The Curious Connection of
WASHINGTON’S OYSTER INDUSTRY & THE SAN FRANCISCO GOLD RUSH
The Olympia Oyster is the only native oyster to the Pacific Northwest. It is found from Baja to Alaska, but its natural stocks are endangered. It is a smaller sized oyster and an odd coppery taste!
By Stella Wenstob | Contributing writer
As coastal cousins, joined together by water trade and good ports, Washington State and California developed in concert. Washington’s two main early industries, both oysters and lumbering, had their early boom and bust markets directly tied to the San Francisco Gold Rush of 1849.
The lumber barons of Puget Sound transported mass amounts of lumber to build the town of San Francisco. And when miners depleted the natural stocks of Olympia oysters to near extinction in San Francisco Bay, Olympia oysters from Washington filled the gap. Willapa Bay, located on the west coast of Washington, provided the gold miners with a fresh supply of oysters that were close enough that they could be shipped without ice, but the more numerous stocks in Puget Sound were too far away to be safely shipped and retain their edibility to San Francisco by sail in the 1850s.
The Olympia oysters were important to early Washington settlers. The first group of settlers arrived in Puget Sound late in the year of 1845—too late to plant a garden or stock up on food for the winter. Oysters and Native American pickers saved these early settlers from starvation. As evidenced by the generations of shell middens found at coastal village sites, Native Americans in Washington State have a far-reaching history of shellfish harvest and even today Native American aquaculture makes up a major part of the industry. With the development of Seattle and Tacoma and the completion of the transcontinental railway other insatiable oyster markets developed. Recognizing the importance of the development of oyster beds, when Washington State received statehood in 1889 it became the only state to legalize private ownership of tidelands. Other states hold them in trust.
This unique law allowed Washington shellfish farmers to develop an exceptional industry that could treat its foreshore like agricultural lands. During this time, the Olympia oyster was used in political oyster feasts to counter any arguments for the changing of the capital city of Olympia to other, arguably more suitable locations, such as Seattle or Tacoma. As Olympia Mayor, Earl Steele, recounted in his 1957 book: "The location of the capitol was put to a vote of the people and the contest became very spirited. The people of Olympia got their heads together and planned a campaign; they arranged for public meetings in many of the most populated points in Eastern Washington, supplied themselves with a goodly quantity of oysters and the battle was on."
53 Oyster Boat, UW | A. Curtis Photo Company Collection
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