While researching information on salmon canneries in the Columbia River in Oregon, I came across some interesting information regarding Sisson, Wallace & Co. based out of San Francisco, California. They were an agency specializing in supplying the railroad companies in Northern California and Nevada not only with construction material, but also for procuring Chinese labor for the transcontinental railroad. They also were responsible for providing the Chinese workers with food and clothing along with room and board. Now, how is this related to the salmon canning industry in Alaska you may ask?

The company called Sisson, Wallace, and Co. was formed by A. W. Sisson, Clark W. Crocker, and W. H. Wallace. Clark Crocker was already a partner with his brother Charles, one of the “Big Four” (the others were Leland Stanford who founded Stanford University, Collis Huntington and Mark Hopkins) who was one of the big investors in the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad traversing the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

There was an advertisement in the Sacramento Union in 1865 which called for 5,000 laborers to work on the railroads but only a few hundred Irish immigrants and other white workers were recruited for the backbreaking hazardous work. Between 1865 to1869, the largest contractor of Chinese labor for the Central Pacific railroad was Sisson, Wallace, and Co. In 1866, Stanford wrote to President Johnson that he expected to have 15,000 Chinese workers that year.

Sisson, Wallace, and Co. hired Chinese contractors to manage and pay the the Chinese workers minus room and board, food and supplies. Now this sounds very similar to the the Chinese contract system used by the salmon canneries in the late 1800s and early 1900s!

The Chinese railroad workers were paid $26 a month in 1865 (work was 6 days a week, 11 hours a day) but rates did vary depending on the skill level required or how hazardous the job was. For example, those who were using dynamite to blast through the Sierra mountain were paid an extra $1 a month. Although they were given lodging and food, it did come out of their monthly pay from their headman or contractor. It wasn’t until 1867 that wages were increased to $31 to $35 a month to attract more workers. In contrast, the white workers had their accommodations and food covered, had shorter work hours and were were also paid one-third to one-half more than the Chinese laborers.

What was started by the railroad industry was also used in the canneries. The idea of using a Chinese contract system to hire laborers for the railroad construction in many ways was very similar to the one that was used to hire Chinese salmon cannery workers! Commonalities are found in the pay structure, work conditions, and the hiring of Chinese laborers using a contract system. Both industries needed a lot of workers to perform jobs that were labor intensive and often times dangerous. Skilled positions or more hazardous jobs paid a little bit more for work that did not appeal to as many white workers at the time. This system was used until the 1930s before cannery labor unions took over the hiring process and ultimately improved the work conditions and helped standardize pay.

Please check out my next blog about the very first salmon cannery in Alaska to explore how Sisson, Wallace & Co. was also involved in this!

References:

Chang, G. H. and Fishkin, S. F. (2018). Geography of Chinese Workers Building
the Transcontinental Railroad. Stanford University. https://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/website/virtual/

Goforth, J. P. (2014, July 14). Klawock Cannery 1878. Alaska Historical Society. https://alaskahistoricalsociety.org/klawock-cannery-1878-2/

Karuku, M. (2020, April 6). Chinese Workers and the Transcontinental Railroad. Boom California. https://boomcalifornia.org/2020/04/06/chinese-workers-and-the-transcontinental-railroad/

WALLACE et al. v. SISSON et al. Supreme Court of California. June 9, 1893. https://casetext.com/case/wallace-v-sisson-1