11. Chinese Workers in Astoria Cannery

Chinese immigrants first began working as Columbia River cannery laborers in 1872 and quickly dominated the work force. They endured decades of prejudice and exploitation, marked especially by the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) and the establishment of the contract labor system in the 1890s. Beginning in 1905 Columbia River cannery owners replaced Chinese labor with Smith Butchering Machines, sometimes called “Iron Chinks.” Each of these machines cut, gutted, and cleaned salmon at a rate comparable to the work of 30 to 40 skilled workers. As the century wore on, and the number of canneries diminished, fewer and fewer Chinese were hired from the increasingly competitive labor pool.