Farmers and Merchants Plot a Cannery
Producers gather at the Chamber of Commerce to organize a cooperative cannery, seeking to solve the region's surplus waste problem.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The establishment in Seattle of a fruit and vegetable cannery to take care of the surplus produce raised in this section was discussed at a well-attended mass meeting of producers and business men yesterday at the Chamber of Commerce. Secretary Tonneson, of the state board of horticulture, called the meeting to order. John Walsh, who has had several years' experience in the cannery business in Iowa, stated that prices averaged about 30 cents a bushel for tomatoes and 4 cents a quart for strawberries. C. E. Crane, president of the Seattle Cold Storage Company, offered to furnish the necessary room with steam and power and take stock in the company. A committee was appointed to investigate the offer and estimate machinery costs. It was resolved to form a corporation with a capital stock of $15,000, with shares at $125. The committee intends to organize a canning and drying company to handle output for King and adjoining counties.
“The establishment in this city of a fruit and vegetable cannery to take care of the surplus produce raised in this section was discussed.”
This move toward vertical integration and processing local agricultural surplus was a common strategy for 1890s Seattle to stabilize its erratic frontier economy. Today, while canning has largely left the urban core, the struggle to connect regional food producers directly to city markets through infrastructure remains a constant in local civic planning.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.