Nortons Overlook And Live By The Sea
Rolling Herring Barrels First Job
By MIRIAM J. ANGELL
Tuesday was bright and beautiful
in the way that lends particular
brilliance to Kodiak’s mountains
and waters. From the wide win
dows of Emil and Iefrieda Norton’s
home on the hillside overlooking
Small Boat Harbor, the view was
picture-perfect sparkling, exhilirat
ing. “We need more room as our
children grow,” Mrs. Norton said,
“but we can’t bear to leave our
view. We’ve built onto the house;
now the only way is up, or out.’
The children who fill their home
happily are Catherine, who is 7 and
prefers to be called Cathy, Felecia,
2Vi, and Emil Rae, an energetic
18 months old. The little girls are
pretty and young Emil is a hand
some boy.
Iefrieda Norton was born on
Bear Island, a small, wooded island
of about 170 acres not far from
Afognak and Pt. Bailey. “I went to
school in Afognak,” she told us,
“and spent the summers on our is
land when I was a child. No, we
didn’t go to school by boat; it was
only about a mile-and-a-half from
home to Afognak, but when it
came time for school, my Mother
packed up and we moved over for
the winter. For 15 years she packed
and unpacked, spring and fall, and
we moved back and forth until all
four children finished school. After
the eighth grade I went to work in
the canneries during the summer
salmon seasons, and during the war
I spent the winters in Seattle work
ing for Boeing Aircraft. I did rivet
ing on B17s; it was different from
anything I’ve ever done, and I en
joyed it. Other times I stayed on
Bear Island with my folks until
Emil and I were married, 8 years
ago. We had known each other
since we were 16.”
Emil Norton, who is Superin
tendant of the Alaska King Crab
cannery in Kodiak, was born and
reared in Kodiak, and other than
periods in canneries on this island,
and at Pt. Bailey and two years in
the Army, has lived here all his
life. “The first job I had in a can
nery was with Kadiak Fisheries in
1937 when I was 14. That was just
at the peak of the season and I
pestered so hard, they finally hired
me. I earned 15 cents an hour and
I remember my first paycheck was
$44—a lot of money to me then.
The only other money I’d ever
earned was for rolling herring bar
rels the summer before. The
Donna Lane, a herring factory
ship, was lying at D and A’s dock
and they hired a few young boys
to roll the barrels off the ship so
they could be repacked. After her
ring sits for so long it has to be
repacked. So we rolled the barrels
for 10 cents an hour and were
pretty thrilled because there was
almost no way for youngsters to
make pocket money in those days.
“I worked for longer periods
each year and in 1940, at Ugak Bay,
the Superintendent for Parks Fish
eries gave me a chance to learn to
be a mechanic on the canning ma
chines. After several years I got
pretty familiar with the canning
gear and became cannery foreman.
I’ve been with Kadiak Fisheries
ever since 1942, except for the time
in service. In 1958 the Kadiak and
the San Juan Fishing and Packing
Companies merged to form Alaska
King Crab, and started freezing
and canning; I’ve been Superin
tendent at that plant for the 3
years since.”
In summer, when not processing
King crab, Emil Norton, like many
others in the King crab industry,
works at salmon canneries. This
almost total year ’round employ
ment in the fishing industry is rel
atively new to the island, and, bar
ring serious trouble, the industry
has good cause to expect expan
sion, and a firmer economy for Ko
diak. It has not always had such
hope.
“Before the Naval Base came to
Kodiak,” Emil continued, “in win
ter there was absolutely no work
at all unless you had a job in a
store. I worked for 0. Kraft and
Sons for several winters after the
war, but most people just waited
from one fishing season to the next.
When building of the base began
there was work for many, and peo
ple got to depending on regular em
ployment out there. This was good
for Kodiak’s economy, but it’s bet
ter for us to have a year ’round in
dustry of our own.”
The Japanese pioneered in re
search and processing of King crab
in the early 1920s. We wondered
why Alaska was so slow to realize
the profitable possibilities of this
largest of edible crustacaens. Emil
Norton said, “Well, first of all, this
is not a fish eating country. In the
east they’re used to eating lobster
and oysters, but too many Ameri
cans prefer steak to seafood. Oh,
we knew we had King crab up here;
we saw them, but no one knew how
good they tasted, and even as late
as the early ’40s we thought they
were so awful looking, we couldn’t
imagine eating them.” Mrs. Norton
added that the Japanese workers
in the cannery at Pt. Bailey in 1939
often set pots and caught great
numbers of King crab. “We could
n’t understand their tastes. Now
that I’ve tasted it myself I’d rather
have King crab than steak. I love
anything that comes out of the sea,
but that is best of all.”
Emil said, “In the late 1940s
some King crab was processed for
the fresh market and shipped out
to Seattle by air, but as an industry
it didn’t get rolling until about
1951. Whereas salmon canning is
down to a science now, crab can
ning is still in its infancy as far
as the mechanical end of it goes.
It is practically all hand labor be
cause there just are no machines
for getting the meat out and into
the cans.”
We asked how many people
around the island are connected
with the industry and Mr. Norton
answered that It would be pretty
hard to estimate. “It entails prac
tically everbody in the community
in some way or another. At our
plant we need about 35 workers in
the actual canning process. When
for us, and each boat has at least
2 men, more usually 3. So, roughly,
we freeze and can at the same time
(Continued on Page 9)
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