Cannery Cove is an embayment on the western shore of Pybus Bay in the Kootznoowoo Wilderness on the southern coast of Admiralty Island, about 70 miles (113 km) south of Juneau and 24 miles (39 km) north-northwest of Kake, Alaska. The name of the cove was first published in the 1943 U.S. Coast Pilot, presumably for the historical cannery situated near the cove entrance. Pybus Bay is on the northern shore of Frederick Sound, adjacent to an island group in Stephens Passage called The Brothers. The bay was named in 1889 by Lieutenant Commander Henry B. Mansfield on the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship Carlile P. Patterson, presumably derived from Point Pybus, which marks the northeast entrance to the bay. The point was discovered in 1794 by Lieutenant Joseph Whidbey and named by Captain George Vancouver for Charles S. Pybus who was Lord of the Admiralty at that time. Admiralty Island represents part of the Alexander terrane that accreted to North America from 110 to 85 million years ago. The rocks at lower elevations near the entrance to Cannery Cove and along the southwest shore of Pybus Bay are part of the marine Cannery Formation, consisting of thinly interbedded chert, argillite, and greywacke that developed during the Permian period from 299 to 252 million years ago. The watershed extending from the head of the cove on the eastern flank of Bear Pass Mountain drains an area of 26,317 acres (10,650 ha). The underlying rocks are non-marine lava flows of the Admiralty Island Volcanics consisting of andesite, basalt, breccia and tuff that developed during the Eocene and Oligocene or 56 to 23 million years ago.

Pybus Bay is the traditional territory of the Kake Tlingit people or Kéex’ Kwáan and includes the mainland north of Farragut Bay, Brothers Islands, western Kupreanof Island and eastern Kuiu Island. The Stikine Tlingit territory or Shtax’héen Kwáan encompassed the country to the east and south surrounding present-day Petersburg including Mitkof Island, much of eastern Kupreanof Island, and the mainland as far north as Farragut Bay. The Kake origin story tells of their ancestors who lived on the Stikine River and were known as Yenye’dt or ‘Hemlock People’ or mainlanders. They migrated down the river and came to a glacier which barred the way. A stream ran under the glacier, so the leaders sent two old women, Aweste’ and Klu’wasex, in a canoe to test the passage. When they reached the other side safely, the remaining people followed and came down to salt water, where a Big House was built to shelter the group. Another story tells of a flood when the Kake ancestors climbed the mountain called Tax on Baranof Island. When the waters receded, they settled in Pybus Bay, which they called Katc, and there they lived a long time. Prior to European contact, indigenous peoples of the Northwest coast constructed and maintained defensive villages, often on relatively inaccessible landforms such as steep-sided islands or rocky headlands with good views of the surrounding area have been identified. Raiding and internecine warfare, in addition to trade, were the primary means of interaction among territorial groups. Warfare frequently resulted in the acquisition of slaves and food stores, and sometimes led to genetic and cultural assimilation across the region. One such defensive village has been identified in Pybus Bay, but little is known about it.

Prior to European contact in Southeast Alaska, Tlingit villages owned fishing rights for salmon spawning streams within their respective territories. The Russian-American Company built salteries and shipped a few thousand barrels of salted fish to Fort Ross in California and some to Saint Petersburg in Russia. Following the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867, a saltery was built at Klawock and then the first cannery was established there. The fishery boomed in the largely unregulated territory, and between 1878 and 1949, 134 canneries were built in Southeast Alaska. However, mortality was high with 65 canneries burned and not rebuilt, 5 burned and rebuilt, 10 were moved to other sites, and many facilities were consolidated. In 1949, there were 37 operating plants in Southeastern Alaska. In 1918, the Pybus Bay Fish & Packing Company built a salmon cannery in Cannery Cove. This was sold to Alaska Consolidated Canneries in 1922, and sold again in 1928 to Alaska Pacific Salmon Corporation and was closed. Today, the property is occupied by a luxury wilderness lodge. Read more here and here. Explore more of Cannery Cove and Pybus Bay here: