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Audio Interviews with Ol' Timers

1) Bill Bright:  Click here to listen to an audio interview with Bill Bright, the last manager of the old P.E. Harris/Peter Pan Seafoods salmon cannery in False Pass.  Bill spent 50 salmon seasons working in the False Pass area and knew the history of the cannery and the local fishery better than anyone.  Bill passed away in Seattle on July 30, 2007.  The interview was made on March 2, 2004 by Steve Puddicombe at Bill's place on the ship canal in Seattle. This audio MP3 file is approximately 1 hour 43 minutes long.

2)  John Petrinovich: Click here to listen to an audio interview with John Petrinovich, a salmon fisherman who has fished in the Unimak and Port Moller fisheries since 1950.  This interview was made on June 9, 2001 by Steve Puddicombe and Chuck Martinson in False Pass, Alaska.  This audio MP3 file is approximately 1 hour 35 minutes long.

 

F/V Uranus at P.E. Harris cannery dock, 1930s

Note on photo:

This scene is from the mid-1930's at the P.E. Harris salmon cannery dock in False Pass.  The picture is taken from the finger pier where salmon were unloaded, looking northwest.  The building on the right is the Fish House where the salmon were received and kept in bins for later canning.  The fish elevator that carries salmon from the tenders into the fish house can be seen going up on the right.  The building on the left is the warehouse where the hot, freshly-canned salmon were cooled and stored; upstairs was the Can Shop where the cans were re-formed and sent by conveyor tracks to the main canning floor in another building.  The building in the background was the Web Loft where salmon seines were worked on and stored. An elevated "fish flume" can be seen in the upper middle background where it leaves the fish house and carries the fish to the canning room.

Moored to the dock in the foreground can be seen a pot scow loaded with wooden barrels.  It is tied alongside the F/V Uranus owned and operated by Nick Kristensen and his two sons, Stanley & Steve.  These barrels were most likely filled with salted red salmon that had been prepared by the crew of the Uranus at Urilia Bay, on the north side of Unimak Island.  The salted salmon would then be shipped down to Bunsen & Davis, salted fish brokers in Seattle.  The larger vessel beyond the Uranus, tied up in the Humpy Hole, is most likely a company salmon tender, probably the Amelie or Trojan.

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