-round residents.(f.1)

Unfortunately the fishing industry declined as time went on. By 1920 more than a hundred canneries had been established along the Pacific West Coast and at the mouth of the Skeena River. Consequently, the area was overfished and catches became small. The Fisheries Department also revised its policy in issuing fishing licenses and imposed restrictions on commercial fishing. The Department also advocated restoration and conservation programs to maintain the salmon runs in the Skeena region. When the fish cannery industry became fully unionized in the 1940s, the contract system of recruiting Chinese people to work in the canneries gradually disappeared. As time went by the population of Port Essington became smaller and smaller. The development of Prince Rupert also attracted canneries to be established near the town on the Kaien Island and stimulated the cannery people to leave Port Essington and to live in an urban area. All these factors made it tough for the canneries to continue their operation there.

Fire was perhaps the main cause of the end of Port Essington. Throughout its 90-year history numerous fires took place; some of them were very destructive. For example in 1908, a fire destroyed the Cunningham Sawmill. A fire in 1909 burned down two large Chinese bunkhouses although no casualty was noted. Two fires in the 1960s truly snubbed out the life of Port Essington. On 4 July 1961, a fire, caused by the reflection of light and heat from a shining broken mirror in a warehouse, destroyed a great part of Port Essington. This fire destroyed more than twenty buildings leaving fifty people homeless. Women and children did not have time to save their belongings but just managed to escape.(f.6) In 1965 another big fire totally wiped out the remaining town site. These disasters and the limitation of fish supply gradually made the Chinese workers leave their jobs. Now, Port Essington is a piece of waste land with charred poles sticking out from the muddy shores while the tides rise and ebb quietly, or at times, dash ruthlessly against the rocky terrain.

PORT Essington is a ghost town located on a rugged peninsula west of Ecstall River, about 30 kilometres away from the mouth of the Skeena River. In 1883, Robert Cunningham, the founder of the village, established the first fish cannery. Subsequently other merchants went there to set up different kinds of businesses. During its heyday Port Essington had a bank, two hotels with bars and saloons, restaurants, meat and butcher shops, several general stores, a drug store, a dress shop, and a laundry shop, an employment office, and a medical clinic where a doctor and a dentist practiced their professions in the community. There were three newspapers, The Port Essington Loyalist, The Port Essington Star and The Port Essington Sun. However, it was a small village with narrow streets of wooden boardwalks, and 30 or more buildings that included two churches, two schools and a community hall. The chief industries consisted of sawmills and fish canneries. During the fishing season this village boasted a population of approximately 2,000 people, but only about 500 were year-round residents.(f.1)

THE ROLES OF THE CHINESE WORKERS

The Chinese workers formed the major labour-force in the fish canneries although each cannery also employed Europeans, Native people, and Japanese in their operations. The Europeans were the administrators, clerks, mechanics, engineers and fishermen. The Native men went out to fish in the rivers or in the open sea while the Native women made and mended nets, and then worked with the Chinese workers in the canning plant. The Japanese carried out maintenance work on the wharves as well as in the cannery plant. A great majority of the Chinese and the Native people were seasonal workers who went to canneries at the beginning of the salmon run.

Before canning began the Chinese workers were the first to arrive as they were required to make cans. They cut out strips of tin metal, rolled them on a cylindrical mold and soldered the sides together to form a round cylinder. They punched off round discs from other metal sheets to fit the opening ends of the cylinder. Then they soldered a disc to one end of the hollow cylinder to form an open can. All the work was done by hand and required speed and precision in cutting the tin strips. In the early days a charcoal burner was used to heat up the soldering equipment, and to melt lead for sealing up the parts of a can. Around 1915 a sanitary can-making machine was introduced to the canneries to replace the manual can making.

When the fish arrived they were thrown into a sluice box that transferred them to a scow. One or two Chinese workers, clad in heavy waterproof capes, hats and pairs of long oilskin boots, would sort out the fish with a metal fork and toss them into boxes. The fish-sorting job not only required muscular strength but also the sorter's ability to maintain his equilibrium in the sorting process while standing on a wet and slimy surface. After sorting, the boxes of fish were taken manually to the canning plant. In later years the fish were delivered to the canning plants by escalator.

In the canning plant a group of Chinese workers cut off the heads and fins of the fish, slit open their bellies, removed the guts and sliced the large fish into halves lengthwise. Some of these Chinese "slitters" could butcher about 2,000 fish in a 10-hour day(f.2). These butchered fish were then pushed to the opposite side of the bench where native women would scrub off the scales, carry out final turmming, and wash the fish with water. The remnants such as guts, fins, and scales were thrown back into the sea through a large hole in the bench, and were washed away by the rising tides. The sea gulls consumed the discarded fish parts floating on the water.

In 1905, a butchering machine, the "Iron Chink," was introduced by all fish canneries in an attempt to replace the Chinese workers. At that time anti-Chinese sentiment was simmering and the Vancouver Trades and Labour Council discouraged merchants from employing Chinese labourers. One of the by-laws of the Workingmen's Protective Association stated that its members should "solemnly pledge ... neither [to] aid or ... patronize or employ[ing] Chinamen..." The white people often labelled the Chinese with derogatory terms such as Chinamen, Celestials, Chinks, etc. The term "Iron Chink" certainly reflects the discriminatory attitude of the cannery management.

Before the introduction of the Iron Chink, the Chinese workers were responsible for cutting the fish into uniform pieces and the native women filled them in cans, which were placed on a tray. Some other Chinese workers would cap and seal the cans, and take them to a steam box to cook for 30 minutes. After cooking the Chinese workers pulled out each tray and punched a tiny hole in each can to release the steam. Immediately, they sealed up the hole with a drop of molten solder. Then another group of Chinese workers stacked the sealed cans in another tray and pushed them into a retort or boiler to cook for another 50 minutes. Afterward, each can was dipped into lye water to remove grease and put on the floor to cool. Finally, the Chinese workers would brush a layer of lacquer on each can to prevent rusting, and paste labels on the cans by hand before they packed them into boxes for shipment

At the end of the season the seasonal workers celebrated and gave thanks before they went home. The Native people usually had a dance festival while the Chinese workers held a feast and gave thanks to the Almighty or Tian Shen. In such thanksgiving event the Chinese workers always offered a roast pig as sacrifice for the occasion. The young piglets, which they had raised in the pigpen set up near their vegetable plot, would then be mature and ready for butchering and roasting.

THE CHINESE BUNKHOUSES

Living quarters were provided for staff and seasonal workers but each nationality was segregated from one another. Some experts asserted that housing for different nationalities was separated for cultural and linguistic reasons as each group would feel more comfortable living with its own people. Others maintained that it was the management strategy in dealing with manpower. David Boyce, a writer and a guide in the North Pacific Cannery Village Museum, remarked that if the different racial groups did not have the opportunity to interact with each other socially, each group would not know about the wages of the other national groups. Anyway, the Chinese workers were put in bunkhouses at the rear of the canning plants.

These bunkhouses were barn-like wooden buildings with two storeys that could accommodate between 50 to 60 people in each building(f.3). The downstairs usually consisted of a few rooms with bunk beds and a long hall furnished with rough wooden tables, stools, a wood stove, and two or three cupboards to keep dishes. The Chinese workers were not expected to cook in the bunkhouse for meals could be bought in the mess hall. But when they were tired of the cafeteria meal, they could boil water to make themselves a cup of tea or cook simple meals over the wood stove in the evening. Their home-made meals consisted of rice, salt fish, pickled vegetables, or fermented bean curds. The lower level was also the place where they played games and socialized with one another. The upstairs contained rows of bunk beds for sleeping. When workers arrived at the canneries they brought with them pillows, straw mats, thin blankets, and mosquito nets, which were needed as swarms of mosquitoes would be present in summer. Some bunkhouses had verandahs where the workers could sit around and smoke their pipes during their leisure hours.

The Chinese workers usually found a plot of land near their bunkhouse to plant vegetables and raise fowls and pigs nearby. This was to ensure a fresh supply of food while working in the canneries. As mentioned, roast pigs were essential for thanksgiving and it was cheaper to raise these animals than having them brought up from the south. Moreover, it did not cost much to raise the pigs as they were fed with slurps or leftovers from the mess hall.

Another feature was the bathing facilities for the workers. Behind each bunkhouse they enclosed an area for showers. Near the enclosure the men built a hot-water tank heated by wood over a clay stove. Since it was not easy to find fresh water in Port Essington, workers would go to the nearby spring to get water for the hotwater tank as well as for supplying cold water. When they took a shower they would mix the cold and hot water in a barrel before they scrubbed and rinsed themselves with scoops of warm water.

CHINA BOSSES

The contractors or "China Bosses," were employees or partners of some well-known employment agencies such as Chock On, Lew Bing, Yip Sang, and other companies in Vancouver. In Port Essington each cannery had at least one China Boss or a contractor who was knowledgeable about the canning procedures. In early May these contractors brought the Chinese workers to various assigned canneries and supervised the workers in their jobs. In most canneries the China Bosses also contracted and paid Native women to help out cleaning fish and stuffing the cut fish pieces into cans. The whole contract system relieved the cannery manager of personnel problems and placed the recruitment of labourers and the financial risk on the contractors.(f.4) However, there is no evidence that contractors suffered financial loss. The contract system was set up in such a way that the Chinese workers would absorb any loss if it occurred. To begin with, the contractors were given a certain sum of money to bring up the crew. This money was to pay for passages, food, and any overhead cost, but not on wages. The workers were paid at the end of the fishing season according to the number of cans they had made, the number of fish they slaughtered, and other piecework they performed in one season. In a good year they would be able to earn more as there would be plenty of fish for them to butcher and can. Thus the system was set up in such a way that it was almost loss-proof on the part of the contractors. In addition, these contractors operated some kind of business in the community. When they came to the canneries they brought with them some Chinese delicacies, tobacco leaves, rice wine, workman clothing, wooden clogs or flannel slippers, and daily articles such as tooth brushes, razors, and other things to sell to the Chinese workers. The contractors would make profits from retailing their merchandise too.

These contractors had to keep in touch with the employment agencies in Vancouver and send reports to them regularly. The Chock On collection contains numerous Chinese reports and correspondence about the production of canned fish, the well-being of the workers, and the working conditions in the canneries. One report mentions that the Chinese bunkhouse in one of the canneries was very large and contained bunk beds, two large tables, a good number of stools and benches, and two cooking stoves, but no place to put the garbage. Another letter informed Chock On Agency that little flat land was available to cultivate a vegetable garden at a certain cannery, and the crew requested to have produce and other food items sent up. In some dispatches contractors complained that certain newcomers were unfamiliar with the tasks; consequently, the production of that season was less than expected. A couple of letters asked the Chock On Agency to stop shipping groceries and other perishable goods up because the salmon run was poor and the crew would go back to Vancouver earlier. Other ledgers state the total number of boxes of canned fish that had been produced for export.

At the end of the season the contractors settled the wages for the crew members and closed the book for the year before heading south. Although the workers were housed in the bunkhouses they had to pay a small sum of money for rent. They ate in the mess hall on credit, which had to be deducted too. Thus, it is unclear how much money each worker could take home after each season. When the book was returned to the management individual names of the workers were not stated but just the number of persons hired was written down. Even at work every worker was given a number for identification. Usually the good and hard working ones were asked to return for work in the next fishing season but not the slow and poor ones.

THE SOCIAL AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES

Although the Chinese workers lived and worked with other nationalities in the same area around the canneries, their social interactions with others were rather limited. The housing arrangement separated each nationality from the others, making each group keep to itself. The language barrier and cultural differences would have made it difficult anyway to socialize. Although the Chinese workers lived together as a group and provided companionship for each other, their bond of friendship could not replace the warmth and love of their families. A Chinese diary was found in a box containing the 1901 fishery reports. In this diary the writer described his feelings of lone-liness away from home. Apparently he left his wife shortly after their wedding. In the diary he wrote:

... I could never forget her silky skin and the fragrance given out by her youthful body. Although I met her only on the night of our wedding I fell in love with her at the very moment I saw her. She was so sweet and gentle... I hope she finds life comfortable living with my parents, and that she has carried out her duty as a good and respectful daughter-in-law. I pray that my parents do not enslave her but treat her like a daughter... So far I have not received any serious complaints from my parents about her except that she daydreamed a lot... In all her letters she reminded me to make lots of money and return home soon. Don't I wish to do that! I miss her and want to go home to be with her, but when?

This diary, written by one cannery worker, reflects the feelings of loneliness and isolation of all the men who came to pursue their dreams in the land of gold mountains.

Although the Chinese workers were prepared to work hard, there were days when the catch was small, and they finished their work earlier. During those long summer evenings they often created some activities for themselves. Some of their famous indoor activities included playing domino, mah-jong, Chinese paper cards (shiwuhu), and fan-tan. These games gave the gamblers some excitement and anticipation, but also regret and remorse when they lost. Some old-timers say that gambling helped to stimulate their minds. Games like domino and mah-jong require mental strategies and watchfulness in order to win.

When the weather was good, some seniors would sit on the verandah and smoke their favorite pipes while watching a beautiful sunset. Young people would go to Dufferin Street, the main street of the town, to sit or stand around and watch the whites having fun in the bars or saloons. Young people usually participated in some outdoor recreation.

One of their favorite pastimes was a game tossing a shuttle with their ankles.(f.5) This shuttle is a homemade toy consisting of three large feathers with their shafts inserted into the center of a spool or a stack of rubber washers. The shuttle is tossed into the air by an ankle until the player fails to catch it with the ankle. One person can play this game as a form of exercise, or it can be played by a group of people in competition to see who can sustain the longest time in tossing, or who can obtain the largest number of tosses within a limited time period.

Another favorite outdoor recreation was kite flying. The Chock On Fond collection contains a Chinese poem about kite flying written by a cannery worker. The poem is translated as follows:

Though you are sailing

high up in the sky,

you are still held

in my hand.

Fly higher and float afar!

My beloved one

in distant land

would know

I am around

thinking of her,

when she sees

your beautiful wings

fluttering below the clouds.

Indeed, Chinese people love to fly kites in early autumn when the wind blows. Their kites can be as simple as a piece of quadrangular rice paper pasted on a bamboo frame, or as elaborate as an eagle or butterfly, a real piece of art. It gives the kite maker a sense of great pride when he sees his creation flying high up in the sky. At the end of the kite-flying season, the kite is usually cut off from the string while still floating in the air. It is a symbol of letting go one's poor luck.

DECLINE OF THE CANNERIES

Unfortunately the fishing industry declined as time went on. By 1920 more than a hundred canneries had been established along the Pacific West Coast and at the mouth of the Skeena River. Consequently, the area was overfished and catches became small. The Fisheries Department also revised its policy in issuing fishing licenses and imposed restrictions on commercial fishing. The Department also advocated restoration and conservation programs to maintain the salmon runs in the Skeena region. When the fish cannery industry became fully unionized in the 1940s, the contract system of recruiting Chinese people to work in the canneries gradually disappeared. As time went by the population of Port Essington became smaller and smaller. The development of Prince Rupert also attracted canneries to be established near the town on the Kaien Island and stimulated the cannery people to leave Port Essington and to live in an urban area. All these factors made it tough for the canneries to continue their operation there.

Fire was perhaps the main cause of the end of Port Essington. Throughout its 90-year history numerous fires took place; some of them were very destructive. For example in 1908, a fire destroyed the Cunningham Sawmill. A fire in 1909 burned down two large Chinese bunkhouses although no casualty was noted. Two fires in the 1960s truly snubbed out the life of Port Essington. On 4 July 1961, a fire, caused by the reflection of light and heat from a shining broken mirror in a warehouse, destroyed a great part of Port Essington. This fire destroyed more than twenty buildings leaving fifty people homeless. Women and children did not have time to save their belongings but just managed to escape.(f.6) In 1965 another big fire totally wiped out the remaining town site. These disasters and the limitation of fish supply gradually made the Chinese workers leave their jobs. Now, Port Essington is a piece of waste land with charred poles sticking out from the muddy shores while the tides rise and ebb quietly, or at times, dash ruthlessly against the rocky terrain.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Boyce, D. Red, Yellow, White: Colours of the Salmon Canning Industry. Victoria, BC: Questing, Archival Research & Creative Development, 1997.

Blyth, Gladys Y. Salmon Canneries, British Columbia North Coast. Victoria, BC: Morris Printing Company Ltd., 1991.

Harris, E.A. Spokeshute. Skeena River Memory. Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 1990.

Haig-Brown, Alan. Fishing for a Living. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1993.

Lyons, Cicely. Salmon: Our Heritage. Vancouver: Mitchell Press Ltd., 1969.

Meggs, G. Salmon: The Decline of the British Columbia Fishery. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1991.

Wicks, Walter. Memories of The Skeena. Saanichton, BC: Hancock House Publishers Ltd., 1976.

JOURNALS

Appleyard, B. "Port Essington, B.C.: Whites and Indians," The Mission Field, 1 October 1897.

Documents, Reports & Records

Chock On Fond, 1928-1940, Box 1 & 2, (Chinese Version), UBC Special Collections.

Department of Fisheries, Correspondence & Applications for Licenses, 1907-1910. Gr. 435, Box 14

Orchard, Imbert. People in Landscape, CBC Interview Tapes, 1978, No. 2489-1

Report: North Pacific China House Archaeology Project, Shannon Mark & Associates, NpCh 1992.

Ross, W.M. Salmon cannery packs statistics: Nass & Skeena River of BC. unpublished, 1966.

NEWSPAPER AND OTHER ARTICLES

Bowman, Phyllis. "Cunningham Built Port Essington As Base For Skeena River Travel," Daily Colonist, 10 September 1967.

Port Essington Loyalist, 7 November 1907, January-August 1908.

The Daily Colonist.

The Vancouver Province.

(f.1) Agnes Harris, "The Ghosts Walk in this BC Town," The Province, May 1958, 19

(f.2) Imbert Orchard, "People in Landscape," CBC Interview Tapes, 1978, No. 2489 - 1

(f.3) S. Mark & Associates, Report: North Pacific China House Archaeology Project, 1992, 3 and 92

(f.4) G. Meggs, Salmon: The Decline of BC Fishery (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1991), 24

(f.5) B. Appleyard, "Port Essington, BC:Whites and Indians," The Mission Fields, October 1, 1897, 364

(f.6) The Vancouver Province, July 5, 1961, 1