'Mug Up sheds light on life inside canneries

June 9, 2022

Chris Basinger / Petersburg Pilot

This display features a recreated slime line where workers armed with knives would expertly clean and butcher salmon by hand.

Amongst the sounds of churning conveyor belts, rolling carts, and running rivers, a high pitched steam whistle blares, cutting through the noise-its time for mug up.

Coffee drips and silverware clatters with plates as tired workers gather for a moment of respite.

With eyes closed, hearing the symphony of industrial noise one might think they had walked inside an operating Alaskan cannery, but upon opening they would instead find a faithful recreation of cannery life inside the Alaska State Museum in Juneau.

The museum has a new exhibit on display from April 1 through October 8 that recreate...

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