204 



THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Statistics of shipiment from New Tork, 1874-80. — A tabulated statement of the oysters shipped from 

 New York to San Francisco between 1874 and 18S0, inclusive, is given herewith: 



Statement of oysters ship;ped from New York to San Francisco since 1874. 



Kind of oysters. 



Tork Bays barrels- 

 Newark Bays do... 



Karitan Rivers '. do. . . 



Korth Kivers do . . . 



N.itnriJ Growth do . . . 



Blue Points do... 



Sounds do . . 



Maurice Rivers do... 



Virginias, etc - do . . . 



East Rivers do... 



Princes Bays do... 



Kockaways do... 



Egg H.arbor8 do . . . 



Total annual shipment do... 



Total shipment in car-loads do... 



1875. 



13, 064 



1,212 



573 



248 



5 



1,132 



133 



83 



78 



2,063 

 105 

 338 

 171 

 3 

 584 



1,289 



2,094 



122 



1,123 



15 



1,871 



4,569 



1878. 



177 



2,615 



26 



266 



290 



1879. 



61 



143 



707 



2 

 1,295 



1880. 



. 145 



3,701 



425 



18 



2,910 



1 

 126 



Total of 

 each. 



1,042 

 23, 680 



1,890 



3,025 



419 



10 



3,630 

 133 

 101 



7,796 



16 



1 



126 



Purpose. 



Market. 



Planting. 



Planting. 



Planting. 



Planting. 



Market. 



Market. 



Market. 



Market. 



Half planting, 



ket. 

 Planting. 

 Market. 

 Market. 



half mar. 



362 



Oysters south of San Francisco. — To the southward of San Francisco bay no oysters of sufficient size and 

 ilavor to have commercial importance occur, except in the bay at San Diego, where Mr. Jordan notes that near La 

 Punta, at the south end, some are got for use. These are of small size and " coppery " taste, however. Eastern 

 oysters have been tried there, but seem not to have succeeded. 



Mexican oysters in California. — Concerning another proposition, namely, the introduction of Mexican 

 oysters, much was said a few years ago. I am not informed as to the practical outcome, but judge it to have been 

 of little or no account, since Mr. Jordan's notes contain no allusion to the matter. It will be well to review the 

 newspaper discussion, nevertheless. In a copy of the Bulletin, about March, 1875, I find the following facts : 



As long ago as 1850 Dr. Johusou, now a resident of Sinaloa, tried the experiment, but although his vessel had a short passage, few of the 

 oysters reached this port alive. Captain William Randall, formerly master of several vessels plying between San Francisco and Guaymas, 

 made several attempts in the same direction, but without success. The oysters, however, frequently remained alive from fifteen to twenty 

 days. When the steamers first began to run between this port and the Gulf of California, hardly a trip passed without some futile attempt 

 being made to bring Mexican oysters here alive. But the lirst systematic attempt at importation was made by a company which sank 

 $16,000 in the enterprise, withoiit any return. [The Alia California credits this to a Captain Scoofey.] Tanks holding about one ton each 

 of oysters were placed on the deck of the ste.amer, and refilled with pure salt watertwice every twenty-four hour.s. The oysters were taken 

 on board at Guaymas ; thence across the Gulf of California until Cape Saint Lucas was reached, the sea was smooth and there was no violent 

 motion of the water in the tanks. The oysters remained in good condition, and were observed to be feeding whenever the tanks were 

 replenished. Just after the vessel passed Cape Saint Lucas the tanks were refilled. But now the vessel encountered a head sea, and the 

 ■water in the tanks was continually swashing back and forth. It soon became foul, and the result was that few oysters arrived alive in 

 San Francisco, and these were in a condition hardly lit for consumption. The enterprise was abandoned after a heavy loss to the jirojectors. 



Many people will remember the circumstances under which C. J. Jausou's oyster-expedition came to an untimely end. The steamer 

 Forward, which he fitted out and sent down to Mexico, was taken possession of by a party of revolutionists, and was afterward captured 

 and destroyed by the United States ste.araer Mojiean, as a pirate. Emerson Corville, the well-known. oyster-dealer of this city, organized 

 the latest Mexican expedition. His plan was to ship the oysters from Point Altata to Cape Saint Lucas, from which point they were to be 

 transported by steamer to San Francisco. Both the Holladay line of gulf steamers and the Pacific Mail Compauy's steamers were running 

 at that time. Mr. Corville's agent encountered the greatest difficulties on account of the revolution then going on in the country. It was 

 only after several months that he succeeded in getting a few oysters across the Gulf to Cape Saint Lucas by an eight days' voyage. But 

 the heat of a broiling sun pouring down upon the deck of the vessel, had killed nearly all of the bivalves. Those that were saved were laid 

 down in this bay, where they fattened very rapidly. Had the agent had a vessel at his own disposition, flying the American flag, the 

 enterprise might very likely have succeeded. 



The feasibility of breeding the Mexican oyster in San Diego bay, and also in several other of the bays, estuaries, and lagoons along 

 the coast of this state, has been pretty thoroughly discussed, and the prospect is now good that some practical results will soon flow 

 therefrom. A gentleman who has long taken great interest in the subject, and who was for many years a resident of the coast of the Gulf 

 of California, made an effort to get a legislative appropriation last winter to transi)ort oysters from Mazatlan, to plant in San Diego bay. 

 He w.as not successful in this, but an act Wivs passed "to encourage the jilanting and cultivation of oysters", which is intended to aft'ord 

 protection to the rights of those who may lay down oysters in any of the bays, rivers, or public waters of the state, and to secure them in 

 the ownership of the property thus acquired. 



This gentleman points out that the raccoon oyster, which is the n.afive Lower California oy.ster, a bivalve of no mean merit, is found 

 in great abundance in San Diego bay. There is far less fresh water there than in San Francisco bay, and the bottom is of that peculiar 

 character so much esteemed at the East for oyster-breeding. He says that in those parts of Lower California where the raccoon oyster is 

 indigeuoas, the oyster of the Mexican gulf coast is found to thrive ecpially well. He is .also confident that the Mexican oyster would breed 

 and thrive in numerous other bays along the coast of the state, notably at Wihiungton, False b.ny, Trinidad, and San Buenaventura. In 

 fact, anywhere that there is a lagoon, the water of which is regularly changed by the tides, he thinks that the Mexican oyster-cultivation 



