I am looking for information for a masters thesis on the California Se a Products Co., (1919-1931) and the California Whaling Company (1932-1936+). I am looking for pictures or information that have not been published, not including information from the Maritime Museum Library, Monterrey Maritime Museum, Bancroft Library, Steinhart Aquarium and National Archives. Primary names Capt. Frederick Kristian Dedrick, Capt. David Dedrick, Capt. Louis Lane, Ships California, Lansing, Traveler, Hawk, Hercules. Land stations were Moss Landing (1919-27) and Trinidad, CA (1920-26).

-- Dale Vinnedge (dvinnedge@cptmail.com), January 15, 1999

Answers

Dale, The following was taken from my sisters research paper, Coming To America...To California...To Lorin - Swedish Life in a California Community, 1905 - 1925.

Employment Opportunities - If jobs were momentarily scarce in the Bay Area, they hired on as fishermen for Del Monte's Alaska Packers and sailed from San Francisco on ships like the Balclutha to Alaska, where they fished for red sock-eye salmon from May to August. Others worked at the salting stations. Ragnar Grandin, an Olander, worked year-round for two years for the company at their Nusiak Cannery in Igusik. The company needed two men to stay for the nine-month long winter and do maintenance work. Ragnar plugged up water lines so they would not break during the winter freeze, shoveled snow off roofs, and patrolled the camp for security. He remembers living in a tiny tent-shack with a seven foot canvass ceiling. At night, in sub- zero weather, he had to stretch a sail over his bed to prevent condensation from dripping down on him, and his mattress was frozen to the wall all winter long. He slept under deerskins to keep warm. Ragnar came from Sweden in 1922 to replace his brother, Erik, who had worked in Alaska for the previous seven years.

Ragner Grandin to Merle Dean (Oakland, Ca, February, 1989). Ragner related fabulous tales about the Alaskan Salmon Business, as well as memories of life in Lorin (South Berkeley).

There is a copy of Merle's paper at the Berkeley Historical Society.

-- Randy Grandin (Rlgrandin@aol.com), January 16, 1999.

I am still researching additional information on this subject. I can be reach at dvinnedge@earthlink.net

-- Dale Vinnedge (dvinnedge@earthlink.net), February 11, 2005.