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Portland, Maine — With news of sales at the B&M Baked Bean factory last month, the state’s long tradition of industrial canning will soon come to an end.

Beginning in the 1850s and reaching its peak during the Gilded Age, Maine was once dotted with dozens of fish, fruit and vegetable canning factories. Thousands of people are employed each year in Maine's seasonal bounty harvesting, preparation and preservation.

Due to the easy access to the seaport, metal cylinders filled with food are exported all over the world. This geographical advantage, coupled with cheap temporary labor—including children—helped factory owners accumulate large amounts of personal wealth.

This kind of family wealth was mainly built on canned corn, which was later used to buy katadins for the people of Maine.

This is how things happened-but first, let's set the scene.

Portland stove maker Nathan Winslow (Nathan Winslow) invented a safe and effective method of making canned corn in the late 1830s. The now familiar process first uses a machete to peel the corn from the cob. Then, put the corn in the jar, heat it to kill the bacteria, and then seal it by hand.

By 1852, Winslow and his brother Isaac opened the first successful corn cannery in the United States. Soon they became wealthy, Maine became the center of new industries, and other local companies joined the financial operations.

"Maine has an abundance of seaports and is close to large cities on the east coast, which makes the state a lucrative place for the canning business," noted the Maine Memory Network's online exhibit on Maine's canning history.

The network is a collaborative effort between the Maine Historical Society and smaller organizations of this type throughout the state.

Partners James P. Baxter and William G. Davis opened the Portland Packaging Company in 1861. At first they only produced canned corn, but soon merged with Harpswell's Rumery & Burnham and also set foot in fish and beef.

During the Civil War, the Portland Packaging Company signed a lucrative contract with the Federal Army. Its founders, including James Baxter, became very wealthy.

On the other hand, after the war, George Burnham-formerly at Rumery & Burnham-left the combined company. Burnham then collaborated with Charles Morrill. Their new ventures include a factory on Franklin Street in Portland and another factory in Markiasport, producing canned roast beef, lamb, pork, herring, clams and lobster.

The company called Burnham & Morrill did not start producing its famous brick oven B&M Baked Beans until the 1920s, when the sales of canned fish no longer sold.

Now, back to the main story: Baxter gets rich and gets richer.

A Portland Business Report in 1875 stated that his Portland Packaging Company was the world's largest packaging company with an annual production capacity of more than 4 million cans. Another report issued in 1887 stated that the Portland Packaging Company operated 36 factories in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

In 1900, Maine's Bureau of Industry and Labor Statistics stated that Maine's sweet corn packaging volume ranked third in the United States, second only to New York and Illinois. The report also pointed out that the state’s entire canning industry-including corn, sardines, clams, blueberries, beans, pumpkins, pumpkins, apples, tomatoes, etc.-is more than the combined slate, granite, and ice industries in Maine. valuable.

There were 68 canneries in Maine that year, 13 of which were owned by Portland Packaging. In addition to Portland, towns with competing canning businesses include Freiburg, Norwich Walk, Eastport, Hartford, and St Albans.

All conservation companies in Maine, including Baxter's, rely on cheap help.

Like most industrial jobs at the time, these jobs were not calculated by the hour. They are piece-rate. Workers get paid for each ear of fish that has been stripped of its shell or guts. Most vegetable canning work only lasts one or two months each year, at the end of the autumn harvest. Mainer's canned fish business can only make money when there is fish to pack.

"Each season, 80 to 100 people work at George S. Jewett's Norridgewock [canning] factory, and most of the wages are at the lowest level permitted by law," the Maine Memory Network pointed out.

Before the introduction of meaningful labor laws, many children were also engaged in these tasks.

"In terms of hiring children, the canning industry is second only to Maine's cotton mills," Jane E. Radcliffe of the Maine Museum wrote in a 1985 paper on the subject.

In August 1911, photographer Lewis Hine visited a sardine canning factory in Donggang. Hai because the children there took pictures and wrote their stories.

"Hamilton, 11, often cuts [fish]-made $1 in three hours the day before," Hein wrote. "Byron [7 years old] has a severe cut on her finger and earns 25 cents a day; Erna, 8 years old, works in paper loading."

Although Erna and Byron did not make much money from cutting their fingers in the days before workplace safety standards or income taxes, owners like Baxter did.

He has a mansion on Dilling Street in Portland and a summer resort on Macworth Island in Falmouth, which he completely owns. He was also elected Portland Mayor six times, helped found the city's public library, reigned as president of the Maine Historical Society and developed the Back Cove boulevard which bears his name.

Baxter's youngest son, Percival Baxter, has a keen interest in politics and has directed his father's mayoral campaign. Percival also managed his father's business affairs.

When James died, although he had a large family, he left most of his huge wealth to Percival, allowing the youngest Baxter to focus on politics. He was later elected to both the Maine House and Senate.

In 1920, with the help of his brother Senator Rupert Baxter, Percival was promoted to Speaker of the Maine Senate. The following year, Governor Frederic Parkhurst died only three weeks after taking office, and Percival Maine became governor. He was elected outright once, as well.

During his service in Augusta, the avid outdoor sportsman Percival tried to persuade legislators to buy katadin and leave it to the public. Maine does not yet have a state park system. The legislator refused.

Instead, Percival bought the mountain himself.

For many years after leaving office, he has been negotiating with the landlord, using most of his inherited money to buy land around Cartagedin. Then he gave the land to the country.

"Metric tons. Katahdin is now the property of Maine," said the headline of the Bangor Daily News on March 5, 1931.

For the next 31 years, Percival continued to give Maine 27 public park plots and a maintenance trust of $7 million. Today, Baxter State Park covers 209,644 acres and is one of the largest state parks in the United States.

Over time, Percival's generosity and foresight have reached a mythical level.

In 1971, the legislature passed the statement of purpose for Baxter Park. It began by saying: “There are few gifts that are more generous than Percival Proctor Baxter's gifts to the people of Maine. The recipients, they have a responsibility.

Keep trust in them. "

In February, Governor Janet Mills declared March 3, 2021 as Baxter State Park Day. Her statement stated that Percival acquired the land "at personal expense" and that it "remains a symbol of the loneliness, firmness, and independence of the Maine spirit."

Neither Mills nor the legislature mentioned where the wealthy philanthropist’s family funds came from: canned food and piecework.

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Troy R. Bennett is a native of Buxton who has lived in Portland for a long time. His photojournalism works have appeared in the media around the world. More works by Troy R. Bennett