information from Bill Wyatt, life long resident of Lincoln, whose mother worked at the cannery
The cannery was located in Lincoln since 1912.
My mother was “Head Floor Lady” of the pitting department since 1920 and held that title for all of the years the cannery was in operation.
The process began with the rimming and pitting of the peaches, and she had strict rules that these tasks were done well. In rimming, first the “tip” was removed and the peach had to be cut to the pit in a straight line starting from bottom and all the way around. Then a “pitter” was used and it was held straight, vertically and inserted into the peach with just enough of the fruit removed with the pit to make removal possible but not so much as to gouge and “over pit”.
Open a can of peaches today and you will see that they are rimmed in any directions. Pits are still on, bits of pits are sometimes still attached and the slices are not uniform in size.
More products were added to production, her responsibilities grew, until she was in charge of both the pitting and canning departments.
In 1944, due to the war, production was in high gear and a “night shift” employed. There was a shortage of help, due to the war effort, so soldiers were transported in from Camp Beale by bus and worked the pitting department, and “white collar” day workers from town worked on the canning side at various jobs for a few hours per night. This proved unfeasible and was short lived.
Each day, the “absentees” because of illness or other reasons had to be replaced, so people had to be shuffled around where the workers were needed, which was quite a task.
The cannery burned to the ground, July 21, 1946. The City of Lincoln offered no incentives for rebuilding in Lincoln. Roseville and North Sacramento made attractive offers. .. North Sacramento won, but went bankrupt in two years.