Fleeing the great fire of Seattle, Mr Monkey went to inspect displays about the salmon fisheries of the Pacific Northwest. He scurried around a slightly landlocked fishing boat, and inspected a fish butchering machine. This was invented by a Canadian, Mr Edmund Augustine Smith, and was originally called the Iron Chink as it was intended to replace Chinese cannery workers at a time when they were considered to be the best workers* and both the US and Canadian governments were restricting Asian immigration.
You can read about the Smith Butcher Machine at the Gold Seal Salmon website.
* or were the only people able to cope with the rather dire conditions in the canneries.
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Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 27 February 2007