THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 121 



K. OYSTER-TRADE OF NEW YORK CITY. 



40. HISTOEICAL SKETCH OF THE OYSTEE-TEADE OF NEW YOEK CITY. 



Historic oystek-firms. — Most of the Kew York oyster-firms are of long standing, and the same names 

 appear which are conspicuous in the oyster-annals of City Island and Staten Island, for these two localities have 

 supplied the most of them. Van Name, Houseman, Silsbee, Wright, Burbank, Boyle, Frazer, Woglom, Decker, 

 and others, are examples. Many of the gentlemen now conducting the business under these names only succeeded 

 their fathers and grandfathers, who established the trade they enjoy. The growth of the opportunities of business, 

 however, has been very rapid, and has brought in many new men, conspicuous among whom are George H. Shaffer 

 «& Co., of Fulton market. 



Van Kortlandt's teeasuke-teote. — When the sage Van Kortlandt, surnamed Oloffe the Dreamer, after 

 his dreadful shipwreck in the goblin-haunted whirlpools of Hell Gate, had brought the remnant of his command to 

 land on the southern end of IMaua-hata, an island which divided the bosom of the bay, bis first anxiety was for 

 something to eat, for "Van Kortlandt was a devout trencherman ". How he fared we learn from the veritable history 

 of Diedrich Knickerbocker : 



The stores which hiwl been provided for the voyajje by the good housewives of Commimipaw were nearly exhausted, but, in easting 

 his eyes about, the commodore beheld that the shore abounded with oysters. A gi'eat store of these was instantly collected ; a fire was 

 made at the foot of a tree ; all hands fell to roasting and broiling and stewing and frying, and a sumptuous repast was soon set forth. 

 This is thought to be the origin of those civic feasts with which, to the present day, all our public aft'airs are celebrated, and in which the 

 oyster is ever sure to play an important part. ^ 



Dutch oysteemen of New Amsterdam. — A historical retrospect of the oyster-business in New York city 

 affords many interesting facts. In 1621 it was recorded in a letter to the old country that " very large oifters" were 

 so abundant at New Amsterdam, that they could not be sold. "Oysters are very plenty in many places," asserted 

 the traveler Von der Donk, in ItJll. "Some of these are like the Colchester oysters, and are fit to be eaten raw; 

 others are very large, wherein pearls are frequently found, but as they are of a brownish color they are not valuable. 

 The price for oysters is usually from eight to ten stivers per huudred." The inference is, that every man could easily 

 gather for himself all he wanted. That a few years of this sort of thing greatly enhanced their value, however, is 

 shown by the fact that in 1G58, the Dutch council, in making an ordinance against the cutting of sods in and about 

 the town, found it necessary also to enact a law forbidding " all persons from continuing to dig or dredge any oyster- 

 shells on the East river or on the North river, between this city and the fresh water ". This " fresh water" was 

 the pond which is now occupied by the leather district of the city, of which Spruce street is the center. 



The digging of shells was for the purpose of making into lime, and also for the purpose of paving the streets, 

 and in the course of dredging for them great quantities of living oysters were wasted. Pearl street received its 

 name because it was paved with oyster-shells, which the Dutch called "garlen", and is the only street in the city, 

 Judge Daly tells me, that retains its original name, all the others having been changed by design or accident, during 

 the subsequent English occupancy. 



In those early days the trading-place for oysters, as well as fish generally, was the "Strand", near the market- 

 place. This was then an inlet which had been newly constructed into a graft or canal, where the sloops and canoes 

 had a fairly good harbor and place to do business. This old " graft" is now the wealthy and speculative Broad 

 street. At least as late as 1G75 Indians regularly brought oysters to sell at this place in their canoes. 



A little later, iu 1(J71, Arnoldus Moutauus speaks of " oysters, some a foot long, containing pearls, but few of 

 a brown color". 



In 1079-'SO, Jaspar Dankers and Peter Slyter made a visit to the colony, and wrote an elaborate account of it, 

 under the title: Journal of a Voyage to Xew York. This has been reinxblished by the Long Island Historical 

 Society, and contains a desciiption which I should be sorry to omit in this connection, so vivid and warm is the sense 

 of homely hospitalitj' it conveys. The passage to be quoted is the ensuing, and refers to their first landing in the 

 country : 



We proceeded on to Gouanes [Gowanus, now in Brooklyn], a place so-called, where we arrived in the evening at one of the best 

 friends of Gerritt, named Symon » • » . We found a good fire, half way up the chimney, of clear oak and hickory, of which they made 

 not the least scruple of burning jirofusely. We let it penetrate us thoroughly. There had been already thrown upon it, to be roasted, a 

 pail full of Gouanes oysters, which are the best in the country. They arc fully as good as those of England, and better than those we eat 

 at Falmouth. I had to try some of them raw. They are large and full, some of them not less than a foot long, and they grow sometimes 

 ten, twelve, and sixteen together, and are then like a piece of rock. Others are young and small. In couscfjuenre of the great quantities 

 of them, everybody keeps the shells for the purpose of burning them iuto lime. They pickle the oysters in small casks and send them to 

 Barbadoes and the other islands. 



This ^A-ill recall the .similar statement, in 1689, that ])ickled oysters were an established article of export from 

 Boston to the West Indies. A few years later we find Peter Kalm writing out a full account of this trade, quoted 

 further on. 



