The first salmon cannery in southeast Alaska was established at Klawock in 1878, setting in motion an historical process of conflict over salmon resources, technological competition and innovation which continues to this day. One of the most interesting episodes in this story took place on the west coast of the Prince of Wales Archipelago, where the indigenous Henya Tlingit and Kaigani Haida developed new fishing areas and techniques to adapt to Euro-American competition.

Salmon was the staff of life in precontact Tlingit and Haida society. The west coast of Prince of Wales Island is home to five species of Pacific salmon ( Onchorynchus sp. ). King salmon, the largest of the Pacific salmon, do not spawn in Prince ofWales streams, but, traditionally, migrating fish were caught out of canoes by trolling bone hooks through the water. Stone weirs (fences) were built in tidal estuaries and at other shallow locations where salmon were known to school on their migration back from the north Pacific to their natal streams. These devices were used for pink and chum salmon, the most numerous species returning to Prince of Wales streams, whose food quality quickly deteriorates when they reach freshwater.