the oysters from other beds in the - sahs-fncc.org

Given the fact that Camano isan Island, many newcomers maywonder about the Potential - Pastand present - for a shellfish econ-omy in our sun'ounding waters.Perhaps the story of local oystercompanies has the answer.

In the midst of the DePres-sion, the Camano Blue Point*Oyster Company was formed bYGeorge Kosmos. Mr. Kosmospurchased 5300 acres of tide-lands between JuniPer Beach andLivingston Bay of which 3500acres were suitable for growingoysters. They planted 20 cases ofseed (spat) from Japan in a testplot and by 1932 were anticiPat-ing enough to fil1 a growing de-mand for commercial oYsters.Indeed, in the State of Washing-ton oyster production increasedfrom 31,000 gallons in 1931 to1,131,100 gal lons in 1941due tothe introduction of the JaPaneseor Pacific Oyster seed. The nativeOl5.'rnpia oyster seed was not suc-cessful at the time and growers(encouraged by the State andUniversity researchers) wanted toavoid dependence on Eastern oYS-ters.

In September of 1932 the firstscowload of oysters was towedfrom Livington BaY to the Stan-wood wharf. "All the workers arelocal people and must be taughtthe art of taking the oYsters out ofthe shells. Mr. and Mrs. Sam Mo-rimoto have been secured to actas instructors and most of theworkers after some Practice areable to make fair wages.... thewage is determined by the num-ber of gallons a worker is able toshuck."

The first cargo ofoYsters wassent out by refrigerator truck toSeattle. It was hoped that thiseconomy would replace the de-clining lumber industry with thecompany contracting to Process

the oysters from other beds in thearea. One such company was onland just east of JuniPer Beach,the Port Susan BaY OYster Com-pany with George Weerda, EvenEide, Lars Eide and Ole Eide asinvestors.

As one of these investors, OleEide reports that this venture didnot succeed. He Planted sPatfrom Japan off of Hatt Slough andworked very hard to exPerimentwith the best location. The oYs-ters grew best at a2 foot tide hefound and the shells were large.But the "stomachs" were unappe-tizingly disproPortionate. Thebuyer, New Engiand Fish Co. inSeatfle, would not be able to sellthem and refused to buY. Itseems there was not the rightamount or combination of miner-als and plankton in tlte PortSusan waters to suPPort commer-cial activities. Ole also Plantedoysters in Skagit BaY north of Ar-rowhead Beach for a differentgroup of investors in Everett*they died from freezing during acold winter.

It was a precarious business.In 1938 the Twin Citg Neus re-ported that "Mr. Kosmossays he can buy oYstersat 30 cents per gallonand the cost of harvest-ing them is 24 cents"therefore they were notworth harvesting. Atthis time he hoped thatthe smaller oyster Pro-ducers would droP outand the price would goup to make them Profit-able again. That Yearthe piant was used forprocessing peas. Thenlarge headlines apPearedin tlre April27 ,1939 Pa-per announcing the re-opening of the Plant'

But alas, in JanuarYof 1940, a company

called tJre Cooperative Food Prod-ucts announced that it wouid betaking over the Blue Point buiid-ing to specialize in canning ofrabbits and fish. They would alsoprocess and pack certain whitefish in the Norwegian stYle cakesand balls. Following that, it aP-pears that the Edlund ShiPYardsleased the processing building tobe used as part ofthe shiPYardwhere seven barges were built forthe U.S. Army.

That appeared to be the endof oysters and the shellfish busi-ness in general until 1943 whenthe Gaetz Oyster ComPanY Pur-chased the Blue Point flats neartown (Livingston BaY). The oYs-ters from all over Puget Sound aswell as Port Susan were Proc-essed in the Stanwood Hardwarebuilding (Home Center) and thenmoved to the waterfront. Thisfather and son business had been

Stanwood Area Echoes,Issue 28, March, 2005, p-2

buying fish at Utsalady and !n 1946 they planned aplant expansion to include freezing facilities as wellas canning of crabs, clams, salmon and bottomfish.They offered to provide canning services for house-wives, which was a long, tedious, smelly process inthe home kitchen. A smokehouse was also built.

They also began construction of 60 ton capacityoyster dredge with living quarters, its own lightingsystem employing 16 men. He expected to soon becanning 70,000 pounds of clams and more if thechannel of the Stillaguamish River could be dredgedfor better navigation ofvessels of seafood productsto the cannery. Ultimately, in spite of repeated at-tempts by local business interests to have the Corpsof Engineers fund this, dredging was occasional andhad little effect in making the channels navigable.

In 1947 an oil spill occurred in port Susan thatcontaminated the Livingston Bay oysters. The oilleaked from a Russian tanker Donbass that hadbroken apart in the Aleutians in Februarv 1946.Newspaper arlicles failed to explain wtry ihe bow ofa broken Russian tanker full of oil was towed toPort Susan to spill its contents into port Susan.The company closed the oyster beds and stated itwould turn to Samish Bay for its supply of oysters.

More articles on this topic are conspicuouslyabsent from the newspapers, but at this writing we

are stiil seeking more specific reasons for the de-mise of this industry in this area. One source saidthe oil spill did not leave prolonged effects but per-haps witJ' that, combined with the navigationalproblems on the river, Mr. Gaetzwas sufficientlydiscouraged to discontinue the oyster business, atleast here. And the following year, TVin City Foodswas formed from the previous canning businessthat occupied tlle waterfront, Lien Brothers Can-ning Company and this company grew into Stan-wood's most important local business taking advan-tage of the rich agricultural lands in the river delta.

-_Editor

l.Oyster Stew--Celebrating 100 Years of Oyster etlture inWashington Shte-http://www.wsg.washington.edu/oysterstew/oystermain.html

2, David G. Gordon, Nanc,y E. Blanton and Terry y. Nosho,Heaven on the Half Shell: The Story of the Nofthwe*,s LoveAffair With the Oyster. Washington Sea Grant progam, Uni-versity of Washington, 2001.

3. Shellfish & Seawed Haruests of puget Sound. Daniel p. Che-ney and Thomas E. Mumford, Jr.. Washington Sea Grant pro-gram, University of Washington, 1986

4.Afice B*>4 The Shnwod Story Vol. III and news articlesform the Stunwood News& Twin City News, lg2f*lg4g.

5. htp://oldcamano.neVbluepoint.html6.xBlue Point is the name for oy#ers originally found off LongIsland and now usually referto any East Coast oyster and arenot the Japanese Pacific oyster.

Curent Exhibit !Steamer, Ships & Shorelines

Explore our historic connection to our surrounding waters-Port Susan, Saratoga Passage, the Stillaguamish River and SkagitBay. Featured are the Native American canoes, local workboatsand mosquito fleet, the steamboats, the story of Vancouver,sgrounding in Port Susan, ferries, tall ships and a local shanghai-ing story. Also included are tle Camano Island and port Susanresorts with their boathouses and fishing that brought visitors,many of whorn ultimately bought cottages or retired in the area.

Through December 2005.

Steamers, Ships & ShoreliraesA Historical phorograph Tow of Stmvood & Cammo Island

Gamwood Genealogryr Workshop meets todiscuss genealogy the second Mondayof each month on the second floor ofthe museum at I p,m.(Galf Dave at 360-387-9220)

Stawvood Area Echoes,Issue 28, March, 2005, p. 3

It's mt too euly to Blar for &s hdopondom Day tuaio ald tm cmu looid!Antique cars, floats, farm vehicles, wagons, buggies and other moving vehi-cles should plan on this event held this year on Monday, Juty 4th, 2003. Acostume contest is held for children who enter the parade to be presented inthe short program that follows the parade at the Floyd Norgaard culturalCenter. The lce Cream Socialfollows the program until2 pm.

River, Rail and Rodd - EPictorial History of Stan-wood & Easf Stanwoodis for sale for $10.00 at theSnow Goose Bookstoreor the Museum.