Prince Rupert

Our stay in Prince Rupert started with a tour of the North Pacific  Coast Cannery. On a rainy morning Sue and I were on the tour with our excellent tour guide Adam. He first took us through the process when it was only manual labor. The cannery operated with four groups of people Chinese, Japanese, First Nation People and the Europeans. The entire family would be employed including the children.  No child labor laws at that time. Some of the jobs were really brutal on the body. For instance a woman would deslime the fish by thrusting their hands in freezing cold water with out any sort of protection. We were told that a woman would only last for two years in this job. At that time here hands would have so much arthritis that she could not hold the fish. There were many other bad jobs along the line. Oh by the way the cans were sealed with lead, hard to imagine today.

 

When automation arrived thing got slightly better but the number of people to run the operation was dramatic reduction in manpower. I have some pictures of the equipment here. The butchering machine was the worst as far as I’m concerned. I guess it was blood and guts all over the place. No guards or anything.

 

Each of the groups lived in separate communities. The First Nation People would live in a single room that would house up to seven. It would have a hole in one corner for a bathroom. The room was around 8 by 12.  The others faired much better, with the Europeans living in more normal facilities.

Our next stop was to explore Diana Lake Provincial Park. Diana is a day use area that would be a great place to canoe. It had a picnic shelter complete with a wood burning stove.

   

Next stop was Purdomme Lake Provincial Park. Much the same but here there is camping. This picture from a campsite shows it is a little tight but lovely with no hookups. We would have liked to spend a couple of nights here.

  

Next stop is the place Susi was painting at. It was complete with eagles.

  

Final stop will be Butze Rapids. This is a location where the rapids only show up at low tide. The tide covers up the rapids as it rises.

 

I might add that Prince Rupert has a great story to tell about expanding their economy as a port to China etc. We had a presentation about this at the Port Interpretive Center. The would seem to have a very bright future.

See all images here.