OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016
Submitted Photo
A1-pound can of McGowan’s Keystone Brand salmon sold for 12 cents wholesale in 1905. This version of the label dates from 1889 or earlier, before Washington attained
statehood.
Discarded ledger offers view
of salmon workers’ lives
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Submitted Photo
P.J. McGowan was one of the most success-
ful salmon packers on the Columbia River.
Thankfully, then
as now, most
employers adhered
to a higher
standard.
Submitted Photo
A ledger sheet shows the names, occupations and pay for the China crew at P.J.
McGowan & Son’s Ilwaco cannery in August 1905. It’s somewhat unusual to learn so
much about ordinary salmon industry workers. These records show they were well
paid by the standards of the time, even making overtime.
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—M.S.W.
Matt Winters is editor and publisher
of the Chinook Observer and Coast River
Business Journal.
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
• CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
• DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
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