Salmon Canning Heyday

The Old City Hall in Bellingham, WA now functions as a museum and there is an incredible exhibit of stuffed birds that have existed or do exist in the area (yet another way to look at climate change and the myriad of affected beings).  There is also a pretty impressive logging exhibit, which is what initially brought Europeans to the Northwest, and then a changing exhibit of things that are regionally relevant.
Currently that exhibit is about salmon canning and the labeling of said cans.  Now almost no one buys canned salmon.  Everyone vacuum packs it and flash freezes it, to be thawed by someone thousands of miles away months later.  But back in the day, canning was the way it went.

The labels for the cans are indeed beautiful, dated, and reflective of the time that they were created in, but for me the most fascinating thing was the photo of the whole operation.  I am sure it smelled to high heaven and very never quite so neat as this photo would have you believe, but not so long ago, in my lifetime, this is how it was done.