Monterey in Monterey County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)

Silver Harvest

Historic Cannery Row

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, April 23, 2012

1. Silver Harvest Marker

[Photograph caption; left] Photograph courtesy of Pat Hathaway, California Views, [top right] Photograph by A.C. Heidrick, courtesy of Pat Hathaway, California Views, [bottom right] Photograph courtesy of the Monterey History & Arts Association.

Inscription. In the formative days of the Monterey fishing industry, the working boats were too small to carry both a crew and a catch. The fishermen towed a second boat called a “lighter,” which could hold 25 to 60 tons of sardines.

Since the canning plants along Cannery Row didn’t have loading docks, the catch was off-loaded at sea. Fishermen used brailing nets to transfer fish from the lighters to metal buckets, which held about 600 pounds of fish each.

The buckets were winched by wire cables to the cannery weight room just offshore, and fishermen were paid by the weight of their catch. Conveyor belts moved the catch from pump houses to the canneries for processing. Transferring fish by the bucket-and-cable method was a long and arduous task for the fishermen, who had already worked all night bringing in the catch.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Waterways & Vessels.

Location. 36° 37.015′ N, 121° 54.008′ W. Marker is in Monterey, California, in Monterey County. It can be reached from Cannery Row. This marker

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located on the bayfront promenade to the right of the Clement Monterey hotel, 750 Cannery Row. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 750 Cannery Row, Monterey CA 93940, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on Central Coast

and specifically on the Coast Ranges.

It is also on the American Pacific Coast.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Ring of Fire,

in the Pacific Rim,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Fish Hoppers (here, next to this marker); Giant Kelp Beyond the Breakers (a few steps from this marker); The Del Mar Canning Company, 1927-1947 (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Fiction (about 300 feet away); Science (about 300 feet away); Ed Ricketts’s Backyard (about 300 feet away); The Cannery Row Monument (about 300 feet away); One Man, Two Worlds (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Monterey.

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, April 23, 2012

2. Silver Harvest Marker

The marker is on the right.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on May 8, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 758 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 8, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.