Processing a day's catch of 80,000 salmon, ca.1903. At the turn of the century Whatcom County was home to several major fish canneries including the Bellingham Canning Company, the Puget Sound Canning Company and the Pacific American Fisheries Cannery in South Bellingham. By 1901 Whatcom County was processing 66% of the total Puget Sound salmon pack while operating 12 of the 19 salmon canneries in the Sound. Immigrants were usually hired for the tedious work of cleaning fish, among them many trained cannery workers from China. In 1903 a mechanical device called the "Iron Chink" was invented which automated the fish cleaning process and replaced many of those workers.
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