19th Century Oysters from the Willapa Bay John McCabe

Intro  USA  •Gold Rush  •Willapa Bay  France  •Coste  England  Equipment  Boats  Navigational option:  Focus on Willapa Bay

Historically, the Willapa Bay has been the home of three culinary oyster species: the Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida or O. conchaphila), the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and, since the early 20th century, the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas). The Willapa Bay got off to a late start in terms of "oyster history". Up until 1850, only Native Americans indulged in the shellfish bounty of the bay. During the Gold Rush years, the native Olympia Oyster became the claim to fame of the magnificent Willapa Bay. Literally billions of individuals of this species were harvested between 1853 and the 1900. A few years after 1900, this species no longer existed in commercial quantities. Merely a few Olympia oysters can still be found in Willapa Bay today.

In the 1890s, the Eastern Oyster was introduced on a large scale. Cultivation of the Eastern Oyster proved to be problematic and expensive. The commercial success with this species varied from year to year. In 1919, for some unexplained reason, most of them died and brought the cultivation to an abrupt end in the early 20s. A new species, the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas; back then called the "Japanese Oyster"), was introduced in the late 1920s. Today, the Pacific Oysters rules Willapa Bay's entire oyster production.

Willapa Bay Historical Harvesting Methods: Olympia Oyster
Historically, clear up to the early 1890s, there was no cultivation of oysters to speak of in the Willapa Bay. Much like in the early days of oystering in Europe and the U.S. East Coast, oysters were hunted rather than cultivated. Willapa Bay oystermen simply exploited the once vast stocks of the native Olympia Oyster up to the point, where no commercial quantities were left to plunder.

For most of the second half of the 19th century, the Willapa Bay was called "Shoalwater Bay". Enormous quantities of Olympia Oysters existed in the tidal and subtidal zones. They were often called "Shoalies". Initially any kind of floating craft would do for harvesting purposes. Indian dugout canoes, log rafts and simple dinghy designs served the purpose. Later, oystermen would take to a flat bottomed boat design they called a "bateau" (simply the French word for "boat"). These bateaus (or "bateaux") measured about 30 feet in length with a carrying capacity of about 70 bushels of oysters. Early on, it was generally a matter of "being in the right place at the right tide". Oystermen would anticipate the low tide and navigate their vessels to a promising oystering spot in the bay. The receding water left the spot (and the boat) high and dry. Oystermen could then proceed to drudge though the exposed muddy tideflats and pick the oysters up by hand. The incoming tide would then conveniently float the boat with its heavy cargo of oysters. The oystermen would then return to shore and process their catch. Another way to find Shoalies was to navigate the vast mosaic of shallow canals left in the bay at low tide, as Olympia oysters often lined these canals.

Image above: Early 20th century photograph of two Willapa Bay oystermen and their bateau. These oystermen obviously worked hard and fast collecting oysters. The bateau seems filled almost beyond capacity. The photograph was likely taken in the later part of the 1930s, which would evidence tremendous natural propagation of the Pacific oysters (introduced on Willapa Bay in the late 1920s). The tides granted these men only a few hours during the outgoing, slack, and incoming tide. Oystermen who work the exposed tideflats on foot are refered to as "pickers". Click image to enlarge.

Tonging ultimately established itself as the most common method of harvesting. This method of harvesting allows an oysterman to be somewhat independent of the tides and work submerged oyster beds. Oystermen would operate two long wooden poles joined by an iron pin, which in turn operated a pair of interlocking rake-like ends - much like a pair of scissors or pliers. Decking, about two feet wide, ran along the inside of both sides of these tonging bateaus. The oystermen would balance themselves on these narrow strips of decking and operate their tongs. If the bateau was sitting on the tideflat at low tide, the decking could also serve as a place to temprarily deposit bushel baskets or crates full of oysters out of the mud (see image above). The inside margins of the decking were edged vertically by boards, rising about a foot above the decking. These boards would form a large, square holding area where the harvested oysters were stored.

Oyster tongs were not a novel invention. They had been in common use on the East Coast and Europe since the 18th century. Although oyster tongs are simplistic tools by design, operating them effectively requires great skill. Working these tongs for hours on end is physically extremely taxing. The early oystermen of the Northwest often had to work in miserable weather conditions. All the job actually had going for it was good pay - provided of course enough oysters had been harvested after a long, hard day. This became a real problem by the end of the 1880s. Olympia oysters were getting increasingly tough to find in Willapa Bay. By the early decades of the 20th century, commercial quantities of the Olympia Oyster ceased to exist. The ranks of the Willapa Bay oystermen thinned greatly.

Willapa Historical Cultivation Methods: Eastern Oyster
By the early 1890s, Willapa oystermen were rapidly running out of Olympia oysters. Necessity prompted them to try their hand at "bedding". Bedding is an old form of oyster cultivation. Its origin can be traced back to Greek and Roman times. Young oysters are collected in an area where they naturally occur and then transported to another place, usually commercially better situated, where the young oysters continue to grow to marketable size. As early as the 1830s, oystermen in New Jersey and New York had already started to implement bedding successfully. They would buy young oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, then plant them in home waters for a year or so, and then sell them as "New York" or "New Jersey" oysters. By the the end of the 19th century, some oystermen on the East Coast had made fortunes in this way.

After the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, California oystermen started bedding Eastern oysters successfully. Countless rail cars full of young oysters were shipped from the East Coast to California. Although shipping oysters by rail was very costly, the San Francisco market was ready to pay almost any price for true Eastern oysters.

Compared to their Californian counterparts, the Willapa Bay oystermen were facing much tougher odds at bedding the Eastern oyster successfully. The Northwest had lagged behind California with the availability of a fast transcontinental rail connection - essential for the procurement of young oysters from the East Coast. The closest thing to a sound transcontinental connection to the Willapa Bay did not transpire until 1890, when the Northern Pacific Railroad completed a line into South Bend on the Willapa River. The cultivation of the Eastern oyster proved to be very costly and difficult. Between 1902 and 1912, about 400 rail cars full of young Eastern oysters made their way to Washington. Although the barrels full of young Eastern oysters packed in chord grass (commonly called "Spartina") and were iced down along the way, after a week long journey by rail, they often arrived severely weakened or had already died. This oyster species was also not interested in reproducing on the West Coast. Eastern oysters grow well on harder bottoms, possibly firmed by oyster shells of previous oyster generations or natural gravel. They did not fare well on the soft and silty bottoms of the Willapa Bay. Due to these soil conditions, many Eastern oysters ended up sinking into the mud and dying of suffocation.

Despite all the setbacks, a number of Willapa Bay oystermen remained undaunted in their cultivation efforts and managed to bring limited commercial quantities to market. The cost of importing the Eastern oysters by rail continued to climb. Willapa Bay oystermen made the best of it up until 1919, when an unexplained natural phenomenon killed almost all the Eastern oysters in the bay. By the early 20s, the Eastern Oyster had proven itself far more trouble than it was worth. The cultivation ended. Later in that same decade, a new species, the Pacific oyster, was successfully introduced.

Interesting note: Today, limited quantities of Eastern oysters are cultivated again in Washington State waters with oyster seed stock from local shellfish laboratories. I've tried many and must say that I found their taste and texture to be truly superb. It must also be noted that excellent Olympia oysters are also cultivated in commercial quantities in Puget Sound (around Totten Inlet).