Brothers GEORGE & WILLIAM HUME from Maine, along with a tinsmith friend ANDREW HAPGOOD, set up the first fish (salmon) cannery on the WEST COAST of the United States, aboard an old scow in the Sacramento River. Fish were cooked in open pots and cans were cut out by hand with tin snips, and soldered (nearly half of their first year’s production of 4,000 cans burst open, but they managed to last). In succeeding years the salmon industry moved north along the coast and SARDINES, among other fish (like tuna), became more important in California, especially SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
*Editorial Note: Some might find it odd that “SALMON” might be mentioned or included in this otherwise mostly “tuna-centric” Timeline, but please *NOTE* the HUME family involved here, for later, one Mr. R. H. HUME would come to San Diego circa 1906 and would “lay-out”, conjole, and otherwise fully “attempt” to start up and control *nearly* everything in the San Diego tuna fishing industry that *DID* happen later between 1911 and 1951, at least. A failed “Visionary“, but a Visionary nonetheless; he (IMHO) deserves mention and attention for, if nothing else, a cautionary tale of vision exceeding reach.