Artifact of the Month: August 2024

Preserving the Summer Catch

To prepare for the long, wet winters when fresh salmon options are limited it is critical to preserve the summer catch. Food preservation for Southeast Alaska has taken many forms. Indigenous peoples traditionally smoked or dried fish. Later, businessmen brought machinery for large-scale industrial canning. Current trends have favored freezing the catch.

Russell Simpson, a machinist who came to Alaska in 1927, worked for the Ketchikan Packing Company cannery. He maintained and fabricated parts for equipment on the canning line. In the 1930s, Russell handcrafted two in-home canning machines from spare parts. One machine was given to his good friend Torleif Dale, who belonged to a proud Norwegian fishing family that came to Ketchikan in the 1920s. The other machine is retained by the Simpson family and is still in operation after 90 years.

The electric canning machine used by the Dale family is this month's featured artifact. At three feet tall and built of metal, the machine is quite sturdy. Uniquely shaped plywood guards are a safety feature covering belts and gears. A small motor seals 16 oz metal cans of salmon. Once sealed, the cans are then processed in a pressure cooker. Secure lids help prevent food spoilage and waste. The Dale family used their machine until preferences changed to canning smaller cans.


Object ID #: KM 2020.2.22.1