Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-03-09


WHAT WAS SEEN ON A RECENT TRIP
TO OYSTER BAY.
G. X. Coryell, in Post-Intelligencer.l
Here we are in Oyster Bay" said
Captain Wiley, of the steamer Willie,
as we rounded Steamboat Island and
started up Totten Inlet, one of the
many branches of Puget Sound, one
clear morning when February was
young. The tide, which was just be-
ginning TO ebb, while not in our favor,
was not strong feminist us and we
sped merrily enough along. The
ducks which covered the waters lazily
flew to one side as the boat came too
near to be in accord with their ideas OF
safety, and the white-winged gulls
contentedly crooned upon the sands
OF the shores or wheeled overhead, flap
ping their wings in defiance at the in
trudcr upon their solitude.
For the sake of poetry l would like
to say that the deer grazing upon the
tender twigs of the forest, bounded
lightly away at our approach, that
black bears, like grim spectres, pa
troled the beach gnashing their teeth
in impotent rage as they guarded the
nest where lay their young, and that
as the steamers whistle awakened the
echoes of the solitudes the dusky In
dian maidens shyly peeped from out
their leafy fastness upon the intrud-
ing pale face. But the love of truth
for which newspaper men are cele-
brated compels me to say that ] saw
none of these things, though they arc
plenty of deer, bear, wild cats and cou-
gars i'll that vicinity, and also a plenti-
full supply of Siwasiles, but they are
not of the kind that fees at the COM
ing of the white man nor yet rushes
out to battle at his approach.
On we sped past the two large rocks
which so plainly mark the mouth of
Little Skookum where lay huge
boom OF logs, ready to be towed away
to some place where their vast bulk
would be transformed into the pro-
ducts of commerce. On for nearly
eight miles past the lighthouses of
the oystermen where sat the klootch-
men engaged in the unpoetic occu-
patton of culling oysters. l was for
tunate in having with me, not only u
row boat, but the man who owned it,
and who knew the ropes, or rather the
oyster beds and oystermen of Oyster
Bay. As had come to see with my
own eyes the location and extent of
the beds, together with the manner of
working them, as we'll as the effects of
the late freeze, and to ascertain if pos
sible the conditions of success, we
left the steamer and took to our row
boat. AS we passed the lighthouses
the invariable reply to our query Of
how the oysters were, was frozen,
badly frozen"
OYSTER BAY.
Oyster Bay is about eight miles in
length and is the chief source of supply
for the luscious bivalves which go un-
der the name Of Olympia oysters in
the markets of Washington, Oregon
and that part of British Columbia
reached by them. That they are called
Olympia oysters probably arises from
the fact that they are all shipped from
here and handled by Olympian dealers.
However, that cuts no figure, for they
would undoubtedly taste as sweet if
called by any other name.
The extent OF the beds is not cx-
actly known, but as nearly rs could
be ascertained it is not far from q
600 acres. They begin about a mile
from the head Of the bay, into which
empties Simmons creek, and extend
irregularly down three or four miles,
being in some places upon one side Of
the bay and sometimes upon the
other.
The beds are dry only at low tide,
and as that occurs i'll the night at this
season Of the year, it was not the most
favorable time for an inspection. On
this particular night low tide occurred
at seven O'clock and cur party clad iii
rubber capapie, and armed with iron
teeth rakes and ten-tined forks, and
carrying lanterns, sailed forth. 1t
seemed too bad to walk over the beds,
for ut every step many Of the shells
with their precious contents were press
ed into the soft mud, which fills the
cracks of the shell through which the
oyster draws its nutriment, and even
tually smothers out its life.
The pang occasioned may be eased
by the knowledge that many OF the
shells are empty ones, scattered there
for the purpose of catching and re-
tanning the spat of the oyster, and also
that many of them are muscles shells,
scattered for the same purpose.
One man goes along with his IRON
tooth rake and gathers the oysters into
| piles similar to the windrows OF a hay
| field, and is followed by another with a
fork, who pitches them upon the float
What is done has to be done quickly,
for what school boy does not know
that the tide waits for no man (oyster-
men not excepted. The oysters are
] left upon the float until morning,