Rags to Riches

Richard " Ritchie" and Norman Nelson were born in Norway and immigrated with their parents to Canada in 1909, where they joined two older Nelson brothers already established on the Fraser River in Sunbury, BC. By age thirteen, Ritchie was crafting gill-nets from discards and fishing the Fraser. In 1929, he and Norman co-founded Nelson Bros. Fisheries, an operation that by the 1950s stretched from the west coast of Vancouver Island to Alaska. With endless energy and boundless bravado, Ritchie and Norman grew Nelson Bros. into a highly successful enterprise, complete with a large fleet of gill-netters, packers, reduction plants, and canneries that processed salmon, herring, halibut, and crab. In an industry that by the 1930s was conservative and corporate, Ritchie and Norman stayed extremely close to their fishermen and shore workers, working tirelessly with and for them-- a stance that earned them loyalty, admiration, and even devotion. Champions of all fishermen and cannery workers, Norman and Ritchie were honoured by First Nations. The Tlingit recognized Ritchie as " Big Fin", an allusion to the killer whale or " the one that tells everybody else what to do." In this unique story of grit, ambition, and respect, MacDonald and Stuart Nelson, a grandson of Ritchie, delve into the history of one of BC's most successful fishing enterprises.