Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-01-05

Cascade and Rocky mounta;u~, and
III. na and bH,to oricjrc, are begin
i.:- !. :aMcy tie dlminu,Iyc, though
~utcu,cu,, h.lal1c. 1t has Away
i.,u 4 !ljm" iaIol.tc otcr the Pacific
Coast. oysters !or transportation
ipnG distances are taken from their
-Hc!l~ and shipped n cans about the
ST." and shape Of fi'c-gal.on milk
cans, Wl.ch are made, however, with
double >.dcs, one within the other.
The space hctwccn j. filled with ice
They may thus be- kept in excellent
condition several days and safely
Transported an indefinite distance.
Shipments OF this product have been
made as far East a. Michigan and H.
lnoiS, and there is scarcely II station
81 any Importance on the Northern
Pacific route which is not in receipt
oi its daily or weekly supply.
III November, the shipment by the
Northern Pacific Express was $500
pounds 81 " solid' oysters, which means
oysters which have not only been de
nudcd OF their shcNS but deprived OF
their natural juicc-oystcrS III their
most concrete form. During that
month, 1880 pounds OF oysters in
the she'll were shipped 10y the same
express company These I,123 sacks
brought to the dealers $3.50 per sack,
| delivered here. During November,
9,Gl5 pounds OF tish-perch, smelt, etc.
were shipped over the same route.
Spokane is one of the largest consum-
crs OF solid oysters and Portland OF
those in the shell.
Some idea of the magnitude OF this
trade may be formed from the state
msnt that shipments by the n. p ex-
press are estimated to represent only
about one-third the output OF shelled
oysters from this place, and four-fifths
the trade in solids. The traffic with
this city reaches an aggregate OF
100000 per annum, or, in round
figures, about $1,000 per week, even
counting the closed season, which ex-
tends from the first of May to the
close Of August.
From GO to 20 men are employed in
the five shipping houses handling the
product in this city. Mr.. Elswick
alone employs 80 men in his Smelling
rooms, and his weekly expenditures
for oysters and labor are about ST. 900.
During October and November he
shipped, OH an average, 80 gallons per
day in cans.
Although Eastern oysters sell, to
limited extent, on this coast, to those
whose taste has not been educated up
to the native product, they being
higher price, from the heavy express
charges on them. East of the
Rockies this is quite different. The
quotation of Easterns at Cedar Rapids,
last week, was from $1.10 to $1.30 per
gallon, while Olympia oysters sell
here, to the local trade, at 50 per gal
| lon.
The oyster business here, notwith-
standing this large output, is still in
its infancy. 1t has grown from n
small beginning to staIwart proper
tions, and it is constantly adding to
it's long list of permanent customers.
Olympia and Gray's Harbor are about
the only points in the State where the
pursuit has been successfully inaugu-
rated. The P.-I. the other day boast
ed of the shipment of so gallons of
oysters to Alaskan points, gathered on
some creek flowing into Elliot's Bay,
but on that same day the Northern
Pacific forwarded to single customers
larger amounts than the boosted ag-
gregate that went northward.