The Rise And Decline Of The Olympia Oyster 



1 have in mind my good friend James Mitchel, who for 

 many years lived on the Narrows. Also Lawrence Gosser, 

 who still lives above the Narrows; and George Yoshihara 

 and family, who at one time had a well diked and heavily 

 producing bed. All of these have had to abandon their 

 beds. Not only the Olympia Oyster, but Pacific Oysters 

 as Vv^ell, have been wiped out by trade waste. 



I have not spoken of the "Narrows" as an oyster pro- 

 ducing area. The "Narrows" divides the upper and the 

 lower parts of Oakland Bay. The waters are swift either 

 on an incoming or an out-going tide, and although deeper 

 than the other oyster ground, the conditions were ideal 

 for the setting of seed. Tongs were used to remove the 

 seed and oysters. In the early days, vast amounts of them 

 were taken from these waters. 



Recently I have received new evidence in regard to 

 this. Angus O'Neil, son of pioneer oysterman Thomas 

 O'Neil of Shelton, made available a copy of a special 

 edition of the Mason County Journal. Grant Angle pio- 

 neer publisher, was then editor of the Journal. It bore 

 date of August 11, 1905. 



A full page was given to the Olympia Oyster industry 

 and its importance to Mason County. 



Several pictures illustrated the industry. One picture 

 shows the Narrows. Sixteen oyster boats can be seen, 

 each containing tongers for oyster seed. 



Statistics are quoted showing that at that time 20,000 

 sacks, or 40,000 bushel of Olympia Oysters were being 

 marketed from Mason County annually, besides many 

 thousand sacks of seed oysters from the Narrows and 

 other State Reserves. Further that several hundred men 



(109) 



