Each week we deliver salmon from the fishing grounds in the Lynn Canal to the cannery at Excursion Inlet. The trip takes six hours. The place is out there. Remote and cut off. Only accessible by boat or plane.
We arrive at dusk. You wouldn't know a seasonal village is located here unless you were looking for it. Most of the time low cloud cover and thick fog surround the area.
I try and picture Excursion Inlet when the threehundred seasonal employees go home at the end of the fishing season. It's darker and colder than it is now. The winters are too long. The sequel to the movie It or Misery could be filmed here. A few brave cracks winter over here as caretakers. They must like it.
Fish processing has been going on at this location since 1908. When buildings, docks and equipment become outdated they are left in place to rot away. New ones are built close by. This has continued for a hundred years. There are ruins here with trees and vines growing through them. Broken windows, knocked over chimneys, rusting piles of scrap metal, steam engines, cars, and boats all over.
