Carlisle was a historical salmon cannery located on the east bank at the mouth of the Skeena River, about 66 miles (106 km) southwest of Terrace and 17 miles (27 km) southeast of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Built in 1895, it was one of the first canneries outside the protected waters of the Skeena River and operated until 1950. At its peak in 1941, the facility produced 72,000 cases of canned salmon, each containing 48 one-pound cans. The cannery was a massive industrial complex that relied on a seasonal workforce. Unlike other salmon canneries, which were built in existing communities, Carlisle also served as a home for the workers, becoming a seasonal village. This village was composed of people from diverse ethnic groups who lived in close quarters despite being segregated. The cannery depended on the fishing rights and skills of the Tsimshian, the expertise of Chinese cannery workers, and the financial backing of company investors, who typically resided in distant cities.

Chinese workers formed the primary labor force in salmon canneries, although each facility also employed Europeans, Native people, and Japanese workers. Europeans held roles as administrators, clerks, mechanics, engineers, and fishermen. Native men fished in rivers or the open sea, while Native women made and mended nets, later working alongside Chinese workers in the cannery. Japanese employees handled maintenance on the wharves and in the plant. Most Chinese and Native workers were seasonal, arriving at the start of the annual salmon run. In the canning plant, Chinese workers removed the heads and fins of the fish, slit open their bellies, extracted the guts, and sliced larger fish lengthwise into halves. Some Chinese workers could butcher around 2,000 fish in a 10-hour day. These butchered fish were then pushed to the opposite side of the bench, where Native women scrubbed off the scales, carried out final trimming, and washed the fish with water. Remnants such as guts, fins, and scales were discarded into the sea through a large hole in the bench and washed away by the rising tides. In 1905, Edmund A. Smith designed a machine to clean and butcher salmon, which was called the Smith Butcher Machine. Unfortunately, it became commonly known by the racist name “Iron Chink,” reflecting the anti-immigrant sentiment of the time. 

The cannery was operated by the Kildala Packing Company until 1925, when it was purchased by the Canadian Fishing Company. Incorporated in British Columbia in 1908, the Canadian Fishing Company originated from the New England Fish Company‘s halibut operations along the British Columbia coast. The New England Fish Company was established in 1868 by fish dealers in Boston to supply themselves with halibut from the Atlantic Banks. To meet rising demand, the company began fishing for halibut on the West Coast in 1893. In 1905, five Vancouver men formed an association, a precursor to the Canadian Fishing Company, to produce halibut for the New England Fish Company and other distributors. In 1923, the company acquired the freezing and cold storage plant at Butedale. Two years later, in 1925, it purchased three plants from the Kildala Packing Company: Rivers Inlet, the Manitou Cannery on Deans Channel, and the Carlisle Cannery on the Skeena River. Today, the Canadian Fishing Company, known as Canfisco, includes associate companies in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. Canfisco is owned by the Jim Pattison Group, the third-largest privately held company in Canada. The group operates in diverse sectors such as automotive, food, media, packaging, entertainment, periodical distribution, export, and financial services. Read more here and here. Explore more of Carlisle Cannery and Skeena River here: