Excerpts from “Egen lyckas smed” by K-G Olin.
English translation by June Pelo.
There was a gloomy mood in Astoria, Oregon in the spring of 1896. The fishermen had gone on strike against what they said were increasingly low prices each year for salmon they caught. One reason for the low prices was that the canning companies sold inferior canned salmon under the name Chinook and that undermined consumer confidence. It was the salmon fishermen who paid a high price for this cheating, and now the future of the entire industry was uncertain. The strike erupted into violence on May 21. Two non-union fishermen, R. Searcy and his son-in-law Phil Junell, were fired at when they were on the way to fish near Wallace Island. Searcy was severely wounded by several bullets. Even though no one was charged, it was obvious that the striking fishermen were behind it. In the course of events the National Guard was called to prevent further violence and to protect the fishermen who wanted to fish despite the strike. The Guard arrived June 16 and the following day non-strikers were able to fish under their protection. Soon the canning factories were operating at full capacity. The fishermen’s union realized they had lost and that they had to accept the price offered by the industry. The strike ended after two months. So much fish came in that the company lowered the price by more than half and set a limit on how much fish each boat could deliver. As a result, many fishermen gave up fishing. Others continued to fish at the ridiculously low prices because they had no other means of livelihood.
In the meantime a group of Finlander fishermen began to look for another answer. They dreamed of owning their own company, rather than working for the canning industry that bought their fish. A committee was formed to establish the “Union Fishermen’s Cooperative Packing Company”. Shares were sold first among Astoria’s Finnish fishermen. Finlanders bought 172 of the 200 shares, and 20 by Scandinavians and 8 by Germans. According to the principle of the cooperative, each owner had only one vote no matter how many shares he owned. The price of a share was $100 and the company paid interest at 6%. The joint owners would receive a part of the company’s profit in proportion to what they had delivered.
In January 1897 the first annual meeting was held. The project advanced speedily. The task of setting up the company went to Frans Kankkonen from Gamlakarleby. He had come to Astoria four years earlier. Frans became the first manager. His brother Karl, or Charles Wilson as he was called in America, became chairman of the board. The Kankkonen brothers were known as reliable and efficient men. They were sons of the legendary shipbuilder Vilhelm Kankkonen, who was known to be absolutely honest. Vilhelm’s brother Matts Kankkonen was a war hero from the Battle of Halkokari. On the plus side, the Kankkonen brothers were skilled in languages and could lighten up life with a splash of “Kokkolahumor.”
Karl Kankkonen emigrated to America in 1879 when he was 18 years of age. After several years in Michigan he moved to Oregon where he worked four years building the railroad between Corvallis and Newport. Then he settled in Astoria where he set up a fish cannery. He built a boat, got a net and began to fish. He was known as a skillful boat builder. Several generations of his family had been boat builders and when Karl was 12 years old he had built boats together with his father Vilhelm. During one winter in Astoria, Karl built 36 fishing boats and two of them were gasoline powered motorboats. He was the first person to install a motor on a boat that fished with a net. His doubters declared it would be impossible because the net would be drawn into the propeller. Karl solved the problem and his method of building is still used today.
In America Karl began to call himself Charles Wilson. He found his future wife in a Finnish group in Astoria. She was Susanna Beata Niemela from Uleåborg. Together with her parents and siblings, she had arrived in Astoria in 1880. In 1893 the Wilson couple returned to Gamlakarleby to help his father with a large project. The couple had become accustomed to life in America and the old country no longer attracted them. After nine months they returned to Astoria. His younger brother Frans Kankkonen and his wife Emilia Margareta Häggren also moved to America. Their thirteen-year-old brother Frithiof remained in Gamlakarleby, and would follow them later. Brother Frans had studied to be an architect in Helsingfors. After his studies he had served three years in the Russian army and then served as an engineer for railroad construction.
The brothers were very skilled men who came to manage the Union Fishermen’s Cooperative Packing Company – or Union Fish as it was called. In addition to working with the fish cannery the brothers managed their own boat building business. The shipyard was called Wilson Brothers, even though Frans never changed his name from Kankkonen. Both businesses had mainly Finnish, Swede-Finn and Scandinavian employees.
The activities within Wilson Brothers was not restricted to boat building. The company also took on the big project of building Taylor school and St. Mary’s Hospital. The latter building, consisting of four stories in 1905, was designed by architect John E. Wicks. The Kankkonen brothers also built beautiful homes for themselves in the city.
In the summer of 1902 the third brother Frithiof arrived in Astoria. He planned to stay a few years, but stayed for the rest of his life. Frithiof worked with his brothers, but he also developed his own projects. Like Frans, he was trained as an architect. As head of Union Fish Frans soon gave proof of “Kokkolahumor”. In 1904 he made a sales tour through Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and Finland. On the way home to Astoria he also stopped in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Sioux City.
Union Fish developed over the years in a positive direction. When Johannes Klockars, high school principal, visited Astoria in 1909 he classified it as the largest Swede-Finn cooperative undertaking in the US. It was probably not entirely correct to call it a Swede-Finn business because most of the company’s 332 fishermen were Finnish-speaking. According to Klockars most of them came from Österbotten and nearly all owned shares in the business. The buildings and equipment were valued at $130,000.
At first the fishermen’s wives tied the nets by hand. But the Kankkonen brothers soon developed mechanical equipment to take care of that. Frans also came up with a packing method that considerably simplified the production of tin cans. The method was patented and began to be used in the factory in Astoria and also began to be used in other parts of the world. Frans also headed the factory that produced the tin cans. Union Fish used about 30,000 cans per season. Frans not only designed and built the Finnish Apostolic Church in Astoria, he was the minister of the congregation. As another string in his bow, he led the ground reclamation effort on Mount Sola in Washington State. He also established “The Klaskanine Fish Hatchery” in Olney in 1911. Brother Frithiof worked on building this establishment. That same year he became a partner in Wilson Brothers. During this time the shipyard decided to build larger boats. Frithiof went to San Francisco for 6 months to see how work was done at other shipyards.
Hundreds of fishing boats and a number of large vessels were built over the years by Wilson Brothers. The company’s boats became known for their high quality. The year before World War I began, Wilson Brothers received an order for two steam schooners. While working on the schooners, the shipyard also had 11 other projects going. In the spring of 1916 it was reported that the company had nearly 100 employees and that the number would increase.
In the spring of 1917 there was a change in owners. A new group of owners came into the picture and changed the name to Wilson Shipbuilding. Charles Wilson and Frans Kankkonen remained as company leaders. New demands were placed on the shipyard when they received a large order for minesweepers for the American Navy. For a while Wilson Shipbuilding was the largest company that built ships of wood in the northwestern US. The number of employees rose to nearly a thousand. There were also two other shipyards in Astoria. Karl died in 1918 and Frans died the following year.
After the war Wilson Shipbuilding built several ferries but the greatest years of the company were past and in 1919 it was over. As a matter of curiosity, the vessel hulls that were not finished during the war were used by Cecil B. DeMille in the film “Yankee Clipper” in 1927.
During 1921-45 Frithiof, as the third brother in the organization, led Union Fish over a quarter of a century including the depression and war years. Thanks to his leadership the company survived those difficult times. It was said that during the depression much fish was eaten in households in Union Town.
In 1929 there were 325 fishermen who owned shares in the company. The company was officially a corporation, but was conducted as a cooperative company. The fishermen had their own boats and nets, which were mostly financed with loans from Union Fish. It was not always easy to pay back a loan. Frithiof was sorry that his countrymen were more interested in buying a car than in paying off their loans from the business. The yearly volume then was $700,000.
The Kankkonen brothers and their families were well-liked among Finlanders as well as Astoria residents. They had many important commissions of trust in the community. Karl was chosen as Astoria’s town counsellor in 1903, 1908 and 1912. The brothers were strong teetotalers and advocates for prohibition. They adhered to the Laestadian creed. Many of their children worked in the family business and later with some of their own ventures. The Laestadians believed at the time that people should distance themselves from worldly things such as the radio. During the second world war four of Frithiof’s sons were out in the world, and he felt it was necessary to get a radio.
Frithiof was called Fritz in the business world. To the younger relatives he was Uncle Fritz, and some called him Uncle Fish. He had a strong personality and a playful disposition. He also had a nippy “Kokkolahumor.” Third generation childhood memories recalled how father’s father packed the children into businessman Aspfor’s delivery truck to take them to Sunday School. Their parents were not as strict about worldly pleasures, but the children had orders from home to not talk about the movies where Uncle Fish could hear them. The grandchildren also remembered how he winked at them from the window of the factory office, and how they could go and have a coin to spend on dried fish that they ate as goodies. Best of all was to watch Fritz when he took a little nap balanced on a kitchen chair’s two legs, and they hoped he tipped over.
Fritz made a smart move when his brother’s son Jalmar Wilson caught a giant salmon in May 1936. The salmon became not only a popular postcard subject, but it met a very noble fate. The fish was sent to the White House. In a thank-you letter President Franklin Roosevelt said the salmon was the best meal served to him in the White House.
When Frithiof, the last of the brothers, died in the spring 1948, the local newspaper “The Astoria Budget” wrote that he was a leader that people praised for his efforts for the community. The editor wrote “Mr. Kankkonen, an intelligent, skilled and cultured person from a prominent family in his homeland, was the determining factor whose vision got people here to perceive and appreciate the quality of good citizenship, enterprise, go-ahead spirit and good character that a newcomer could contribute to Astoria. Mr. Kankkonen gave much more to Astoria than what the city gave to him. His life here was long, productive and worthwhile for the community. He will long be remembered by many who knew him and who were proud to be his friend.”
The operations of Union Fishermen’s Cooperative Packing business continued under another regime for a while in the 1970s. Their range increased during the last years with deep-sea fishing such as tuna. But soon the era was over and the large establishment was closed in the 1990s.
That which began as a reaction to an unsuccessful strike became a successful business which gave work and a livelihood to many families through several generations.
Salmon fishing in the Columbia River changed dramatically in the latter half of the 1800s. The gigantic salmon each summer became an easily caught quarry when they swam up the Columbia River during the yearly migration. Fish were found in incredible abundance and were easily caught. According to an investigation which American authorities undertook in 1888 there were 2.8 million feet of fishing net in the rivers, 136 salmon traps and an unknown number of seines. Ruthless fishing quickly decimated the salmon stock. According to an estimate in 1890 there was only a fourth of what had been there two decades earlier.
In the beginning of the 1900s another season of good catching was predicted. In August 1902 it was reported that Finlander J. Erikson of Astoria, caught nearly 2 tons of salmon in only one seine-sweep. The income from one net’s fish could be several times larger than an entire year’s farming income. William Wilson and a friend earned over $184 for a single night of fishing in 1904 and $930 for the entire season.
Catches were so large sometimes that it was difficult to find a market for the fish and the price went down. In 1902 when there were record large catches, the price sank from 6 cents to 4 cents per pound. There were more fish than the canning factories could take care of. There was nothing they could do but throw the fish back into the river. According to information during the 1903 season, in three days they rejected 40 tons of salmon. The fish were left on the shores of the river and rotted and the smell over Astoria was so bad they had to hire men to bury the fish. During top years the swamped canning factories had to hire more people. Children began to work. Small boys and girls were paid 50 cents a day to gather tin cans.
Finns in the community would buy land from a logging company. After clearing the ground they were established as farmers, but they continued to fish for the factory. During the fishing season which ran from the end of April to August, the farm work was usually done by the fisherman’s wife. It was arduous work on those isolated farms. After a while many of them gave up farming and moved to the city. There the women found work in the canning factories.
The Indians traditionally fished for salmon with a large landing-net that they sank into the river. Then they dragged the net to shore, often with the help of horses. It could take up to 18 horses to drag a seine-net. Sometimes it would be so full it was not possible to pull it up. Then the only choice was to go out and release the fish.
The best place for net fishing was Sand Island in the estuary of the river. The fish usually headed for low water so the fishermen had a lot of room to maneuver. The most profitable method was to fish with traps, as they are called in America. It was an effective but expensive method. It was Kristinestad resident Bror Axel Seaborg who introduced the salmon trap to the Columbia River in 1879. After he saw that the method was not especially effective, he traveled to Green Bay, Wisconsin and persuaded a trap fisherman named John E. Graham to come to the Columbia River and teach his method.
Another method used was the drift net. It could be up to 100 meters long and could go down to a depth of 6 meters. Munsala resident Karl Johan Laggar, or Charles Lager as he was called in America, was a pioneer in the use of the drift net on the Columbia River. He was a foreman at Warren Packing Company. He had also fished in Alaska.
There was another method of fishing known as “setnets.” During high tide it was fruitful. Charles Olin and the Lindström brothers from Åland were experts in the use of setnet fishing in the Cascade Rapids.
A number of Swede-Finns lost their lives in drowning accidents. William Boström from Nykarleby drowned in June 1903. Johannes Gabrielson from Töjby in Korsnäs drowned in the summer 1905. Twenty-year-old John Erik Granlund, or Gåbbil, from Koskeby in Vörå drowned in 1912. Karl Adolf Nyby, who called himself Charles A. Carlson in America, drowned in July 1921. His boat capsized at Clatsop Spit. Nyby came from Kantlax at the end of 1800. He had taken part in the gold rush in the Yukon and had gone over the legendary Chilkoot pass.
Ellen Maria and Anders Carlson had a drowning accident in Warren in July 1917. Ellen was 13 and was born in Eureka, Utah, and Anders was from Tölby, Korsholm. Two siblings of Anders Carlson tried to contact brother Emil after reading of Carlson’s death in the Finska Amerikanaren. Emil had not been heard from for 12 years.
Gideon Sjöberg from Norrnäs in Närpes drowned 7 May 1910 after a steamship rode over him. Wiljam Carlson from Tjärlax in Närpes drowned at Beaver Slough near Quincy 1912.
Felix Bearman, or Björman as he was known in Lappfjärd, lost his life on the Columbia River April 1916. On a stormy day he was with other seamen on a government boat “Monzanita”. He and five other seamen went in an open boat to check out a buoy. The boat capsized and threw the six men into the water. Three of them drowned.
Herman Söderlund from Jakobstad was drowned with the schooner F. W. Howes on the Columbia River March 1904. Oskar Ahlgren from Helsingfors drowned together with the ship “Samarias” outside of Astoria March 1897.
One of the most tragic sea disasters in Oregon’s history happened 18 September 1914. The ship Francis H. Leggett was on the way from Hoquiam, Washington to San Francisco when it ran into a severe storm. The cargo of railroad ties shifted and the ship began to take in water. Even though the 23-man crew and the 37 passengers struggled with the pumps, they couldn’t keep the water out. The captain ordered all to the lifeboats but they had no chance against the storm. Only two men survived the catastrophe. Two men who drowned were Finlanders, August Allen and Gustaf Carl Lindelöf.
Three men died in April 1908 during the building of a pier near Astoria. It was early in the morning when the train that would take the pile driving machine to the workplace upset for some unknown reason. Two men died immediately and a third, Finlander Anders Hansen, died two weeks later of injuries.
The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 took the lives of several Finlanders. Two of them were Ilmari Alhomäki from Salo and Helena Rosblom from Raumo. Alhomäki was on his way to Astoria. Mrs. Rosblom, together with two children, was going to her husband Victor in Seaside near Astoria.
Adolf Svenson, son of Hanna Lybäck from Kronoby, and Astoria’s bookseller John Svenson, became a hero in November 1914 when the steamship Hanalei was shipwrecked outside San Francisco. Adolf was a radio telegrapher on the Hanalei and he stood by his post and called for help and went down with the ship. According to information, Adolf Svenson’s name is on a monument in Battery Park in New York together with two other radio telegraphers who died under similar circumstances.
