About 40 years ago, the Haines Packing Co. plant at Letnikof Cove produced its last can of salmon, as environmental regulations caught up to the plant that opened in 1917.
“They wanted us to have a septic system for everything, including fish guts,” recalled former resident Harold Hannon, 89, of Eagle River.
Hannon was the cannery’s “do-all” man when parent company Ward Cove of Seattle instead discontinued processing here and shipped its giant retort ovens south. “I moved out all the equipment. It was quite a chore,” Hannon said.
In time for its 100th anniversary next year, the cannery is “canning” again, although this time just with a small retort oven that cooks about 300 half-pint jars of specialty smoked sockeye.
Early this week, the company had produced 600 jars aimed at visitors and residents buying gifts for friends in the Lower 48. With modern refrigeration, there’s not much reason for a company his size to can fish, said Haines Packing Co. co-owner Harry Rietze.
“The advantage is visitors can put this in their backpack and take it home with them,” Rietze said. “There’s also a prettiness factor. It’s a more attractive product than a frozen fillet.”
Rietze said the Letnikof plant is handling about 10 times the volume of seafood it did when it reopened in 2007 – frozen sockeye, halibut and crab are its main products –and the jarred sockeye is its first shelf-stable product. It will be available at stores around town.
Rietze also is considering putting a commemorative, historic label on jars for the cannery’s anniversary.
Other company products include salmon meat, pickled salmon and salmon pepperoni. Sales in the region – including Skagway and Whitehorse, Y.T. stores – amount to about half of receipts, with wholesale customers in the Lower 48 filling the difference, Rietze said.
Hannon, who worked at the Letnikof plant for about 25 years starting in 1964, said he was surprised by the revived cannery’s success. “They have such a variety. It’s amazing, actually. We used to put out just one product.”