Ocean BountySalmon and whales once powered a lucrative and dynamic fishing industry on the North Coast. However, the salmon runs petered out as timber industry practices and dams upstream damaged fragile riparian ecosystems in the spawning waters of the Klamath, Eel, and Smith Rivers. The whaling business came to a halt due to over-fishing, dried-up demand for whale oil, and society’s change of ethical mind about hunting and killing whales. Arcata Wharf - ca. 1883The two-mile long Arcata Wharf was built by the Union Wharf and Plank Walk Company in 1854 to transport lumber into deep water for loading onto ocean going ships. An early rail system had a white horse named “Spanking Fury” tow a cart out to the ships along wooden rails overlain with strap iron. The horse-drawn rail remained in service until the 1875 when it was replaced by a small steam locomotive named the Black Diamond.
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Chinook Fishing Klamath River Mouth - 1913Salmon is an anadromous fish species which means it can live in both fresh river water and salty ocean water. When salmon began their spawning runs each fall up the Klamath, the river’s mouth was full of boats and the boats were full of salmon. Some of the salmon that survived the fishermen made their way up to Klamath Lake in Oregon, some 260 miles upriver.
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Del Norte Salmon Cannery in Requa - 1913Rek-woi, is possibly the only indigenous village site in California continuously inhabited for centuries by the same tribe, the Yurok. Because it sat outside the Klamath River Reservation established by U.S. President Franklin Pierce in 1855, whites were able to fish and establish commercial operations. The cannery between Requa and Hunter Creek, a mile up from the river’s mouth, hired Indians to work the cannery and fish, one cannery owner, John Baumhoff, signed an agreement with 26 Yuroks to provide nets and boats and paid the Indian workers 10 cents for every salmon weighing over ten pounds.
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Trinidad Whaling Station - 1922The station was built in 1920 by Fredrick Dedrick, head of the California Sea Products Company, for the price of $300,000. At its peak, the station employed between 35 and 60 men, had a fleet of four “killing vessels”, and could capture and process up to nine whales per day. The whales were an average of 50 feet long and produced 50 barrels of oil each. Bone meal, fertilizer, and chicken feed were among the other products that came from the whales.
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Last updated: October 12, 2022