Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Spouses
Birth6 Jan 1837, Waterville, Kennebec, Maine507, state only,3783,511, year & state only
Death19123785, p 1 Age: 74
Ancestral File #RTVF-9J3783
FatherWilliam HUME (1794-1868)
MotherElizabeth Farewell WEBBER (1809-1889)
Individual Notes
• The following is an account of the salmon industry as given by G.W. Hume, the original salmon packer of the Pacific Coast, who is known as the Salmon King:
"My first experience at Salmon fishing was at the age of eight. My father was a salmon fisher on the Kennebec river, and I went with him one night to help him in place of my brother William who was away. That night we caught three salmon which was considered a large catch on the Kennebec. They weighed from fifteen to twenty pounds. It was needless to say that next day I was the proudest boy in Maine. I did not go again for a year or two until I was able to pull two oars, but I never had such success with my father as on the first night.
In 1852 my brother William left for California, returning to Maine in 1856. He remained but a few months, but when he started back to California by brother John and I accompanied him. We at once began fishing on the Sacramento River for salmon which at that time were plentiful. We fished until 1863 (using nets), but after the first year, I owned my outfit, -a boat and net, and fished for myself.
In 1862 I was in such a miserable condition, due to chills and fever, that my two brothers, after holding a consultation, decided to send me home. I returned to Maine and while there met an old schoolmate, Andrew S. Hapgood, who was then in the tin business. He suggested that we go to California and can salmon. Unfortunately, Mr. Hagood had no capital, and I only a little, but I promised him that if my brother William would go in with us, we sould [sic] start up a canning business.
I returned to California; my brother agreed to finance the undertaking, and I wrote Mr. Hapgood to come on. In the meantime I had bought a houseboat, and later fitted it with the crude machinery that Mr. Hapgood brought with him across the Isthmus. We located it in the town of Washington on the banks of the Sacramento river, opposite what is now the foot of J Street, Sacramento. I installed a farmer's boiler to cook the salmon, all our accessories being very primitive.
The first season we put up two hundred cases. But we met with reverses and, at times, were almost discouraged. Once the scow sank, and it was with great difficulty that we raised her.
Finding it almost impossible to sell the salmon, we made a trip to San Francisco and while there William T. Coleman promised to advance money on our pack. This salmon sold at $4.00 per dozen, and the money it brought in gave us a start and a stimulus. [If there were one dozen in a case, this would be $1,250.00 in 2003 dollars.]
At the end of two years, salmon became so scarce on the Sacramento that I went to select a sight [sic] on the Columbia river for a cannery, – our success on the Sacramento giving us confidence to go at the business on a larger scale.
On my trip up the Columbia river, I landed at Oak Point. Going ashore withe [sic] Mr. George Abernathy, I borrowed a boat from him, and afterwards cruised up and down the Columbia looking for a sight [sic], finding one three miles below Oak Point that suited. It was covered with timber and brush. Climbing out on a fallen tree I took observations, and soon after went to the land office at Vancouver where I entered four fractional sections which gave me a mile on the Columbia.
That fall we put up our pack on the Sacramento, as usual, but when the season was over I again went north, and clearing off a place, started the first cannery on the Columbia river, naming it "Eagle Cliff." It was situated on a perpendicular cliff about one hundred feet high on the edge of which an eagle had its nest in a tree, thus suggesting the name to me.
One day while attempting to burn down a large fir tree by boring a hole in it and filling the space with live coals, the tree fell across a pile of lumbar which I had secured for building the cannery, and destroyed it. After getting more lumber from Oak Point, I commenced erecting the cannery, and in 1866 we began our first pack of salmon. Salmon were plentiful, and after packing four thousand cases, we stopped in the middle of the season for fear of breaking the market. Although Mr. Hapgood felt uneasy, I thought it best to continue, surmising that we would not have the business to ourselves long.
A disagreement arising among us, we dissolved partnership, my brother William and Mr. Hapgood taking two thirds of the land and I one third. Then I put up a cannery at "Eagle Cliff", also and that year we ran opposition, but as they were better situated than I, my pack proved the lighter.
For a partner, I had taken Mr. Smith. He did not understand the salmon business, and the second year Mr. Francis Cutting of San Francisco bought him out. As Mr. Cutting had plenty of capital we increased our pack to thiry seven [sic] thousand cases. Two boats brought in two loads every night. When the supply gave out, I would take a boat and run over to Jatham Reed's trap where salmon could be had for five cents a piece [66 cents in 2003 dollars]. This kept the cannery going steadily.
After a partnership lasting two or three years, I bought out Mr. Cutting. Later, Mr. Cutting bought me out, although he had never seen the cannery. This was in 1872, and being worth about two hundred and fifty thousand [$3,666,580 in 2003 dollars], concluded that I had money enough. With my family, I came to San Francisco. I no longer owned a cannery, and having nothing to do, soon became interested in stocks. The stock brokers predicted that in a short time they would have my scalp. I became a silent partner of V[], putting a man in with him by the name of H[] to look after my interests with the understanding that they were only to buy and sell on commission and not to speculate.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cutting asked me to instruct his man in the salmon process. With the understanding of having one third of the profits, I returned to the cannery for six weeks.
When I came back to San Francisco to look after my interest in the stock brockerage business, I found that V[] and H[] had speculated to such an extent that my capital was exhausted. This caused me to dissolve partnership and I ran my own business for a year or more. I soon found that I was in a business that I was not capable of handling;- I had lost about a hundred thousand. Finally, there came a fire in Con Virginia. I shorted everything along the line and filled the next day, making ninety three thousand dollars. I then walked into the stock board to tell them that they hadn't gotten my scalp yet, and that they wouldn't get it because I intended to leave them for good.
The freighting business between San Francisco and Oregon next claimed my attention, but after a year of it, I was restless to get back into the canning business again.
For thirty seven thousand dollars [$722,840 in 2003 dollars] I bought a mill and cannery at Astoria, Oregon. With the mill I supplied the town with lumber. It was a one-horse affair containing one circular saw, a sash saw and planer, but being the only mill in the locality, there was ready sale for the lumber.
While operating the mill, I built a cannery on the Umpqua river, which I soon sold as the salmon on the Umpqua proved of poor quality, and started one at the mouth of the Wishkah river where Mr. Benn had given me a point of five acres, I named the point Aberdeen, and it still retains the name. For two years I ran this cannery at the end of which I was compelled to sell it on account of ill health. The inside property of the mill I sold to a syndicate after a few years for fifty two thousand dollars [$980,000 in 2003 dollars]. I was then acting as agent for about ten canneries, but my illness of 1880 compelled me to give up these agencies and to sell my entire holdings on the Columbia.
When my health improved, I started a cannery at Benecia under the name of the Carquinez Packing Company, – its purpose being to pack salmon and fruits. Afterwards I started a cannery at Karluk, Alaska, and another on Cock's inlet. These I held for about two years and then put them into the Alaska Packer's Association at a good figure. I was on the board of the Alaska Packer's Association for about twelve years and was one of its original members. Later being well along in years I refused to run as director again at the annual election. I put my stock on the market then and sold a profit of five hundred thousand dollars [$9,768,075 in 2003 dollars].
Since 1856 when I made my start on the Sacramento River as a young man packing salmon, that industry has steadily increased along the Pacific Coast, from my pioneer pack of two hundred cases to one of millions annually.3786
"My first experience at Salmon fishing was at the age of eight. My father was a salmon fisher on the Kennebec river, and I went with him one night to help him in place of my brother William who was away. That night we caught three salmon which was considered a large catch on the Kennebec. They weighed from fifteen to twenty pounds. It was needless to say that next day I was the proudest boy in Maine. I did not go again for a year or two until I was able to pull two oars, but I never had such success with my father as on the first night.
In 1852 my brother William left for California, returning to Maine in 1856. He remained but a few months, but when he started back to California by brother John and I accompanied him. We at once began fishing on the Sacramento River for salmon which at that time were plentiful. We fished until 1863 (using nets), but after the first year, I owned my outfit, -a boat and net, and fished for myself.
In 1862 I was in such a miserable condition, due to chills and fever, that my two brothers, after holding a consultation, decided to send me home. I returned to Maine and while there met an old schoolmate, Andrew S. Hapgood, who was then in the tin business. He suggested that we go to California and can salmon. Unfortunately, Mr. Hagood had no capital, and I only a little, but I promised him that if my brother William would go in with us, we sould [sic] start up a canning business.
I returned to California; my brother agreed to finance the undertaking, and I wrote Mr. Hapgood to come on. In the meantime I had bought a houseboat, and later fitted it with the crude machinery that Mr. Hapgood brought with him across the Isthmus. We located it in the town of Washington on the banks of the Sacramento river, opposite what is now the foot of J Street, Sacramento. I installed a farmer's boiler to cook the salmon, all our accessories being very primitive.
The first season we put up two hundred cases. But we met with reverses and, at times, were almost discouraged. Once the scow sank, and it was with great difficulty that we raised her.
Finding it almost impossible to sell the salmon, we made a trip to San Francisco and while there William T. Coleman promised to advance money on our pack. This salmon sold at $4.00 per dozen, and the money it brought in gave us a start and a stimulus. [If there were one dozen in a case, this would be $1,250.00 in 2003 dollars.]
At the end of two years, salmon became so scarce on the Sacramento that I went to select a sight [sic] on the Columbia river for a cannery, – our success on the Sacramento giving us confidence to go at the business on a larger scale.
On my trip up the Columbia river, I landed at Oak Point. Going ashore withe [sic] Mr. George Abernathy, I borrowed a boat from him, and afterwards cruised up and down the Columbia looking for a sight [sic], finding one three miles below Oak Point that suited. It was covered with timber and brush. Climbing out on a fallen tree I took observations, and soon after went to the land office at Vancouver where I entered four fractional sections which gave me a mile on the Columbia.
That fall we put up our pack on the Sacramento, as usual, but when the season was over I again went north, and clearing off a place, started the first cannery on the Columbia river, naming it "Eagle Cliff." It was situated on a perpendicular cliff about one hundred feet high on the edge of which an eagle had its nest in a tree, thus suggesting the name to me.
One day while attempting to burn down a large fir tree by boring a hole in it and filling the space with live coals, the tree fell across a pile of lumbar which I had secured for building the cannery, and destroyed it. After getting more lumber from Oak Point, I commenced erecting the cannery, and in 1866 we began our first pack of salmon. Salmon were plentiful, and after packing four thousand cases, we stopped in the middle of the season for fear of breaking the market. Although Mr. Hapgood felt uneasy, I thought it best to continue, surmising that we would not have the business to ourselves long.
A disagreement arising among us, we dissolved partnership, my brother William and Mr. Hapgood taking two thirds of the land and I one third. Then I put up a cannery at "Eagle Cliff", also and that year we ran opposition, but as they were better situated than I, my pack proved the lighter.
For a partner, I had taken Mr. Smith. He did not understand the salmon business, and the second year Mr. Francis Cutting of San Francisco bought him out. As Mr. Cutting had plenty of capital we increased our pack to thiry seven [sic] thousand cases. Two boats brought in two loads every night. When the supply gave out, I would take a boat and run over to Jatham Reed's trap where salmon could be had for five cents a piece [66 cents in 2003 dollars]. This kept the cannery going steadily.
After a partnership lasting two or three years, I bought out Mr. Cutting. Later, Mr. Cutting bought me out, although he had never seen the cannery. This was in 1872, and being worth about two hundred and fifty thousand [$3,666,580 in 2003 dollars], concluded that I had money enough. With my family, I came to San Francisco. I no longer owned a cannery, and having nothing to do, soon became interested in stocks. The stock brokers predicted that in a short time they would have my scalp. I became a silent partner of V[], putting a man in with him by the name of H[] to look after my interests with the understanding that they were only to buy and sell on commission and not to speculate.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cutting asked me to instruct his man in the salmon process. With the understanding of having one third of the profits, I returned to the cannery for six weeks.
When I came back to San Francisco to look after my interest in the stock brockerage business, I found that V[] and H[] had speculated to such an extent that my capital was exhausted. This caused me to dissolve partnership and I ran my own business for a year or more. I soon found that I was in a business that I was not capable of handling;- I had lost about a hundred thousand. Finally, there came a fire in Con Virginia. I shorted everything along the line and filled the next day, making ninety three thousand dollars. I then walked into the stock board to tell them that they hadn't gotten my scalp yet, and that they wouldn't get it because I intended to leave them for good.
The freighting business between San Francisco and Oregon next claimed my attention, but after a year of it, I was restless to get back into the canning business again.
For thirty seven thousand dollars [$722,840 in 2003 dollars] I bought a mill and cannery at Astoria, Oregon. With the mill I supplied the town with lumber. It was a one-horse affair containing one circular saw, a sash saw and planer, but being the only mill in the locality, there was ready sale for the lumber.
While operating the mill, I built a cannery on the Umpqua river, which I soon sold as the salmon on the Umpqua proved of poor quality, and started one at the mouth of the Wishkah river where Mr. Benn had given me a point of five acres, I named the point Aberdeen, and it still retains the name. For two years I ran this cannery at the end of which I was compelled to sell it on account of ill health. The inside property of the mill I sold to a syndicate after a few years for fifty two thousand dollars [$980,000 in 2003 dollars]. I was then acting as agent for about ten canneries, but my illness of 1880 compelled me to give up these agencies and to sell my entire holdings on the Columbia.
When my health improved, I started a cannery at Benecia under the name of the Carquinez Packing Company, – its purpose being to pack salmon and fruits. Afterwards I started a cannery at Karluk, Alaska, and another on Cock's inlet. These I held for about two years and then put them into the Alaska Packer's Association at a good figure. I was on the board of the Alaska Packer's Association for about twelve years and was one of its original members. Later being well along in years I refused to run as director again at the annual election. I put my stock on the market then and sold a profit of five hundred thousand dollars [$9,768,075 in 2003 dollars].
Since 1856 when I made my start on the Sacramento River as a young man packing salmon, that industry has steadily increased along the Pacific Coast, from my pioneer pack of two hundred cases to one of millions annually.3786
Census
• 1850 Census: Augusta, Kennebec, Maine. Age 13, b ME.3787
• 1880 Census: Astoria, Clatsop, Oregon. Age 47, b ME. Salmon Canning. Parents b ME.3788
• 1900 Census: Oakland, Alameda, California. Age 63, b Jan 1836, ME. Parents b ME. Married 31 years. Capitalist. 6 servants in household.3789
• 1910 Census: Oakland, Alameda, California. Age 73, b ME. 2nd Marriage. Own Income. Parents b ME. 5 Chinese servants in household.3790
• 1880 Census: Astoria, Clatsop, Oregon. Age 47, b ME. Salmon Canning. Parents b ME.3788
• 1900 Census: Oakland, Alameda, California. Age 63, b Jan 1836, ME. Parents b ME. Married 31 years. Capitalist. 6 servants in household.3789
• 1910 Census: Oakland, Alameda, California. Age 73, b ME. 2nd Marriage. Own Income. Parents b ME. 5 Chinese servants in household.3790
Research
• Could not find in 1870 census; 22 Feb 2005 & 10 Mar 2021
Marriage28 Aug 1867, Cowlitz County, Washington3795,511, marriage only