The Rise And Decline Of The Ol^mpia Oyster 



found their own oysters not sufficient to fill the demands 

 and began to negotiate with the smaller growers' often 

 purchasing their entire season's supply. Oysters would 

 be delivered in the shell packed in the two bushel burlap 

 bags, and the packing house would either sell and ship 

 them to the packers in other cities or open them, pack 

 in pint, quart, half -gallon or gallon cans, and ship to their 

 customers. 



As production increased the supply began to exceed 

 demand. This resulted in each local packer advertising 

 its own brand both locally and in more distant places. 



But again as tim.e went on the supply began to ex- 

 ceed the demand. Before I go into the manner in which 

 this was met, I must speak of the development of the 

 local packing plants. 



LOCAL PACKING PLANTS. 



J. J. Brenner and the Olympia Oyster Co. were and al- 

 ways have been, the leaders in the packing plant and 

 distribution field. J. J. Brenner Oyster Co. was a corpor- 

 ation and has always done business under that name. 



The first J. J. Brenner plant was erected on piling in 

 Olympia about the year 1893. At that time, the road on 

 West Fourth St., consisted of a plank causeway con- 

 structed on piling, the tide running in and out of the 

 upper cove, where "Capital Lake" is now located. 



This plant was soon inadequate, so Jack began his 

 plans for a new, larger and better equipped building. 

 This was constructed on the corner of West Fourth and 

 Simmons Street. It was a large building, well equipped 

 for a plant of those days, and would accomodate about 



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