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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Monterey in Monterey County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
 

Trains and Canneries

Historic Cannery Row

 
 
Trains and Canneries Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, April 23, 2012
1. Trains and Canneries Marker
[Photograph captions]
[Top]
Photograph by C.W. Johnson, courtesy of the Monterey Public Library, California History Room

[Middle]
Photograph courtesy of the Monterey Public Library, California History Room

[Bottom]
Photograph by A.C. Heidick, courtesy of Pat Hathaway, California Views.
Inscription. The railroad
A major landmark in the history of the Monterey Peninsula was the Southern Pacific Railroad. Built in 1880, the rail line was intended to bring tourism to this scenic area. In addition to transporting tourists, however, it delivered an influx of new immigrants and provided a way of shipping the fishing industry’s products to the outside world.

World War I
World War I transformed Monterey’s archaic fish-canning operations. In 1918 fewer than a dozen canneries could produce 1,400,000 cases of sardines per year. Off-loading fish catches was still done by hand by cable and buckets from barges towed by Monterey clippers. Full mechanization came a decade later, when purse seiners and their huge nets off-loaded to turbine pumps in each of the canneries, which literally sucked the fish ashore.

Oceanside canneries and trackside warehouse
Canneries typically stood as far out over the rocky shoreline as possible. The canneries were connected to their warehouses by conveyors and pipelines housed inside crossovers that ran overhead across Ocean View Avenue. Railroad freight cars at the rear of the warehouses delivered cans and supplies and departed with cases of sardines, fishmeal and sardine oil. Today the old Southern Pacific rail line is the site of the Cannery Row Recreational
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Trail, and San Carlos Beach is one of the county’s premier shore-dive scuba sites.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & CommerceRailroads & StreetcarsSports. A significant historical year for this entry is 1880.
 
Location. 36° 36.615′ N, 121° 53.782′ W. Marker is in Monterey, California, in Monterey County. Marker can be reached from Cannery Row. This marker is located in San Carlos Beach Park. The park is on the ocean side of the 100 block of Cannery Row. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Monterey CA 93940, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Cannery Divers Memorial (a few steps from this marker); Associated Oil Fire – 1924 (within shouting distance of this marker); Monterey Breakwater (within shouting distance of this marker); The California Riviera (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line); Edward Ricketts (approx. 0.2 miles away); Hurray for Hollywood (approx. ¼ mile away); Sloat Monument (approx. ¼ mile away); Presidio of Monterey Museum (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Monterey.
 
Trains and Canneries Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, April 23, 2012
2. Trains and Canneries Marker
Trains and Canneries Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, April 23, 2012
3. Trains and Canneries Marker
San Carlos Beach Park image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, April 23, 2012
4. San Carlos Beach Park
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on May 10, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 641 times since then and 2 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on May 10, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 19, 2024