• Autumn photo of Lake Clark and the Aleutian Range in Lake Clark National Park & Preserve

    Lake Clark

    National Park & Preserve Alaska

The Canneries, Cabins and Caches of Bristol Bay, Alaska

CanneriesCover transform285px

By John B. Branson
Historian, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve

ESargent Cache

Elbert E. Sargent stands on the roof of his log cache in 1947.

Photo donated by Joanne Wolverton and June E. Sargent.

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Table of Contents and Preface

The Bristol Bay as a Way of Life

A Historical View of Bristol Bay Canneries
Nushagak Bay Canneries
Kvichak Bay Canneries
Naknek River Canneries

 
Bertha Knutsen Cabin

Bertha Wilson Knutsen and a friend at a cabin in Kvichak, unknown date.

Photo donated by Alex Tallepalek.

Down in the Bay and Upriver Too: Narrative Voices from the Past
The Letters of Quincy Williams and Lemuel E. Bonham 1901 - 1903
Industrial Sabotage at Diamond X: A Judicial Record 1906
Carl Johnson: Highline Fisherman Recalls "Whitehead Pete" Nelson
The Foss Family Diaries 1917 - 1923
Stan Tarrant: Early Times of An Industrial Giant 1926 - 1927 (Edited by Bob Thorstenson, Sr.)
Martin Monsen, Jr., Grocery List 1927
The Diary of Anton Balluta 1933
The Bristol Bay Fire of 1936
Bristol Bay Double Ender Blueprint

 
Ole Wassenkari's fur catch at his cabon in 1930.

Ole Wassenkari's 1930 catch of fur in the upper Kvichak River Country, including a large brown bear hide. The cabin is covered with corrugated iron sheeting that certainly originated from canneries at the mouth of the Kvichak River.

Photo courtesy of the Ellen Wassenkari Pike Collection

A Historical View of Upriver Cabins & Caches of Bristol Bay
The Iliamna Lake Country
The Lake Clark Country
The Trefon Cache
The Kvichak and Alagnak Rivers
The Naknek River-Katmai Country
The Nushagak-Mulchatna Country

Bibliography & Index

Bristol Bay Canned Salmon Labels

Did You Know?

Matt Nieminen on the floats of his plane.

Pilot Matt Nieminen was the first to fly into Lake Clark country in 1930, in a Waco 10 biplane on floats. Nieminen is seen here on the floats of a Fairchild 71 at Two Lakes, just after he became the first to fly over Mt. McKinley in it.