The Looming Expulsion of Chinese Workers from Grays Harbor Canneries
As local salmon canneries gear up for the season, the paper notes an ominous understanding regarding the workforce.
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 Alliance brought over last week a large boiler to be used in Megler's cannery this season. The cannery will be used by McGowan Bros., Megler having decided not to can this season. It is said that Seaborg will soon be over, and has secured the use of McGowan's cannery, a short distance up the river. The canneries, it is understood, will employ Chinamen and it is also understood that when they stop the Chinamen must go.
“It is understood that when they stop the Chinamen must go.”
This brief report captures the climate of the 1885-86 anti-Chinese expulsion era that lingered heavily in Washington territory. It serves as a stark reminder that the region's early industrial growth was built on a foundation of exclusionary labor practices that forced workers out of communities once their labor was no longer desired.
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