local
Sample Minnesota's rich history, courtesy of a microfilm archive of newspaper articles, photos and ads dating back more than 140 years. Fresh items are posted once or twice a week. Go here for tips on how to track down old newspaper articles on your own. Or visit the Yesterday's News archives, a searchable library of more than 300 articles.
Follow the blog on Twitter.
NEW: "Minnesota Mayhem," a book based on the blog, is a collection of stories about disasters, accidents, crimes and bad behavior.
E-mail Ben with your questions or suggestions.
resize text 
email us
find us on Facebook
subscribe via RSS
June 25, 1936: Who were these fish-packing men?
Posted by: Ben Welter under Minnesota History Updated: November 25, 2010 - 10:15 PM
In the depths of the Great Depression, the Minneapolis Star sought to reassure readers that happy days were just around the corner with a dry, statistics-heavy series on the “convalescing” economy of northern Minnesota. Editors used the photo below to illustrate a page one story headlined “Duluth Centers Trade Drive on Good Roads.” Bad call: The story made no mention of commercial fishing or fish packing.
With little to work with, the poor caption writer had to go fish, writing: “PACKING SUPERIOR TROUT / Duluth plants also pack fish shipped from the Pacific coast.” The poor reader was left to wonder (then as now): Who were these three men, and which plant employed them? The photo offers a few tantalizing clues. But the answers, so far, have proved to be frustratingly elusive. Perhaps a reader can help me out here.
 |
| Examine the photo closely and you'll see clues in the printing on the men's caps ("American" and "Beav-") and the objects on the wall ("Duluth" and "Elliott" and "-Parker Co"). |
UPDATE: An e-mail from Peggy Johnson arrived on Nov. 24, 2010:
Your article entitled "Who were these fish-packing men? was sent to me by a relative who thought the man in the picture on the left side was my father. She was right. This is my father Henry Saaski who worked at Rust Parker in Duluth in the 30's. I was one year old in 1936 when the picture was taken. He also worked at Kemp Fisheries and at a Cooperative in Hancock, Michigan in the fish department. He was employed at the Bell Telephone Company in Duluth before he passed away in l968. For a title....Our Family did not starve during the depression...we had plenty of fish and my father had a job. And, it is nice to have this picture of my father from those days.
ADVERTISEMENT
recent posts
- Aug. 28, 1909: A foundling named Tribuna
- June 8, 1944: Luverne’s D-Day
- Sept. 5, 1888: All aboard for a Lake Minnetonka wedding!
- Sept. 9, 1913: Bees win spelling bee
- Oct. 11, 1876: Whom not to marry
- Feb. 27, 1921: An electrifying infographic
- May 8, 1913: Lake Minnetonka’s nude ‘phantom’ captured
- May 7, 1963: The Guthrie opens
- April 15, 1886: St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids in ruins
- Aug. 22, 1909: City’s bravest woman outwits robber, wolves, ducks
- April 4, 1920: To doff or not to doff?
- April 4, 1920: Used-to-be-in-love shack
- Your 1880s neighbors: cupola tender, smutter, scavenger
- March 30, 1880: Speling reform moovment
- May 5, 1907: Report of Twain's death 'greatly exaggerated'
- March 19, 1903: Janitor collars young marble thieves
- Sept. 11, 1945: Sid Hartman’s first column
- March 14, 1913: Bassett Creek, the ‘Venice of Minneapolis’
- March 6, 1913: Vegetables, nuts ‘just as good’ as meat
- Minneapolis City Council panels sign off on streetcar funding
- Westbound 694 drivers felt the pain, eastbound drivers get ready
- Nice Ride explores expanding to Rochester
- Nap Nanny baby recliner recalled after deaths
- Schiff campaign manager exits over dim prospects
- Dan Cohen announces bid for mayor
- Highway 5 rumble strips have Victoria, MN residents grumbling
- Bikes and beer: What Minnesota law has to say
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2013 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters