The Rise And Decline Of The Ol\^mpia Oyster 



cultivated, and continued to cultivate oysters thereon, 

 the right to purchase, at a low price and on easy terms, 

 the oyster land they were cultivating, limited to forty 

 acres. Then the Bu?h Act was passed, not requiring pre- 

 vious occupancy. This was followed by a law setting aside 

 and reserving from sale, certain tideland that had not 

 been purchased. These areas were and still are known as 

 "State Oyster Land Reserves." 



Laws were then passed creating a State Oyster fund, 

 into which went any moneys received from the sale of 

 oysters and oyster seed, and legislative appropriations 

 for the use of the State Fisheries Department in the de- 

 velopment of the State Oyster Reserves were made from 

 those funds. 



Realizing the importance of the oyster growers being 

 able to secure seed the State Fisheries Department en- 

 tered into the era of the development of the Olympia 

 Oyster industry by using the system of diking and grad- 

 ing certain parts of said reserves which were known to 

 be located v/here a natural set of seed was abundant. 



This was fortunate, for it was soon learned that this 

 species of oysters would only grow in certain limited 

 areas, which I have mentioned; also that seed could not 

 be moved successfully except between certain areas 

 where the water was the same in salinity and mineral 

 content. Some oystermen had good ground for growing 

 and fattening their oysters, but no seed ground. Hence, 

 it was necessary to get seed at a reasonable price to con- 

 tinue their development. This was done while L. H. 

 Darwin was Fish Commissioner between 1921 and 1931. 



The State first developed by diking and grading the 



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