Hoonah Packing Company
by Cheryl Hoyle
Title
Hoonah Packing Company
Artist
Cheryl Hoyle
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The Huna Tlingit are the original inhabitants of Glacier Bay, where they lived for thousands of years. During the peak of the Little Ice Age, glacial advance forced the people to relocate from their homeland to present-day Hoonah. Translated, it means “where the north wind doesn’t blow”.
Fur traders arrived on Hoonah’s shores in the 1880’s. Schools, churches, and stores soon followed.
In 1912, the Hoonah Packing Company built the first cannery in the area which today is Icy Strait Point. Ownership traded hands several times before the Icy Strait Salmon Company purchased the property in 1932. Since its inception, the cannery has played a key role in the community. Hoonah residents were employed there and when a fire destroyed the town on June 14, 1944, many residents made the cannery their home while the city was rebuilt.
While the cannery ceased to produce salmon in 1953, the cannery was used by the renowned Hoonah fishing fleet as a maintenance and storage facility until the late 1990’s.
In the mid 1990’s the Huna Totem Corporation bought the cannery and created what you see today.
Currently, 85% of the staff at ISP are local Tlingit from Hoonah.
Uploaded
June 1st, 2018
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