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NorthCoast's Regional Information Site |
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Geography as destiny |
The Skeena River appears to us in our human time frames as timeless; and its geography our destinies. There are limited flats and landing places that constrain us (this explored another page) |
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Demographics |
This page looks at the social constraints and shapers of history. In out time we are told understanding the “baby boomers” is critical. For Skeena Cannery Culture understanding the 2 demographic transformations below is key. |
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Economies |
Behind the demographics though is the staples economy. For coastal NW BC this was the fishing industry until after WW2. First salmon canneries and then halibut. |
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From Boundaries of Home This Doug Aberly book is filled with insights into NW BC history. These 2 figures are modified from that text. Using the canned salmon data left we can see the boom was over by the late 1920s on the Skeena River cannery gold rush, We can understand why gas boats were finally allowed after 1924 and why the fishing boundaries were pushed otward from the Skeena River for conservation reasons. |
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Demographics is key The real opening up of Northwest BC did not come until after WWII. There was an original spurt of whites coming in with the CN line to Prince Rupert, but it was after the war that the great growth spurt started. This was also a period of urbanization. Natives and ethnic immigrants alike were lleaving the small self sufficient villages and migrating to better schools, roads that went somewhere and the conveniences of electric power See Mist on the River for natives and Memories of Osland for Scandinavian. |
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Demographics is key2 The figure left from a DFO paper in late 1940’s. The message is that until quite recently canneries have been low wage jobs ‘unfit’ for whites. The expulsion of the Japanese fishers during WWII had profound effect on Cannery Culture for awhile making first nations essential to the cannery existence. But the gas engine boat was expensive, and returning soldiers needed work so by early fifties natives were again being marginalized. |
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Maps and social hierarchies I refer to these kind of arrangements in our “Victorian past” as Kiplingesque. We have a social division that is reflects the economic structuring: a structure based upon race with the whites in charge and other ethnic groups separated and subservient. At least the drawing left (done for insurance purposes and modified from Blyth’s book) does not refer to native housing as ‘huts’ which implies more substantial and more essential as workers in first “boom” |
