Port Bailey is a historic cannery located in Dry Spruce Bay on the Kupreanof Peninsula of Kodiak Island, approximately 130 miles (209 km) south-southwest of Homer and 26 miles (42 km) west-northwest of Kodiak, Alaska. The cannery was named after F. Howard Bailey, who was the company’s general manager at the time of its construction. The name “Dry Spruce Bay” is a translation of the Russian name found on a hydrological chart created around 1839 by Mikhail Murashev, a naval officer of the Imperial Russian Navy. The bay is situated on the southern shore of Kupreanof Strait, which separates Kodiak Island to the south from Raspberry Island and Afognak Island to the north. The Kodiak Archipelago consists of a large accretionary wedge that has formed over the past 200 million years. Major episodes of accretion occurred in the Early Jurassic (about 180 million years ago), the Late Cretaceous (about 100 million years ago), the Paleocene (about 66 million years ago), and the Oligocene (about 34 million years ago). The bedrock underlying Port Bailey developed during the Late Cretaceous accretionary episode, resulting in a belt of argillite and graywacke turbidite deposits known as the Kodiak Formation. This formation is 37-44 miles (60-70 km) wide and 1,245 miles (2,000 km) long. Graywacke is a sedimentary rock primarily composed of sand-sized grains that are rapidly deposited near the source rock from which they weathered. This type of rock is typically deposited in deep ocean waters near volcanic mountain ranges, where underwater landslides and density currents transport sediment short distances into subduction zones or ocean trenches. Here, the sediment accumulates and eventually lithifies. Greywacke contains less quartz than most sandstones and has a higher content of feldspars, volcanic rock fragments, silt, and clay. The central axis of Kodiak Island is occupied by a mid-Paleogene quartz-diorite batholith, which is about 70 miles (113 km) long, averages 8 miles (13 km) in width, and covers an area of approximately 352,000 acres (142,400 ha). One granitic intrusion into the Kodiak Formation is exposed about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Port Bailey.
The Kodiak Archipelago lies about 18 miles (29 km) off the Pacific coast of the Alaska Peninsula. This area was historically home to a populous group or aggregate of sub-tribes commonly called the Koniag or Qikertarmiut. The first term is an Aleut reference adopted by the Russians before they actually reached Kodiak during their eastward explorations. The second term is what the people called themselves. They are now referred to as Alutiiq Sugpiat, depending on the locality. This maritime culture resulted from at least 7,000 years of cultural development. The archaeological record indicates that the Koniag were preceded by a series of cultural traditions. The earliest people were represented by the Ocean Bay tradition, succeeded by the Kachemak tradition. The two are distinctly different, but the Kachemak appears to have developed from Ocean Bay about 3,500 years ago. In turn, the Kachemak tradition underwent major changes during the centuries 1000 to 1300 AD, probably under the influence of people external to Kodiak, and developed into the Koniag tradition or ancestral Alutiiq. In many cases, these changes were compatible with the earlier lifeways and technology, to which they were additions or simply stylistic shifts. For example, ceramics appeared in the southern half of Kodiak Island but were never adopted throughout the entire region. This distribution suggests variability among the Koniag, who likely were not a single, discrete tribe. Stone rubble or fire-cracked rock accumulations emerged during the Kachemak-Koniag transitional phase and continued into historic times. According to ethnographic accounts, heated rocks were transferred from the hearth to a chamber in the house, where water was sprinkled on them to produce steam. The use of sewing needles decreased from being very common in the Kachemak tradition to very rare in prehistoric Koniag sites. While armor has not been identified in excavations of Kachemak tradition sites, preserved wood slat armor is well documented for the Koniag and the Chugach in Prince William Sound. The Koniag population was estimated to be nearly 10,000 at the time of European contact in the 18th century. Today, about 4,000 Alutiiq Sugpiat mostly live in Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula, the Kodiak Archipelago, and the Alaska Peninsula.
In 1937, Kadiak Fisheries began constructing a new cannery in Dry Spruce Bay at a site named Port Bailey after F. Howard Bailey, the company’s vice president and general manager. By the fall, the cannery, warehouse, dock, and smaller outbuildings were nearly completed. To develop hydroelectric power, a 1-mile (1.6-km) long pipe was laid to bring water from an alpine lake to a water wheel that operated a 125-horsepower generator. In the spring of 1938, Bailey, along with a crew of machinists and carpenters, sailed north on the company tender Minnie B with instructions to complete the cannery before the start of the fishing season. Two lines of American Can Company canning machinery were installed, in addition to overhauled and modernized machinery transferred from a company facility in Kodiak. The operation of the new Port Bailey cannery became the company’s main focus. They permanently closed their Kodiak plant, placed the cannery at Shearwater Bay on watchman status, relinquished a lease with Shelikof Packing Company at Zachar Bay, and closed their plant at Carmel in Halibut Bay. The pack for the first season totaled 106,956 cases of mostly pink salmon in one-pound cans, with 48 cans per case. This began a long history of successful seasonal packs, most of them totaling about 100,000 cases. Kadiak Fisheries used three legal gear types for harvesting salmon: fish traps, purse seines, and gillnets. At that time, 55% of the total catch came from fish traps, 37% from purse seines, and 8% from gillnets. The company made every effort to maintain a modern and efficient canning operation to remain competitive. It operated its own fleet of fish tenders, pile drivers, and fishing boats. In 1948, a fire destroyed most of the facility, prompting the company to rebuild on the same site. The new cannery began operating in 1949 and was the first major salmon cannery constructed after World War II. In 1968, Columbia Wards Fisheries purchased the facility, producing millions of pounds of canned salmon each year until the plant closed in the late 1990s. The Port Bailey cannery was sold in 2003, with its grounds suspected of being contaminated by fuel and other hazardous wastes. As of 2013, a multi-year liquidation of all the cannery equipment was still in progress. Subsequent owners have had mixed success in transforming the property into a profitable enterprise. For more information, see Salmon from Kodiak by Patricia Roppel, 1986. Read more here and here. Explore more of Port Bailey and Dry Spruce Bay here: