The "Iron Chink"

This is a relic from the not-always-perfect past. It is a nameplate from an early mechanized salmon cleaning machine, called the "Iron Chink." In the early 1900s, Chinese workers were sometimes resented by other workers, because they were willing to work for lower wages. These machines replaced them.

The machine was invented by a man named E. A. Smith. The first "Iron Chink" was set up in 1904 at Nushagak on Bristol Bay. Soon these machines were in canneries up and down the coast.

©Photo by Fred Anderson

The picture used on this page is copyrighted.

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