the East Coast of America by 1830, and was being performed in Saint John, New Brunswick by 1840. The process was, however, slow to reach 3'

the shores of PEI. l

A CANNING EXPLOSION .1

For the early settlers, the only method of preserving fish had

been smoking and salting. In his book, The FlShCfl of Prince Edward

Island, Kennedy Wells refers to a “canning explosion” that took place on ; the Island in the late 1800s. The history of the lobster industry is I intricately tied with the history of canning. In 1880, advertisements in I local newspapers displayed the rise in the canning process: (11) l

LOBSTER PACKING SUPPLIES. 500 boxes TIN PLATES 50 ingots REFINED TIN 50 pigs LEAD 10 bars COPPER for soldering Irons 600 cases made CANS (1 lb. Tins) 5 casks TURRENTINE 50 coils MARLINE 50 coils ROPE 6,9 and 12 thread

For sale by Horace Haszard

As most lobster factories in the St. Peters area shipped their lobster to Charlottetown, it is natural to assume their supplies would have been bought from such individuals such as Mr. Haszard.

In 1873, there were only two lobster factories on the Island. By 1879 this number had grown to thirty—five, and in 1903, there were fifty- three factories in King’s County alone. (12) Island fishermen had realized by this time that profits could be made from lobster fishing, and it and oyster fishing dominated the Island fisheries. (13) Every little cove on the Island had a factory and the north shore within the St. Peters Fire District was no exception. (14V These factories provided a lot of employment for the residents of the area and, according to Reggie Flynn, people came from as far away as Lot 40 and St. Charles to work at the factories located along the north shore. (15) The earlier factories were always built over a river.

Alycia MacAulay’s father, Vince Sutherland, ran a lobster factory with his two brothers on the north shore. Alycia recalled her father’s

factory:

I can remember they used to seal the cans by hand. Then they used to have to bathe them at night, so that they ’d be safe to eat, I guess. Then in the later years they got a sealing machine. They used to

* See Appendix One for a list of the Canneries located in the fire district area.