Canneries in Quatsino Sound

Jobe Leeson opened the Winter Harbour Canning Company in 1904, hiring mostly Chinese workers, across the inlet from the community at Winter Harbour. He canned clams and crab.

VPL Accession Number: 14134 - The Leeson cannery in Winter Harbour

VPL Accession Number: 14145 - Women preparing clams

VPL Accession Number: 13959 - Winter Harbour Canning Co.

In 1911 he sold to Wallace Fisheries who moved the cannery to Mahatta.  The cannery struggled as Quatsino salmon stocks supported limited populations and really only produced economically viable numbers of fish every second year.  Its focus was on salmon and pilchard. 

VPL Accession Number: 13913 - Wallace Fisheries Ltd. Quatsino

VPL Accession Number: 13905 -Interior of the Wallace Fisheries Cannery. 

After closing briefly in 19917 the plant re-opened. The Mahatta plant changed ownership twice before being sold to BC Packers in 1928. In addition to canning, a reduction plant operated at the site up to 1930. In 1934 the plan was closed and the buildings were torn down. 

Koprino Cannery - Used with permission of the Canadian Fishing Company Archives.

The Koprino Cannery also operated in Quatsino Sound in this period. It was built in 1927 by Canfisco - the Canadian Fishing Company. Like the Mahatta plant it offered both canning of fish and a reduction plant. The plan closed in 1930 when pilchard disappeared from the coast.