Salmonopolis: The Steveston Story

Native women working in the canneries were often hired and paid by the Chinese contractor. Some women were regular employees who repaired nets; others were strictly seasonal staff, the spouses of the fishermen employed by the cannery. The average working day was ten hours, but it could be longer at the height of the season. In the early years of the industry, before gillnet webbing was made by machine, Native women were employed before the fishing season as knitters. They were given a certain quantity of linen twine to be made into the mesh size required by fishery regulations and to the depth desired by the cannery. They held a wooden gauge (to ensure standard size) in their left hand and their shuttle or needle filled with twine in the right. Each net took a few days to complete, after which it was measured; if satisfactory, a new allotment of twine was issued. During the canning season the women worked mainly as slimers and occasionally as slitters, fillers or can wipers. While their mothers worked, the Native children might pile the filled salmon cans or play on the beach under the cannery floor when the tide was out. Here they often found knives and whetstones that had fallen through cracks in the floor, and they sought rewards for returning them. While they were at the cannery houses, Natives cooked over open fires, either inside the building or out. Many varieties of fish made up their principal food source, including salmon, sturgeon, oolichans, and shellfish such as clams and cockles. When there was a surplus of salmon at the canneries, canners offered the extra to the Natives, who cured it in their smoke houses or salted it in a strong brine. They also preserved oolichans. There were special treats for children, such as the uncooked spinal cord from the sturgeon their parents occasionally caught in the Fraser. They also made a simple bread from flour and water, baked in an open pan, and their meals were accompanied by butter, greens, wild rhubarb and berries gathered from fields around Steveston. Clothing was generally simple and convenient. Women wore dresses that could be pulled over the head without need for fasteners. A friend had the woman stoop over, laid a newspaper on her back, and cut the outline of her figure, which was then transferred to fabric purchased at a Steveston store. Young children often wore nothing more than a cotton shirt, and neither they nor their mothers were accustomed to wearing shoes, stockings, coats or hats. Men and children sometimes swam in the river, but women rarely did and thus were more prone to vermin infestation. Missionaries visiting the Native camps helped procure medical help for other conditions as they became evident. Deaths were common in summer camps and the Natives frequently wanted to take the bodies back to their reserves at the end of the season. They made coffins from lumber found around the canneries and stored them, sometimes in trees or small "houses," until they went home. Vandalism brought an end to this practice, and they started taking their dead to Vancouver; but the custom provided a vivid memory for many Steveston pioneers, The Natives always brought their dogs along with them and sometimes, at the canneries, made pets of hair seals who lived at the mouth of the river and were the bane of the fisherman's life, stealing salmon from the nets or becoming entangled in them. European fishermen generally knocked them over the head and threw them back into the water; Native fishermen often brought them back for the children to play with. The seal was fed salmon beads from the cannery waste, and within a few days it became tame enough for the children to play with, cautiously at first, but with increasing familiarity. It eventually became tame enough to be taken out in a small canoe to swim playfully about with the children. It frolicked in and out of the canoe with them until the canoe was swamped, and then the childreStacey, Duncan is the author of 'Salmonopolis: The Steveston Story' with ISBN 9781550171105 and ISBN 1550171100.