Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-06-03
OLYMPIA OYSTERS.
A FEW. NOTES BY A CLEAR
SIGHTED OBSERVER.

Oystcr"-SOme Account of Oys.
tering as Now Pursued - The
Principal Oystermen-The Oys.
ter's Enemics-Our Business in
that Line Has Room to EXPAND
Frank Mossman. in Shelton Tribune.
The oyster industry is one that i:
becoming of great value to the people
of Puget Sound and Mason county in
particular, as the acreage is increased
every year. In the years to come
when out forests are denuded of thei,
saleable timber, we will still have oul
oysters and fish, for all future time, to
bring in large sums of money to the
people of western Washington.
Clustering, especially on Oyster Bay
is done in very crude way yet, but
the oystermen are constantly expert
menting with the oyster beds, to make
them produce more and better oysters
with very good results. Oysters from
highly cultivated beds always bring
from SO to Is cents more per sack
than oysters from natural beds moi
cultivated.
All the upper Sound oysters are
called Olympia oysters, because Olym.
pia was the oystermens' headquarters
in days gone by, and Olympia harbor
was producing the bulk of the oysters
now called Olympia oysters. These
beds became depleted years ago, be.
cause they were considered public
property, and nobody took care OF
them. The oysters were all taken
from the beds and none put back; the
mussels got start and now they are
all mussels and barnacles where before
they were fine oysters.
Three acres of good oyster land will
produce enough marketable oysters to
keep medium sized family in neces'
sary wants year in and year out, pro-
viding the owner does all his own
work.
In winter-time oystering goes on
day and night-in fact the night work
is one Of the drawbacks to the small
oysterman who does all his own work.
The loss of sleep-out in rain, wind
and cold Of winters night, when his
more fortunate brother, the farmer, is
in his cosy bed, is no child's play in
itself, and work hard all the next day.
An expert oyster cutler can Gull
from two to three sacks per day, but
expert cullers are rare. Culling re-
quires quick eyes and hands, to know
a marketable oyster from a mass of
oysters in an instant.
The culling on Oyster bay is most
all done by Cinnamon, and they make
good cullers. When they are not
culling they are gambling, and there
are games running night and day on
the bay, mostly poker, as John loves
that Mclean game-e." There are
about 40 Cinnamon on Oyster bay.
The largest owners of oyster beds
and those in good financial condition
are in the order named: J.Y. Wald.
rip, S. X. Taylor, A. J. Smith, Jimmie
Simmons, David Helser, Harriet Cor
ter, J. A. Gale, Dick Jackson, II
Weatherall, Olympia Jim, John Fian.
der, Dennis Hurley, Enoch Young
Kittie Gale, VIM. Krise, and othel
small holders. In the early eighties
there was freeze-up that almost ex-
terminated the oysters on Oyster bay
The quantity of oysters frozen in that
year, had they been sold, big and little
at the market price, would have fetched
$4,000 cash, at least.
The wind cuts no small figure
in the loss to oyster-men o.
Oyster bay. There was storm
a few years ago that dashed float
houses, floats and boats on the
shore, complete wrecks. A. J. Burr
had store carried off the piling and
it went down the bay, a complete
wreck, in the same storm.
The oysters have many enemies.
The ducks, periwinkles, star fish and
oyster-crushing fish, called by some
the rat-fish, are the worst. Oysters
have been considered delicacy since
the days of remove antiquity, down te
the present day. Nero, the fiend king
who played his violin when all Rome
was burning, by his orders, used to
feast the grandees on oysters.
There are $SO,OOO,OOO worth of oys
tiers sold in the world ever year. The
Oyster bay oystermen are but small
atoms of the great surface of human
ity, but the oysters that their beds
produce bring in large sums of money
to the merchants and others ever,
year.
In the early days the oyster wa
public property on Oyster bay. The!
were rapidly becoming extinct, wher
S. X. Taylor, A. ]. Smith, Joe Gall
and others formed the Oyster bay pro
tective association, and divided th'
land into individual holdings. Ant
to these men the people of western
Washington are indebted for the oys
ter industry We have to-day, and vii
have for the future. Oyster bay pro