The NN Cannery looking southwest. Photo credit: Anne Pollnow, 2017, courtesy of Katherine Ringsmuth.
In August 2021, the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places listed the Diamond NN Cannery Maritime Historic District, recognizing the historic salmon cannery's contribution to Alaska, national, and Pacific World history. The San Francisco-based Arctic Packing Company built the Diamond NN on the south shore of the Naknek River, on the east side of Bristol Bay, in rural Southwest Alaska. Each year, salmon return to the Bay's pristine spawning streams, representing the world's largest red salmon (sockeye) run. Canneries began to take advantage of the massive harvest in 1883 when the Arctic Packing Company established the first cannery on the Nushagak River.
The Arctic Packing Company later started the Diamond NN Cannery as a saltery in 1890, marking the first commercial fishing enterprise on the Naknek River. The company merged with over thirty rival Alaskan canneries three years later to form the new Alaska Packers Association (APA). The following year, in 1894, APA converted the Diamond NN into a salmon cannery. But until the 1920s, the company continued using the saltery for supplemental income. Except for two years during World War II, the cannery operated every summer, even outlasting APA, which dissolved in 1982.
A 50:1 scale map of APA's Diamond NN Cannery from March 15, 1968. Photo credit: Trident Seafoods.
By the end of the 20th century, the Diamond NN had processed millions of salmon and remained one of Alaska's oldest running canneries. In 1995, the American seafood giant, Trident Seafoods, bought the cannery and, after pulling canning lines in 2001, used the property as a support base for its other facilities nearby. In 2015, Trident officially closed the Diamond NN to fishermen. The company now uses the cannery solely for limited support services.
During its years of operation in remote South Naknek, the Diamond NN Cannery housed an international community to process a product sent to global markets. Over 130 years later, the buildings they used still stand, are in good condition, and hold the multifaceted and oft' forgotten history of a storied workscape.
Recipes from APA's Argo Red Salmon Cookbook. How to Eat Canned Salmon. APA introduced the Argo brand and published the cookbook for the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. A WWI soldier eating canned salmon. Photo credit: the Alaska State Museum.Canned salmon labels featured images of Alaska's exotic wilderness to attract customers in the late 19th century.
The APA's 1904 World's Fair display in St. Louis. Photo credit: The NN Cannery History Project.
While fish has fed humans since time immemorial, APA's canned salmon was not commonly consumed in early 20th century diets. In fact, APA had to 'teach' Americans how to eat canned salmon. The company participated in the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, and the 1904 fair in St. Louis. They created elaborate exhibits with interactive fishing and canning gear that engaged visitors. Canners capitalized on the rise of nation-wide advertising – even publishing salmon cookbooks – to entice potential canned salmon consumers. But the earliest form of canned salmon promotion was the label itself, which evoked the idea of easy, delicious meals made with fresh, exotic, wild Alaskan fish.
APA's efforts paid off. Canned salmon advertisements increasingly appeared in popular magazines, cookbooks, and public health advice, with tinned fish even feeding the frontline soldiers of World War I and II. Meanwhile, APA controlled 90% of Alaskan canneries, which were responsible for 70% of the territory's product. After statehood, the once bountiful salmon runs crashed, bottoming out in the early 1970s. However, after U.S. and Japanese import-export relations improved by the mid-1960s, canners added egg houses to process and sell salmon roe to Japan. Roe exportation became the industry's most lucrative product, saving Alaska's canned salmon trade.
The Crew
To produce the salmon pack, APA recruited an international workforce. Technology, laws, wars, racism, and rights all contributed to who worked there and when.
In the cannery's earlier years, fishermen working for the Diamond NN often came from Scandinavia, Italy, and Greece. Initially, company officials viewed the Scandinavians as the "superior" white fishermen. But former Diamond NN employees fondly remembered the garlic, olive oil, bread, and seafood feasts the Italians hosted, bringing a taste for Mediterranean foods to remote Alaska.
Alaska Native residents partnered with the Diamond NN cannery from its beginning until its closure. After the Spanish Influenza of 1919 decimated traditional communities, many indigenous people turned to cannery jobs. They acted as fishermen, the winter watchman, and the spring and fall crew. These crews worked the quiet months opening the cannery and winterizing the buildings after the busy season. The Cannery Caretakers (short documentary)
The current state of the Diamond NN's "Chinatown." Some of the buildings are not safe to enter but are all still standing. Photo credit: Katherine Ringsmuth, 2016.
At the cannery's start, the processing crew members were overwhelmingly Chinese. They lived in a separate section of the cannery grounds called "Chinatown." They were very skilled and earned a good reputation for their butchering abilities. But a butchering machine, at the time unapologetically patented as the "Iron Chink," eventually replaced them, while the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 further reduced their presence in the cannery.
The dominant culture of the processors changed with time. What had once been called the China Bunkhouse became the Mexican Bunkhouse by 1920, as Mexican workers originating in California joined the cannery crew in greater numbers after World War I.
African Americans also worked in the cannery, mostly from 1910-1920. But their contribution during production was eventually replaced and ignored as cannery labor began to unionize. The Southern market was not forgotten, however, where canners used racialized images on their labels to sell canned fish to African American and white consumers.
The former Filipino Mess Hall. After the canneries were desegregated in the 1970s, it became the Fishermen's Laundry. Photo credit: Katherine Ringsmuth, 2016.
After WWI, Filipinos dominated the cannery workforce and, through unionization, ended the corrupt labor contract system. Young Filipinos, aptly called the Alaskeros, worked to make money for college and took advantage of American social and economic opportunities. But despite their education, they still experienced segregated mess halls and living quarters. Using the American legal system, Filipinos fought for equal rights and cannery desegregation and won.
Women in the Egg House, packaging roe for sale in Japan in 1978. In the background, a Japanese technician checks for quality. Photo credit: Tom Connelly, courtesy of Katherine Ringsmuth.
While Japanese processors worked at the Diamond NN from the start, they gained new status after WWII. As the U.S. lifted import-export bans from the former enemy-turned-ally, APA sold the previously discarded salmon roe to Japanese buyers. These companies employed skilled Japanese technicians who ensured quality control for the roe shipped abroad. Operating in the cannery Egg House, the Japanese often preferred female workers to handle to delicate roe. This, combined with the passage of the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972, allowed more women to join the Diamond NN's ranks.
The cannery depended on an international mix of cultures to catch and can millions of salmon. The cannery's bunkhouses, mess halls, laundry, bakery, and other buildings housed a diverse workerforce, who fed, cleaned, and cooked for the cannery. Unlike other cannery buildings which have collapsed with age, many of the NN Cannery structures are still standing, some a century old. They contain the rich stories of these historically underrepresented yet economically vital laborers.
The Tangible Evidence
Over the past 130 years, the cannery buildings remained in place, withstood the weather, and avoided vandalism, including fire. Today, the 50 historic buildings, seven sites, two structures, and two objects constituting the Diamond NN Cannery Maritime Historic District convey the original layout. Former workers and local residents can still follow the boardwalks connecting the bunkhouses to the mess hall, the docks, and back.
Pictures of the cannery in 2017 and the early 1900s. Photo credit: Katherine Ringsmuth; Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Heritage Resources, Western Washington University.
The Diamond NN Cannery represented the Industrial Revolution as it transformed Alaska. The industrial property retained an international crew, employed steam-driven machinery, and mass-produced canned salmon for over a century. When the cannery closed, the workscape no longer functioned in its historical role. But the original buildings' historical design and materials are still visible: the wooden floors, tin roofs, and siding, even the graffiti scribbled by anonymous authors. Today, the same smells remain: the odors of fish, oil, grease, saltwater, and the bakery remind visitors (new and returning) of the busy operation that once existed there. Despite deterioration, the buildings and surrounding landscape remain largely unchanged since the cannery's construction, presenting the same view seen by a century of workers. Importantly, they reveal 100 years of the canned salmon industry's history and its underrepresented participants.
"I was here" graffiti by Frank Russo, Theadore Cruise, and others. Photo credit: NN Cannery History Project.A carving of the Croatian flag sits on a tabletop. Photo credit: NN Cannery History Project. In the Fishermen's Bunkhouse. Photo credit: NN Cannery History Project.
The structures contain evidence of the superintendent, the Chinese and Mexican processors, the Filipino Union leaders, the Sugpiat set netters, the Italian fishermen, and the laundry ladies from the local village, who lived and worked there – for a few months, or even decades. Once-busy rooms preserve long-forgotten personal gear, lockers, fish bins, and boilers. Carved names on tabletops, flags on windows, and images of girlfriends back home offer a glimpse into the lives of the diverse workforce, who often left few other records about daily life at the cannery. Mug Up - Historic Cannery Footage
Members of the NN Cannery History Project, including Katie Ringsmuth and Bob King. Photo credit: Katie RingsmuthBob King interviewing Gary Johnson, a former Diamond NN superintendent, 2017. Photo credit: NN Cannery History Project A Bristol Bay High School student inviewing Natty Boskoffsky for the Digital Storytelling Workshop headed by Naknek artist Larece Egli. Photo credit: NN Cannery History Project The Bunkhouse and Mess Hall exhibits from the Mug-Up Exhibition at the Alaska State Museum. Photo credit: Alaska State MuseumSpring-Fall Crew displays from the Mug-Up Exhibition at the Alaska State Museum. Photo credit: Alaska State MuseumScale model of the Diamond NN Cannery by Alaskan artist Andrew Abyo. Photo credit: NN Cannery History Project
Canneries, like the Diamond NN, were designed with a functional, economical style. One feature included building the cannery over the water with gapped floorboards. This allowed rising tides to force cool air over the hot, fresh cans of fish. Photo credit: Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Heritage Resources, Western Washington University.
After seven years of hard work, combining community enthusiasm and professional expertise, the NN Cannery was listed on the National Register in August 2021. The listing marked the first cannery in Bristol Bay to receive national recognition. Hopefully, it will not be the last.
For an in-depth history of the Diamond NN Cannery, visit The NN Cannery History Project's website. You can watch student and professional films and access articles, oral histories, and other media from there. APA and the Diamond NN also dealt with the deadly 1919 Spanish Influenza, sending medical aid to villages and caring for Alaska Native orphans. The NN Cannery History Project researched those events and their ripple effects in Bristol Bay. Resources are highlighted below:
About the Author:
Ava Martin is an intern at the Office of History and Archaeology. She enjoys sharing history's relevance and is finishing her senior year at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where she studies history and anthropology.
Gun Mount at Rocky Point looking over Resurrection Bay, September 2021
From September 8 to 14, a team of archeologists and architectural historians from the Office of History and Archeology surveyed Fort McGilvray, a coastal defense post from World War II, located approximately seven miles from Seward, Alaska. With assistance from State Park rangers, the investigation culminated in the nomination of Fort McGilvray Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places.
OHA Survey Team arrives at North Beach, September 2021 Towering cliffs of Caines Head rise sharply from Resurrection Bay at North Beach. September 2021
A diagram showing the organization outlined in General Order No. 105, Headquarters Alaska Defense Command, June 29, 1943, In "Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project Harbor Defense of Seward, September 9, 1947," in files of Alaska Office of History and Archaeology.Built from 1941 to 1944 atop towing cliffs rising from the west side of Resurrection Bay, Fort McGilvray was part of the extensive Seward Fixed Harbor Defense System constructed to protect the port of Seward, the terminus of the Alaska Railroad, and central access point into the Interior of Alaska.
Harbor Defenses of Seward and Fort Raymond, General Location Map, 1944. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Encompassing roughly 700 acres, Fort McGilvray Historic District consists of four distinct geographical areas used for defense, command, and supply.
The distinct colors show the four separate areas that constitute the McGilvray Historic District. Map created by OHA staff.
Construction at Caines Head and South Beach started on July 31, 1941. In March 1943, the military named the installation Fort McGilvray after an Army Officer who commanded "Fort Kenay" in 1869. By March 1944, the military ordered the Fort dismantled after U.S. forces had driven enemy forces from the Aleutians and sent the guns to San Diego and South Dakota locations.
Remains of the six-inch gun mount at Fort McGilvray creates a sense of place allowing visitors to envision and better understand the defense of Alaska during World War II.
Established in 1971, the Caines Head State Recreational Area ( CHSRA) included 1800 acres. In 1974, the Park expanded by an additional 4000 acres. Until the 1964 earthquake, a road system originating at North Beach linked the four locales. State Parks began clearing the old military roads in 1984 to serve as the trail system for the Park. The historic North Beach Road, established by the U.S. military in 1941-1942, is similar to the historic Alcan Highway, for its role in the military supply chain and contribution to the War effort.
OHA staff walks along the historic road to Fort McGilvrary, first built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1941. Although once connecting Fort McGilvrary's four distinct areas, the Army never built a road to connect Fort McGilvrary to Fort Raymond in Seward. September 2021
Today, the Fort's wood buildings and structures, including the Quonset and Pacific huts, are ruins. But extant features with distinguishing military characteristics still convey the historic function and engineering of the post.
The remains of the World War II-era dock at North Beach. September 2021
At North Beach are the remains of a wood dock. At South Beach, evidence exists of the main cantonment.
OHA staff documents one of the collapsed barracks at South Beach. September 2021
Panama mounts for 155mm guns remain at Rocky Point.
The Panama mount 155 guns at Rocky Point offer visitors a panorama view of Resurrection Bay. September 2021
And, atop Caines Head Battery 293/Fort McGilvray, approximately 580 feet above the ocean, are several WWII-era remnants, including a fire control bunker, cement magazines, and Barbette mounts for two 6-inch guns.
Although many of Fort McGilvrary's structures are dilapidated or in ruins, the Command Station is in excellent condition. It offers visitors a rare example of the Army's extraordinary engineering efforts during the War. September 2021 Entrance to the Comand Station at Rocky Point. September 2021
After 80 years, the concrete buildings and structures, including those at the main Battery, the ammunition magazines, gun mounts, and the hydroelectric dam, retain both architectural and historic integrity, and together, communicate to visitors an episode that profoundly changed Seward, the Territory of Alaska, and the nation—World War II.
The still-intact munitions bunkers are some of the best remaining representations of World War II activities at Caines Head and are popular visitor sites. September 2021.
The remains of a dam show how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers modified and utilized the natural landscape at Caines Head. September 2021
A fire hydrant at South Beach is evident of the extraordinary infrastructure the Army installed to support its mission to protect Resurrection Bay. September 2021
Although most buildings are dilapidated or in ruins and much of the area is overgrown, the gun mounts, bunkers, and lookouts are intact and retain excellent integrity. Collectively, enough structures survive to communicate the immediacy and importance of the U.S. military's defense efforts in Alaska.
The overgrown vegetation made documenting the buildings at Fort McGilrary a challenge. September 2021
The OHA survey team carefully approaches the old barracks building near Battery 293 atop Caines Head. September 2021
OHA team leader, Sarah Meitl, listens to Park Ranger Jack Ransom interpret the history and geography of Caines Head. September 2021
Because Fort McGilvray is now part of Caines Head State Recreation Area, it stands out for its exceptional interpretive value and ability to tell the history of the Coastal Defense System in Resurrection Bay and the lesser-known story of Seward's strategic role in the supply line from the Lower 48 to Interior Alaska. The collective features, reinforced by the environmental setting, convey the military's extraordinary engineering effort and defense activities at Fort McGilvray and allow visitors to experience World War II from the soldiers' perspective.
As-built drawing of Battery 293 and Drainage System illustrates the Army's engineering efforts at Caines Head. As Constructed Drawings U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1945
Today, Fort McGilvray Historic District resembles its historic appearance and retains significant design features and aspects of construction dating to WWII. Importantly, it still holds the historical memory of the soldiers stationed there nearly eight decades ago, even if they can no longer share that history themselves.
A Chair in the Command Station offers visitors the opportunity to experience a soldier's perspective of World War II. September 2021
As one of the best-documented and most visited coastal defense installations in Alaska, Fort McGilvray can educate—even inspire—the public about the history of WWII in Alaska and has the power to immerse future generations in a wartime landscape.
OHA surveyor documents discarded artifacts on a rare sunny day. September 2021
On Wednesday, December 8, the Alaska Historical Commission, a nine-member citizen review board chaired by Lieutenant Governor Kevin Meyer, determined that Fort McGilvray Historic District qualifies for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The commission considered Fort McGilvray historically significant under Criterion A for its association with the defense of Alaska during World War II on national, state, and local levels. Under Criterion C for its extraordinary engineering, as the area's extreme coastal environment presented the military with one of its most challenging construction tasks of the entire War. And finally, Fort McGilvray Historic District is significant under Criterion D for its potential to yield additional information about military life at Caines Head during World War II.
As Build Plot Plat for Battery 293, 1945. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
For a fascinating look at Fort McGilvrary's construction history, check out this 26-minute historic film, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wold War II Army Moving Image Collection: Resurrection Bay & Whittier, from the Alaska State Library Historical Collections (ASL-AV014-09).
-Katherine Ringsmuth, PhD
State Historian/Deputy SHPO
About the Author:
Dr. Katherine Ringsmuth is the Alaska State Historian and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. In her spare time, she is running, skiing, or on a soccer or baseball field with her husband Eric, cheering on their two boys, Ben and Tom.
On Tuesday, May 25, 2021, the Alaska Historical Commission, a nine-member citizen review board chaired by Lieutenant Governor Kevin Myers, determined that Qinuyung, an ancestral Yup'ik village site located in southwest Alaska, qualified for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Three months later, Qinuyang joined more than eighty-eight thousand other important historic properties in the nation's catalog of its significant cultural and historic history resources when the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places added the site to the list on August 27, 2021.
Qinuyang about 5 years before the Spanish influenza epdemic hit in 1919. Photograhed by Georege A. Parks. Alaska State Library
LiDAR image of Qinuyang. Note that the sod houses, Men's house, and other features are near the edge of the terrace, while the Russian Orthodox chapel remains (shaped like a square with a dot in the middle near the top of the image) is separated from the village. Courtesy of Monty Rogers.
The village of Qinuyang in 1962. Photographer Joan B. Townsend. Anchorage Museum Test Pit at Qinuyang. Courtesy of Monty Rogers.
Situated on a wooded terrace overlooking the Kvichak River are the ruins of a once vibrant village, which consisted of single and multi-roomed winter houses, a qashgiq or men's house, small storage pits, a Russian Orthodox chapel with cemetery and fence, and a fish drying area. These historic remnants will inform archeologists about local subsistence patterns, resource use, food preservation, social relations, seasonality, and how residents dealt with aspects of colonialism. The ancient village is a regional time capsule, with buried evidence of human occupation going back 3600 years. "The site reflects a Kvichak River pattern of Yupiit people living in the same location as their ancestors of Norton and Arctic Small Tool traditions," wrote the nomination author, Monty Rogers. It is significant for its potential to provide important information about the Yupiit, including the Norton and Arctic Small Tool people's use of the Kvichak River."
"Qinuyung is a historical treasure, deserving of the National Register," said Igiugig resident AlexAnna Salmon, who testified at the meeting on behalf of the Igiugig Native Corporation and the Igiugig Village Council—both of which played central roles in the nomination process.
Anuska "Blind Grandma" Kasylie at fish camp. Courtesy of the NN Cannery History Project.
According to Salmon, the Qinuyung National Register nomination is part of a broader effort to 1) reclaim Igiugig's ancient history, 2) revive cultural heritage, 3) document archeological sites of the upper Kvichak River, and 4) engage youth and multi-generational residents in the processes to strengthen the community by creating continuity with the past.
Cross from the graveyard. Courtesy of Monty Rogers.
Besides yielding archeological information, Qinuyang is significant for its association with the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1919, a seminal event in Bristol Bay that triggered its rapid demise. Equally important is Qinuyang's association with Anuska "Blind Grandma" Kasylie, a village resident who courageously led the few surviving children of the pandemic to safety. Because of her undaunted bravery and many other acts of kindness, today's residents of Igiugig, the Kvichak River, and Bristol Bay consider her a local hero.
Igiugig elder examining a tea kettle that she found near her in the remains of a sod house. Photographer AlexAnna Salmon. Courtesy of Monty Rogers.
Traumatic memories of the horrific events of 1919 caused residents to avoid Qinuyung for decades after the pandemic. Throughout the years, trees inhabited the area, replacing the grassy village site. The elders of Iguigig view the environmental shift as a sign the village is free of the pain inflicted by the pandemic. They believe the ancestors buried there are finally able to rest, and the old village site has found peace. "This [historical] work has helped to provide healing from our traumatic past, offers us strength to face the Covid-19 pandemic, and brings bright hope for the future," said Salmon.
Monty Rogers gives Igiugig youth a lesson in archeology. Courtesy of AlexAnna Salmon.
The Alaska Historical Commission members unanimously voted that Quinuyang is historically significant on a local level and qualifies for listing in the National Register under Criterion A, for its association with the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic; Criterion B, for its association with Anuska "Blind Grandma" Kasylie; and Criterion D, for its potential to yield information about how, for at least 3,600 years, people of the Kvichak River employed strategies to survive, face adversity, and culturally endure.
Monty Rogers gives Igiugig youth a lesson in archeology. Courtesy of AlexAnna Salmon.
-Katherine Ringsmuth, PhD
About the Author:
Dr. Katherine Ringsmuth is the Alaska State Historian and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. In her spare time, she is running, skiing, or on a soccer or baseball field with her husband Eric, cheering on their two boys, Ben and Tom.
Mission Statement
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and conserves and interprets natural, cultural, and historic resources for the use,
enjoyment, and welfare of the people."
