Haysport Cannery

In 1906, a businessman purchased four acres of water front land at Haysport with the intention of building a salmon cannery. In 1913 a cold storage plant and freezer was built at Haysport, and in 1919 the cold storage plant was converted into a salmon cannery. In the 1930’s the fishing boundary on the Skeena River was moved ten miles down-river from the original. This change made the cannery less viable, and in 1938 all the canning machinery, office and store buildings were put on a barge and moved to Carlisle Cannery across the Skeena River. In 1924 when the Dominion Telegraph closed down many telegraph stations along the Skeena River, Haysport was kept open as a central point for the area. After the steamboat era was over, Haysport was the dropping off point for all train passnger traffic destined for Port Essington and other places across the Skeena. There was great optimism about the development of Haysport with the coming of the railway, but that soon faded and eventually Haysport passed into history.