The Lindenberger Packing Company is a historical salmon cannery on Craig Island, located in the present-day community of Craig, about 58 miles (93 km) west-northwest of Ketchikan and 6 miles (10 km) south-southwest of Klawock, Alaska. Craig Island is adjacent to Fish Egg Island at the south end of Klawock Inlet and connected to Prince of Wales Island by a causeway. Fish Egg Island was named in 1897 by Commander Jefferson F. Moser of the U.S. Fish Commission’s Albatross, presumably for its abundance of herring eggs. The north end of the island was once a Tlingit village. In 1907, Craig Millar established a saltery called Fish Egg on a neighboring island between Crab Bay to the north and Port Bagial to the south. This site was historically a Tlingit fish camp known as Shaan Seet, named after the adjacent narrow strait, only 0.25 miles (0.4 km) wide, separating it from Fish Egg Island’s south end. In 1912, the community was renamed Craig, in honor of its founder, and the island was subsequently named after the community. Craig Island and most of Prince of Wales Island are part of the Alexander terrane, one of the major accretionary terranes forming much of the western margin of North America. Alexander terrane rocks extend from Southeast Alaska northward into northwestern British Columbia and Yukon Territory. The bedrock of Craig Island is part of the Peratrovich Formation, a stratum over 800 feet (244 m) thick, consisting of limestone, dolomite, and chert formed during the Mississippian age, 359 to 323 million years ago, based on fossil dating of corals and foraminifera. During the late Wisconsin glaciation, about 26,000 to 13,000 years ago, the western margin of the Cordilleran ice sheet formed vast ice fields and large glaciers along the Coast Mountains‘ crest. The ice sheet extended more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) from Washington state to the southern Yukon Territory and was about 560 miles (900 km) wide, covering most of Southeast Alaska. As these glaciers flowed west to the Pacific Ocean, they were joined by local glaciers originating at the higher elevations of the Alexander Archipelago, including Admiralty, Baranof, Chichagof, and Prince of Wales islands. This extensive ice volume channeled into deep troughs, creating the present-day fjords and much of the visible landscape today.

The Tlingit people on Prince of Wales Island lived in permanent villages during winter, from November to May, at Shakan, Tuxekan, and Klawock. They moved to seasonal sites from May or June to October. Klawock Inlet was used extensively for summer fish camps, particularly at Fish Egg Island, a historically important site for herring spawning, which occurred annually during the last 10 days of March. Spawning herring lay adhesive eggs directly on aquatic vegetation, rocks, or sandy beaches, preferring solid surfaces like living plants such as eelgrass and giant kelp. Herring spawn on kelp was a prized addition to the Tlingit diet, arriving when stored food supplies were low. It was eaten fresh or reconstituted from dried or salted forms. Harvesting herring spawn on kelp was a communal activity, typically involving family members and large groups. The harvest was done by hand from canoes during very low tide, using gaff hooks or rakes to grasp the kelp stems below the water surface. When retrieving plants covered with herring eggs, harvesters were careful to avoid breaking the fronds and damaging the spawn. They first selected the whitest kelp in the water, indicating that it was covered by many layers of eggs. Using a rake, they pulled it to the surface and began to gently separate each leaf from the stem, starting at the top. To allow drainage, each leaf was placed flat on the benches or floorboards of the canoe. To prevent damage, careful harvesters used their hands instead of knives to separate the leaves from the stems. Before European contact, drying was the most common preservation method for storing herring spawn. Spawn-covered kelp fronds or spruce branches were dried on outdoor racks and then placed in bentwood boxes. Salting was introduced by Russian fur traders in the early 19th century.

In 1909, Bernard, Hermann, and Robert Lindenberger were sent to Alaska from Germany by their father, Isaac, to expand the family business into the lucrative salmon fishery. The brothers hired Craig Millar to build a salmon cannery, which included a massive dock, a refrigeration house, a fish processing plant, a canning workshop, worker residential buildings, and fuel tanks. In 1912, a post office, a school, and a sawmill were constructed. Production at the cannery and sawmill peaked during World War I. The Sea Coast Packing Company purchased the Lindenberger cannery in 1917, and in 1929, it was sold to Libby McNeil and Libby. The town’s population grew through the 1930s as pink salmon runs hit record levels. Operations came to an abrupt end in 1957 when the cannery burned down, a common fate for nearly half of the 135 canneries built between 1878 and 1949 in Southeast Alaska. By 1949, Southeast Alaska had only 37 operating canneries due to fires and industry consolidation. Fires were caused by several factors, including the crude construction of wooden buildings, the use of flammable heating oil, improper storage of oily waste, high-temperature and high-pressure boilers, and inadequate fire suppression equipment. Industry consolidation resulted from declining salmon stocks. In 1998, Ward Cove Packing Company acquired the site for use as a seasonal maintenance facility. In 2007, the City of Craig purchased the property, which includes 5 acres (2 ha) of uplands and 5 acres (2 ha) of submerged and intertidal lands. Some cannery buildings, like the web loft and administration building, are still in use today. The city plans to renovate some buildings and redevelop the site for commercial and public use. Read more here and here. Explore more of the Lindenberger Cannery and Craig Island here: