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Can do: Astoria’s Hanthorn Cannery Museum

A photographic tour: At what's left of the oldest fish-processing plant on the Columbia River, a museum tells the tale of long hours, arduous work, and millions of fish.
Story and photos by
November 30, 2025
Oregon Coast
Culture, Photography

Pier 39, 2025

The Hanthorn Cannery Museum in Astoria, Oregon, is a rusty and rustic remembrance of the city’s fishing past. Stuck out on the end of Pier 39 like some sort of antique kabob, it is what is left of the oldest fish-processing plant on the Columbia River.

Originally opened in 1875 by J. O. Hanthorn, the business was sold in 1908 to the Columbia River Packers Association (C.R.P.A.), which eventually became Bumble Bee Seafoods. In 1981 Bumble Bee closed its headquarters in Astoria and moved to San Diego, California, where presumably the head honchos found the profits more preposterous and opportunities for social climbing more plentiful.

The Hanthorn Cannery Foundation was founded in 2003 by a group of former Bumble Bee workers and managers. It created the museum to commemorate and honor the arduous work done there.

At top and below, a photographic tour of the museum and its environs:

Fishing Boat, 2025

Gears, 2025

Astoria, 2025

Pirate Skeleton, 2025

Outboard Motor Show, 2025

Cans, 2025

Turbines, 2025

Machinery, 2025

Ammonia, 2025

Welcome, 2025

Typewriter, 2025

Hanthorn Cannery Museum

  • 100 39th St., Astoria, Oregon
  • Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week.
  • Free admission, although donations are appreciated.
  • More information: https://canneryworker.org/

K.B. Dixon’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, and journals. His most recent book, The Dogs of Doggerel: Irregular Poems was published in Fall 2025. The recipient of an OAC Individual Artist Fellowship Award, he is the winner of both the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Eric Hoffer Book Award. He is the author of seven novels: The Sum of His Syndromes, Andrew (A to Z), A Painter’s Life, The Ingram Interview, The Photo Album, Novel Ideas, and Notes as well as the essay collection Too True, Essays on Photography, and the short story collections, Artifacts, and My Desk and I. Examples of his photographic work may be found in private collections, juried exhibitions, online galleries, and at kbdixonimages.com.

Conversation 2 comments

  1. Robert Noyes

    If you ever get to San Diego you will find that the weather is a big draw. How did you come up with social climbing?

    Reply
  2. Sue Scott

    These are amazing and excellent pictures that tell a story. We’ve been to Astoria many times, and have not yet visited the cannery museum. We’ll definitely go there next visit. Thanks to Ken Dixon.

    Reply

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