Discovery of "The Great Oyster Bed" in Long Island Sound in 1859

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I have written before of the discovery of "The Great Oyster Bed" in Long Island Sound in 1859.  See Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.  During the fall of 1859, five fishermen from Darien, Connecticut accidentally discovered one of the largest oyster beds ever discovered in the Long Island Sound.  An "oyster rush" followed that would rival the Oklahoma Land Run thirty years later when an estimated 50,000 people lined up at high noon on April 22, 1889 competing for their piece of the available two million acres of Federal lands. 

People from Rhode Island to Connecticut dropped what they were doing and raced to the area seeking instant riches.  Those who raced to the Sound were not just oystermen, but mechanics, farm hands and professional men all seeking their instant fortunes.

The New-York Daily Tribune published a wonderful article on the "Immense Fleet of Fishermen" (including many oystermen from City Island) that descended on the area like locusts.  The text of the article appears below.

"THE GREAT OYSTER PLACER.
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Millions of Dollars Worth Found.
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GREAT EXCITEMENT ALONG SHORE.
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Immense Fleet of Fishermen.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUNDS.
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OYSTERS GENERALLY.

Oysters is oysters!  Conchological research and classification may make a more expanded definition, but none which will add to their flavor or quality.

They are marine, bivalvular testaceous, and are partaken of either raw, fried, roasted, stewed, or escolloped in pie, or fritters.  They are for sale in considerable quantities in the city of New York, and are prepared for eating at sundry places, from Buttercake Dick's to Delmonico's.

During a certain season of the year -- those months when, by a strange cabilism, the letter R has been summarily ignored in their names -- the maternal oyster, in the peaceful tranquility of the last of the ebb tide, launches into the water the embryonic oysters, to be developed to maturity for the satisfaction of the rapacious maws of man and womankind.  The spawn (by which uneuphonic name the infantile oysters are called) being by the inexorable laws of nature thus cut off from the mother's care, begin to shift for themselves.  They cast about for a resting place, where destiny may find them, because having no pedal extremities as their leg-acy, they are unable to follow destiny.  If the soft side of a stone, or shell, or piece of wood touch their embryonic organism, with instinctive egg-otism they appropriate the geological, conchological or vegetable substance, as the case may be, to their own use, and forthwith the youthful oyster, scarcely the size of a spangle -- small in size but big with promise -- makes his first bow as an oyster -- and with a 'yours in time' settles into an ocean cum dignitate to grow.  With the base of the bivalve down and the edges up -- they acquire upright habits notwithstanding they indulged in the American practice which the Englishman characterized as 'damned perpendicular drinking.'

A year's experience makes them the size of a half dollar.  In two years they are large enough to be marketable, and in three years they assume proportions which command for them the respect which is always accorded maturity.

Still they are not oysters as in oysters.  A vegetable phase of development has to be theirs before they will suit the esthetic taste of the epicure, and the transition like all transitions, is painful.  They must be 'planted.'  In other words the unfeeling oysterman in his boat throws overboard the dredge, which scrapes along the bed where the bivalves are at rest, drags them from their places, and they fall into the capacious network of the dredge, and are brought to the deck of the boat where they remain until a sufficient quantity are secured to be 'planted.'

But oystermen don't mean putting them into the earth as the seeds from which to raise oyster-plants -- (and the writer of this takes the opportunity of saying that that popular vegetable has nothing in common in its origin with oysters proper; the two being totally distinct and belonging to different natural kingdoms) -- but they are taken to some point where they can absorb the inspiriting properties of fresh water, and which will not only take from them the strong taste which is peculiarly submarine, but will make them adipose -- make the eyes sparkle to uphold them, and the palate tickle as they pass those portals of the human stomach, in this last but eventful drama of oyster life.  A two months' experience in vegetation thus matures them, and when wanted they are again brought to the surface and consigned to Fulton or Washington Market and -- the reader knows the rest.

THINGS TOPO AND GEO-GRAPHICAL

On the north shore of Long Island is an inland bay called Huntington Bay.  Branching from the Bay are four small harbors known as Lloyd's, Huntington, Centerport, and Northport harbors.  On the east of Huntington Bay is Eaton's Neck, and on the west Lloyd's Neck, each extending some distance into Long Island Sound.  At the edge of Lloyd's Harbor is a Fresnel light, designed to be a guide to vessels in the Sound who seek a harbor during the prevalence of a heavy nor'-easter.  On the point of Eaton's Neck is a large Fresnel light, which is an excellent guide to mariners going through the Sound.  Extending in a line no'-nor'-west from Eaton's Neck light is a reef of rocks on which is from 3 1/2 to 8 fathoms of water.  It extends nearly way across to the Connecticut shore.  Opposite is the town of Norwalk, Conn., a distance of ten or twelve miles.  At the extremities of the arms of Huntington Bay, on Long Island, are the villages of Northport, Centerport and Huntington.

Thirty miles down the Sound from Eaton's Neck is located City Island -- the residence of numberless oystermen and oysters, and the place where, two or three since a negro who had murdered a captain of a small sloop, was caught and examined prior to being transferred to White Plains to be hanged.

OYSTERS SPECIALLY.

The City Islanders are the planters of the East River oysters, and at home and in half a dozen harbors round about, they have their moluscous plantations, furnishing a good crop the year round.  But the City Islanders wanted more room -- like Alexander, they sighed for new worlds to conquer -- in other words, they wanted more plantation room--more terri-or marini-tory.  Fifteen years ago the inhabitants of Northport held out inducements -- so the City Islanders say -- for them to plant their oysters in Northport Bay.  The Northporters had a ship-building interest to look after, and they thus sought the visitation of the City Islanders, in the hope to get the building of their oyster-boats.  The C.I.'s did patronize the Northport builders, and the hearts of the ingenious marine architects then waxed joyful.  Valuable bushels upon bushels of the oysters were planted, and from year to year, as they matured, they were taken up and carried to New-York; but the depletion did not equal the supply, and Northport harbor this year was studded with gems of the sea.

THE OYSTER WAR.

But the City Islanders say that the Northporters and Huntingtonians generally became covetous of the submarine wealth of the City Islands, lying within a ropes length of Northport dredges, and they resolved to take possession thereof; that, acting in consonance with this spirit, they last Spring passed a law at town-meeting confiscating the aforesaid wealth of the City Islanders to their own use, by making it an offense for non-residents to take oysters from Northport Bay.  The City Islanders, unfortunately coming within this description, found themselves outlaws if they should attempt to reap the fruits of the seed they had sown broadcast on the waters of that inland bay; in fact, they looked upon it as an attempt, by force, on the part of marauding Huntingtonians, to prevent the fulfillment of that passage of the Scruptures which says, 'Cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days it shall return to you.'

BELLICOSE DEMONSTRATIONS.

But they were not to be thus put down.  The City Islanders learned that the sanctity of their beds had been violated, and like Sickles under similar circumstances, they prepared to meet the foe and wipe on the stain of dishonor that had been fixed upon their escutcheon.  Two sloops were manned and armed -- one, the Three Graces, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Joshua Leviness, by tacit consent the commandant of the City Island Navy.  Arrived at Northport, they discovered the Huntingtonians in flagrante delicta.  Adding insult to injury, they were taking his property before his eyes.  He bore down upon the offending parties and run down some of their boats, took their late occupants prisoners, and bore them off in triumph to City Island.  At least, so the Huntingtonians say.  Com. Josh. says that a haze struck him in such a way that he couldn't steer clear of the boats and hence the accident.  He says furthermore that the oyster pirates had a cannon loaded with fragments of log-chains, in an elevated position, to attack them as they approached.  What the merits of the controversy are the writer of this does not know.  No blood was spilt.  The Supreme Court has clapped an injunction on the City Islanders removing oysters, and on Monday next the case is to be heard at River Head, L.I., when the injunction will probably either be dissolved with condition, or be made perpetual.

EVENTS UNSEEN AND SUBMARINE.

But the City Islanders, in sowing their seed in Northport Bay, were unconsciously doing that which should enable them and others to reap largely in other and distant fields.  The Northport oysters fructified, and the ebb tide carried out their spawn into Huntington Bay, and thence it drifted in a line due north where, west of Eaton's Neck Reef, the much-sought for cobble-stone bottom -- the paradise of oysters -- was found.  The embryonic bivalves colonized.  Year after year they grew, and reproduced, and died.  Steamers plowed the waters over them; the canvas of merchantmen was gayly spread, and filled away from the submarine wealth; oyster-boats danced lightly on the waves, and superfishal enterprise was satisfied to take the hazard of black fishery on the reef, never dreaming that

'Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear.'

A GLIMPSE AT THE BOTTOM.

A year or two since the propeller Charles Osgood, finding the attraction of gravitation too powerful to resist, sank in Long Island Sound, off Eaton's Neck.  The owners desiring to rescue Charles, employed a diver named Wilkinson, called Duffy for short, to go to the bottom, and inquire of the sea serpent and other inhabitants if they had seen anything of their property.  Duffy put on his armor, went below, and after extensive inquiries found the lost Charles, and gave information which led to his recovery.  And Duffy, too, discovered the oysters.  He told Charley McClennon, of the City Island Hotel, that he had found a bed of oysters which seemed to him five miles long, off Eaton's Neck, and Charley inwardly resolved to take a boat and visit the low-cality.  With the greatest assiduity, Charley kept procrastinating until he was compelled by untoward events to go snacks with others.

DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT OYSTER BED.

A fortnight since -- or thereabout -- James Warring, Wm. Wood, Thomas Garlan, Wm. Hoyt, and Alexander Stevens, five fishermen of Darien, Conn., were fishing in a boat off Eaton's Neck.  They found themselves drifting too far out, and dropped over board an oyster dredge to bring their boat to anchor.  When subsequently they attempted to draw in the dredge they found it fearfully heavy -- but they tugged away, and after considerable 'cussin,' got it to the surface, and found it filled with over two bushels of large oysters.  After putting the oysters into the boat they felt themselves at liberty to be astounded.  They were astonished.  After which they threw the dredge again, and again drew to their boat another lot of oysters.  Another installment of astonishment, and another haul -- and dredging and astonishment were alternately indulged until the boat was filled.

They saw the value of their discovery, and saw that their success lay in keeping the secret to themselves, and they made a compact that they would keep their mouths shut and devote to themselves the wealth of the Eaton's Neck Oyster Bed.  But compacts have been broken.  Various men have been betrayers, from Judas Iscariot down to John Tyler and Louis Napoleon.  Some one of the five -- we don't know who -- thought to make the discovery immediately available, and, with a stern denial of his integrity, he turned his back upon his companions and made tracks for City Island.  To the enterprising oystermen he announced the discovery, and offered for the limited consideration of $500, to lay at their feet an installment of the hidden wealth of the ocean.  Twenty-five City Islanders put down $20 each, and on Monday, the 19th of Sept., A.D. 1859, INCURSION OF THE CITY ISLAND OYSTERMEN.

Twenty-five sloops and schooners from City Island, with crews and implements, left for Eaton's Neck.  Early on Tuesday morning, they began to work in right good earnest.  A fair wind was blowing -- such a one as was required for the purpose -- and merrily the dredges were hove over the side, and after a short drift with the tide, they were hauled to the deck, filled with large, rich oysters.  Sailing back, the dredges were again thrown, and with the same result.  The old Sound shelled out at the command of the City Islanders, and, at the close of the day, not less than 5,000 bushels had been brought aboard the vessels.

EXCITEMENT ALONG THE SHORE.

The presence of a fleet of City Island oyster-boats somewhat astonished the inhabitants along the shores of Long Island and Connecticut.  The Huntingtonians were sorely perplexed.  It is said that at first they thought the City Islanders had made an incursion to bombard Northport, and they began to bring forth their rusty muskets and broadswords of Revolutionary memory, which had lain quiet since the oyster war put them in order, took out their telescopes and sighted the enemy off Eaton's Neck.  A close inspection revealed the secret.  In ten minutes the swords were sheathed, and the muskets put back.  Dredges were brought forth, and in two hours every store in the town was depleted of its iron rings used in making the dredge nettings.  Boats and all were got ready for Wednesday morning. 

All Connecticut, too, was alive with excitement.  They, too, had observed the strange visitation, and, snuffing the oysters afar off, they, in their turn, made ready, and on Wednesday morning over twenty sail were standing toward the oyster-ground.  But Wednesday was a calm, and preparations went on with renewed vigor on shore.  Thursday morning, and thirty more vessels were sailing for Eaton's Neck, but again the calm stopped operations.

THE CONTAGION SPREADS.

But on Friday the wind blew more freshly, and nearly a hundred sail were engaged in dredging.  The news had spread from one point to another where oystermen most do congregate, and boats from Egg Harbor to Newark Bay, and thence to Piermont and Newburgh, and from Brooklyn to Montauk Point on both sides of Long Island, and from Hell Gate to Providence, were put in order for sailing.  On Saturday the crowd had become greater, and on Sunday no less than a hundred and twenty-five sail were dredging the bed.  On Monday the number had increased to one hundred and fifty, and Tuesday and Wednesday to over two hundred.  They were of all sizes, from little boats of three tuns to large schooners of a hundred and fifty.  Three steamers -- the Jacob Bell, the Statesman, and the Pluto -- also appeared on the ground and commenced active dredging.  They could work to a better advantage in one regard -- not being affected by calms.

VISIT TO THE GROUNDS.

On Wednesday, one of the staff of Reporters of THE TRIBUNE was dispatched to the scene of the recent discovery.  At 8 1/2 o'clock he embarked on the little steamer George Law, at Catharine Market, and proceeded up the East River.  When off Matinnicock Point, the fleet of oyster boats were observed in the distance.  So closely were they together, that one could scarcely make out the separate sails.  Arrived at Eaton's Neck, he proceeded to the grounds and was taken on board the little steamer Pluto, which had been chartered by Mr. Charles McClennon of City Island.  Over two hundred sail and three steamers were then engaged in dredging.  The greatest care was required in sailing to prevent collisions which were imminent at any moment; and during the two days that our Reporter remained on the ground, only one accident of any note occurred, and that the tearing away of a schooner's jibboom.  At no time has our Reporter seen an approximation to the number of vessels there actively sailing in so small a space.

WHERE THE OYSTERMEN COME FROM

is not an easy matter to recount.  Scarcely a port within fifty miles is not represented.  Long Island seems to have turned out her men from all points, north and South.  Beside Brooklyn, Greenport, Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, Williamsburgh, Huntington, Cold Spring, and other large places, there were the representatives of Patchogue, Quogue, Niesiquagne, Cutchogue, Mattituck, Setauket, Coscob, Saugatuck, Mamaroneck, Mannahassett, Hauppague, Sciossett, Speouk, Negutatogue, Santabogue, Aguebogue, Gallows Hill, Peconick, Hardscrabble, Mattinnicock, Poospatuck, Ketchebouneck, Shinnecock, Accabonneck, Babylon, Jericho, Jerusalem, Modern Times, and Heaven only knows from what other places with unchristian names.

The Nunkatunks, Quinnipiacs, Podunks, and Quinnebogs, were present from New-Haven and vicinity.  From Hammonassett Point, Stratford, Lyme, Darien, Stamford, Greenwich, Savin Rock, Gilford, Rocky Point, Bridgeport, Flat Rock, Norwalk, Stonington, New-London, Saybrook, Norwich, Westport, and Southport, in Connecticut, were various boats.  Rhode Island also was represented by boats from Providence, Newport, Pawtucket, and Appanaug.  Most of the prominent oystermen on the Jersey and Staten Island shores were present with their sloops, as were those of the North River, as high up as Piermont and Newburgh.  City Island, Hellgate, Hart's Island, New Rochelle, Rye, and other places in the vicinity, are of course included.  But those engaged in the dredging are not, perhaps, one half oystermen.  Men from all callings have for the time being forsaken their employment.  Mechanics, farm hands, and, in two instances at least, professional men, have gone to dredging.  Samuel Harold, George Horton, and other East River pilots, have chartered the steamer Jacob Bell, and with a full crew are dredging up and down the bed.  The mania seems to pervade all classes.  Of the boats, every thing available is employed, from a steamer to a barge.  Raritan canal-boats, New-Have sharpers, yachts, and even the East River pilot-boat O.K. are on the grounds.

THE SUCCESS OF THE OYSTERMEN.

The discovery will without doubt prove of great benefit to nearly all who have embarked in it.  The regular oystermen will be the greatest recipients, they, from their experience in the business, throwing their dredges and sailing the vessels with greater skill, and working with greater rapidity.  Green hands make sad work, and are frequently sea-sick for the first two or three days.  Those with small boats, too, will realize well; and even green hands, having boats and the implements, will realize a hundred or two dollars for their labors.  Capt. Joshua Leviness [of City Island] has averaged 400 bushels per day, except the calm days, since Tuesday week, with one sloop.  They are worth, before planting, fifty cents per bushel, and after becoming marketable, two dollars.  Capt. L. one day dredged over 600 bushels.  Small boats with one dredge readily haul up 25 bushels per day, and often more.  A steamer with eight drags, and well manned with experienced oystermen, could readily average 500 bushels per day.  Such are the statements of oystermen whom our Reporter conversed with.  The Connecticut men work with the greatest assiduity, many of them pursuing their work by night as well as by day.  But the business is attended with some risk.  Dredges are frequently lost, and one Connecticut schooner lost 15 at one time by being caught on the reef.  They cost new at least $5 earch, and at the present time are worth treble that amount. 

Probably oysters to the amount of three quarters of a million dollars, when marketable, have already been taken out.

THE SIZE AND QUALITY.

The oysters are nearly all above medium size, and many are very large -- fully up to those often exhibited in oyster saloon windows.  The flavor is equal to any oysters before planting, and they only want a few weeks with fresh water to be equal, if not superior, to any sold in the market. 

With the present rush for the grounds it is hardly probable, so say the oystermen, dredging will pay more than a few days any but professional oystermen, unless the bed be found to cover a greater space than is at present indicated.  Perhaps in making this statement something must be allowed for the feelings of the oysterman, whose interest it is to deter others from making ventures.

THE OYSTER LAWS.

The irruption of Connecticut within the jurisdiction of New-York, has suggested a modification in the State law to put the inhabitants of the two States on an equality.  In Connecticut, all non-residents are prohibited under severe penalties.  In New-York, non-residents are not thus prohibited, and the prohibition against fishing during the spawning season applies to all.

HUNTINGTON BAY AT NIGHT.

At night, Huntington Bay and the adjoining harbors are as thickly studded with vessels at anchor as New-York bay.  On Thursday night one-hundred sail were inside, not five of which remained at 9 o'clock yesterday morning.  With a fresh wind, the small craft are compelled to keep in shore.  During Thursday it blew strong off shore, and the number of sail on the bed was lessened more than half. 

FIRST ARRIVAL OF OYSTERS.

The first oysters from the new bed arrived in the city by the sloop Heroine, Capt. William Bird.  The oysters may be seen at Downing's."

Source:  The Great Oyster Placer, New-York Daily Tribune, Oct. 1, 1859, p. 5, col. 2.

For other recent postings in this series, see:




Wed., March 24, 2010:  The Oyster War of 1884 Between Glen Cove and City Island Intensifies.

Tue., March 23, 2010:  Yet Another "Oyster War" in 1884; Glen Cove Officials Feud with City Island and Connecticut Oystermen.

Mon., March 22, 2010:  77-Year Old City Island Oysterman Joshua Leviness Reminisces in Testimony Provided in 1884.

Fri., March 19, 2010:  The New York Legislature Stepped Into the Oyster War on Long Island Sound in 1895.

Thu., March 18, 2010:  1859 Town of Huntington Record Reflecting Dispute with City Island Oystermen.

Wed., March 17, 2010:  Report of September 13, 1884 Tour of Oyster Beds by Captain Joshua Leviness of City Island.

Tue., March 16, 2010:  More on 19th Century Oystering in Pelham - Descriptions of Oyster Beds Off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay Published in 1887.

Mon., March 15, 2010:  More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complaint of Pollution.

Fri., March 12, 2010:  Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

The Oyster War of 1884 Between Glen Cove and City Island Intensifies

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Yesterday I posted an item about the 1884 "Oyster War" during which Glen Cove, Long Island feuded with City Island and Connecticut oystermen over ownership of oyster beds off its shores.  See Tue., March 23, 2010:  Yet Another "Oyster War" in 1884; Glen Cove Officials Feud with City Island and Connecticut Oystermen.  The oyster war intensified only a few days after the events described in yesterday's posting. City Island oystermen armed with revolvers and shotguns descended en masse on oyster beds planted by Glen Cove residents and harvested thousands of bushels of oysters.  The article below describes the developments.

"LONG ISLAND.

GLEN COVE.--The oyster war still rages.  Elnathan Hall, one of the victims of the City Island oystermen, has made complaints against several of them, and has the names of all the captains of the boats that were at work upon the beds, and will commence suits against them in the County Court.  Mr. Van Nostrand, a planter, says that over 3,000 bushels of oysters have been stolen from his bed.  Henry Davis, who has six acres planted and staked off, has lost several hundred bushels of oysters that he had raised from the seed.  He relates that the boatmen come on his beds armed with revolvers and shotguns.  Elnathan Hall asserts that he has had every oyster on eight acres of land stolen.  The City Islanders say that the beds are natural ones."

Source:  Long Island - Glen Cove, New-York Tribune, Oct. 28, 1884, p. 8, col. 4.

For other recent postings in this series, see:

Tue., March 23, 2010:  Yet Another "Oyster War" in 1884; Glen Cove Officials Feud with City Island and Connecticut Oystermen.

Mon., March 22, 2010:  77-Year Old City Island Oysterman Joshua Leviness Reminisces in Testimony Provided in 1884.

Fri., March 19, 2010:  The New York Legislature Stepped Into the Oyster War on Long Island Sound in 1895.

Thu., March 18, 2010:  1859 Town of Huntington Record Reflecting Dispute with City Island Oystermen.

Wed., March 17, 2010:  Report of September 13, 1884 Tour of Oyster Beds by Captain Joshua Leviness of City Island.

Tue., March 16, 2010:  More on 19th Century Oystering in Pelham - Descriptions of Oyster Beds Off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay Published in 1887.

Mon., March 15, 2010:  More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complaint of Pollution.

Fri., March 12, 2010:  Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Yet Another "Oyster War" in 1884; Glen Cove Officials Feud with City Island and Connecticut Oystermen

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

During the 19th century, many with dollar signs in their eyes flooded into the Long Island Sound oyster industry just as pollution, garbage dumping and over-harvesting was reducing oystering opportunities.  One consequence was an ongoing battle over whether state and local governmental authorities could regulate access to oyster beds off their shores.  Glen Cove, Long Island, the State of Connecticut and other governmental authorities enacted such laws.  When Glen Cove tried to enforce its law against non-resident oystermen, however, another "Oyster War" followed.  City Island oystermen from the Town of Pelham became involved, as the brief article below indicates.

"NOTES ON THE OYSTER WAR.

The oyster war between the Bayville and Connecticut oystermen still continues.  Edward Ayres, the master of one [of] the boats captured by the officers from Glen Cove on Thursday, acknowledged having been in the oyster beds three times, and, rather than stand a suit in the courts, offered to pay the fine, $75 and costs of court, and was about to do so when a delegation of oystermen from City Island came into the court-room, and Ayres withdrew his plea of guilty and pleaded not guilty.  The City Islanders assert that they will carry the case to the full extent of the law as they are determined to know if the Bayville oystermen have the right to stake in the public waters for oyster planting.  While the case was under investigation word was brought to the court that twenty-five boats from the Connecticut shore were again on the oyster-beds, and a posse of officers started to arrest them."

Source:  Notes on the Oyster War, New-York Tribune, Oct. 25, 1884, p. 12, col. 1.

For other recent postings in this series, see:

Mon., March 22, 2010:  77-Year Old City Island Oysterman Joshua Leviness Reminisces in Testimony Provided in 1884.

Fri., March 19, 2010:  The New York Legislature Stepped Into the Oyster War on Long Island Sound in 1895.

Thu., March 18, 2010:  1859 Town of Huntington Record Reflecting Dispute with City Island Oystermen.

Wed., March 17, 2010:  Report of September 13, 1884 Tour of Oyster Beds by Captain Joshua Leviness of City Island.

Tue., March 16, 2010:  More on 19th Century Oystering in Pelham - Descriptions of Oyster Beds Off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay Published in 1887.

Mon., March 15, 2010:  More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complaint of Pollution.

Fri., March 12, 2010:  Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

The New York Legislature Stepped Into the Oyster War on Long Island Sound in 1895

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
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Regular readers of the Historic Pelham Blog know that I recently have been collecting research regarding the oystering industry off the waters of City Island in the Town of Pelham during the 19th century.  Recent postings on the topic are collected at the end of this posting.

It turns out that in the late 19th century, oystermen all along the Long Island Sound were battling over rights to harvest natural oyster beds and rights to stake out areas for seed beds.  Finally, the New York Legislature stepped into the picture.  The article below describes the development and its implications for certain City Island oystermen.

"OYSTERMEN TO APPEAL TO LAW.
-----
The Alleged Pirates Will Raise a Fund of $2,500 to Fight With.

GLEN COVE, L.I., April 30.--A fund of $2,500 is to be raised by oystermen who dredge in the Long Island Sound to test the right of the Legislature to ratify leases of natural-growth ground of oyster beds made by the Fish Commissioners.

This decision is the outcome of the recent oyster war waged by oystermen from City Island and other points on the oyster beds of the Matinnecock Oyster Company of Oyster Bay and was arrived at yesterday when one of the alleged oyster pirates, Augustus D. Merritt of City Island, was arraigned before Justice Henderson, in this village, on a charge of poaching on the oyster beds of the Matinnecock Company.  Merritt admitted the charge, but set up the claim that the beds are what is known as free ground.  He was willing, however, to reimburse the company for the oysters taken and the case was adjourned and will be settled outside of the court.

A meeting of the oystermen was held, and it was decided to take steps to carry the dispute to the United States courts if necessary, although the general feeling is that the Matinnecock Company will relinquish its holdings at the expiration of its present lease. 

It was shown on the survey made by Engineer Ford of the State Commissioners that the company had not encroached outside the grounds defined in the lease.  The company asserts its deterimination to defend its claim."

Source:  Oystermen to Appeal to Law, N.Y. Times, May 1, 1895, p. 3.

For other recent postings in this series, see:

Thu., March 18, 2010:  1859 Town of Huntington Record Reflecting Dispute with City Island Oystermen.

Wed., March 17, 2010:  Report of September 13, 1884 Tour of Oyster Beds by Captain Joshua Leviness of City Island.

Tue., March 16, 2010:  More on 19th Century Oystering in Pelham - Descriptions of Oyster Beds Off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay Published in 1887.

Mon., March 15, 2010:  More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complaint of Pollution.

Fri., March 12, 2010:  Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

1859 Town of Huntington Record Reflecting Dispute with City Island Oystermen

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Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog continues the recent series that collects research regarding the oystering industry in the waters off City Island when it was part of the Town of Pelham in the 19th century.  In 1859, the Board of Trustees of the Town of Huntington on Long Island enacted a resolution directing various City Island oystermen from "staking out" for oyster harvesting off the shores of Huntington.  The dispute seems to have evolved into a nasty, long-running battle.  I previously have written about the long-running feud.  See Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Below is an excerpt from the Town Records of the Town of Huntington reflecting the Board of Trustees' resolution enacted on Feb. 28, 1859.

"[TRUSTEES' PROCEEDINGS.]
[1859, Feb. 28.]

'At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Town of Huntington, held at the Town poor house the 28th day of February, 1859, present, Gilbert Carll, President; Brewster Conklin, Elbert Carll, Zebulon Buffett, Israel Carll, John D. Hewlett and Andrew Ketcham, Trustees.

Resolved, that a notice be served on Samuel Pell, Wilson W. Billar, Isaac VanAlen, John Lowndes, William Billar, Theodore Lowndes and Joshua Leviness, non-residents of said Town, do desist from staking out any of the land under water within the bounds of this Town as and for oyster beds within the bays, harbours or waters of said Town.

Resolved, that a notice be printed and published.

On application from Michael W. Devine to have his dock lease renewed.

Resolved, that the dock lease be renewed for 12 years at $3.00 per year.

Resolved, that the next Annual Town Meeting be held at the house of Elias Smith and that the Clerk give the usual notice.

Resolved, that Tobias Dillon and Warren Lewis be appointed to serve notices on the oyster planters.  [Page 441 / Page 442]

Resolved, that the meeting adjourn to meet on Saturday, the 12th day of March next, at the house of Stephen C. Rogers, at one o'clock P.M.

Notice served to Samuel Pell, Wilson W. Billar, Isaac VanAlen, William Billar, Theodore Lowndes, John Lowndes, Joshua Leviness and all other non-residents.

The Trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of the Town of Huntington, hereby give you notice that you and each of you do desist from staking out any of the lands under water within the borders of said Town, as and for oyster beds or for the purpose of planting oysters thereon, and that you desist from planting any oysters within the bays, harbors or waters of said Town, and from raking, taking up or carrying away oysters now growing or being within the bounds of said Town; you, the said persons hereby notified, not being inhabitants of or residents within the said Town of Huntington, and we further notify you that we have a standing By-Law of the said Town, that no person, other than a resident thereof, shall take or catch any oysters within the bounds of said Town under the penalty of twelve dollars and fifty cents for each and every offence, which penalty will be strictly enforced.

By order of the Board of Trustees,

GILBERT CARLL, Pres.

Huntington, Feb. 28, 1859.
Recorded by Josiah Smith,
Clerk.

(Trustees' Proceedings, Vol. I, pp. 132-33.)

[TRUSTEES' PROCEEDINGS.]

[Abstract.]
[1859, March 16.]

Meeting of Trustees, held on the 16th day of March, 1859.  [Page 442 / Page 443]

'Whereas, certain persons, non-residents of this Town, have staked off certain portions of Northport and Centreport harbors and the bays adjacent thereto, and claim the exclusive right of taking oysters on the territory included within said stakes, now therefore, it is

Resolved, That the Trustees will employ counsel to institute such action or actions as shall be deemed advisable and necessary to protect the rights of the inhabitants of the Town against assumption of claim on the part of such persons, and to bring the matter in controversy to as speedy a determination as possible before the legal tribunals of the State.'*

GILBERT CARLL, Pres.
Recorded by Josiah Smith, Clerk.
(Trustees' Proceedings, Vol. I, pp. 134-35)
___________________
[*Non-residents of the Town had for many years dredged and carried away more or less oysters from the natural oyster beds in Northport Bay, much to the annoyance of the inhabitants of the Town, who claimed that the premises belonged to the Town, and that such non-residents were trespassers. The Trustees of the Town took active steps against the intruders and there were some rough encounters on the Bay, growing out of these controversies.  Finally the non-residents, who were chiefly from Connecticut and City Island, began planting oysters in this Bay and assumed the right to exclusive possession and exclusion of all others from the grounds.  The people held Town Meetings and passed stringent enactments against such invasion of their rights, and it was to test the legal right of the invaders to hold such grounds, that the Trustees at this time directed the institution of suits in the courts.  An issue was, however, first reached in consequence of a resident of the Town, Dickerson, going upon the oyster beds of Lowndes and taking oysters, upon which suit was brought by Lowndes against Dickerson.  The latter's defense rested on his claim that Lowndes held without right; that the premises belonged to the town, and that as one of its citizens he had a right to take any shellfish he might find thereon.  The Trustees employed as counsel in the case, J. Lawrence Smith and William McCoun.  Henry J. Scudder was counsel for the Lowndes party.  From the somewhat voluminous correspondence which has come under my observation, it would appear that Lowndes, through his [Page 443 / Page 444] counsel, asked that he might remove his oysters from Huntington waters as a means of terminating the dispute.  Whatever answer the Trustees may have made, the oysters were not removed, and the suit went to trial at a Circuit Court in Riverhead, before Judge Brown, the father of the present Justice Brown of the Supreme Court in this district.  The cause was not well managed for the Town, important evidence having been omitted, and the case was decided in favor of Lowndes.  Emboldened by the result of this suit, the non-residents continued for some time to plant and hold oyster grounds in Northport Bay, and it took the Town several years to recover its former prestige.  In 1871 an exhaustive examination of the whole subject of Huntington's title to lands under water was made by counsel employed for the purpose, followed soon after by a determined effort to maintain the Town's title.  The result, as is well known, justified the effort, and the Court of Appeals has decided that the lands under water in Northport Bay belong to this Town under its Colonial grants, and the non-residents have all taken leases from the Town, of their grounds in Northport harbor and bay.--C.R.S.]"

Source:  Huntington Town Records Including Babylon, Long Island, N.Y. 1776 - - - 1873 With Introduction, Notes and Index by Charles R. Street, Vol. III, pp. 442-44 (The Towns of Huntington and Babylon, New York:  1889).

For other examples of postings in the series on 19th century oystering in the waters off the shores of City Island in the Town of Pelham, see:

Wed., March 17, 2010:  Report of September 13, 1884 Tour of Oyster Beds by Captain Joshua Leviness of City Island.

Tue., Mar. 16, 2010:  More on 19th Century Oystering in Pelham - Descriptions of Oyster Beds Off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay Published in 1887.

Mon., Mar. 15, 2010:  More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complaint of Pollution.

Fri., March 12, 2010:  Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

More on 19th Century Oystering in Pelham - Descriptions of Oyster Beds Off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay Published in 1887

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

I continue my efforts to research 19th century oystering in the waters off the Town of Pelham.  At the end of this posting I have collected links to the Historic Pelham Blog postings that deal with the topic to date.

Today's posting transcribes a description of oyster beds off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay that appeared in a report published in 1887.  The excerpt of the report below is followed by a citation to its source.

"25.  Hart Island Bed. -- Extends from east end of Hart Island around in a curve to the south end and into the shore; it contains seed oysters and clams.  Dark blue and grayish blue mud mixed with sand.  Area, seventy-one (71) acres.

26.  City Island Bed. -- Large and seed oyesters [sic] and claims.  (See fig. 26 B, plate 3.)

The limit lines of this bed extend from the south ends of Hart and City Islands along Hart Island to the cove, from there to the small island in the middle, thence south by east about four hundred and seventy-five (475) metres, thence W. S. W. to City Island and along the shore to southern end.

It furnishes work for oystermen all year round.  When they cannot work anywhere else in the vicinity they can work here.  Some of the northern part and all of the north-western is staked out.  Area, three hundred and thirty-one (331) acres.

27.  Pelham Bay. -- In one haul at northern end we got a large number of seed oysters and clams, shells with young seed, and a dredge half full of crabs.  Nothern third contains oysters, the rest are claims.  (See fig. 27B, plate 4.)  Dark olive colored mud mixed with sand; probed four feet without any change.  Specimen, slight odor of sulphuretted hydrogen.

The bed runs from south-west end of City Island twenty-three hundred (2300) metres, S. S. W. 3/4 W., and is about two hundred (200) metres wide.  Area, one hundred and eight (108) acres."

Source:  Report of Fred Mather, Second Report of the Oyster Investigation and of Survey of Oyster Territory for the Years 1885 and 1886 by Eugene G. Blackford, Commissioner of Fisheries -- Transmitted to the Legislature January 20, 1887, p. 43 (Albany, NY:  The Argus Company Printers 1887).

Below are links to previous postings regarding the 19th century oystering trade in the waters near the Town of Pelham:

Mon., Mar. 15, 2010:  More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complaint of Pollution.

Fri., March 12, 2010:  Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complain of Pollution

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Recently I have devoted efforts to researching the history of oystering in the waters off City Island in the Town of Pelham during the early 19th century.  For a few of the many examples of postings to the Historic Pelham Blog that deal with oystering, see, e.g.:

Fri., March 12, 2010:  Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

It seems that in 1889, City Island oystermen complained to the State of New York that pollution from a dye manufacturing plant on West Farms Creek was floating into the Long Island Sound and poisoning the contents of their oyster floats.  Oyster floats typically were floating holders containing young oysters that were placed near the mouths of fresh water creeks where the creeks met the salt water of Long Island Sound.  Young oysters exposed to the less salty water "fattened" nicely for the markets. 

Below I have transcribed an excerpt of a report filed by the "State Oyster Protector" on October 1, 1889 for the ten month period ending a year earlier on October 1, 1888.  The report describes the matter referenced above.

"Report of the State Oyster Protector.
-----
No 80 FULTON MARKET, NEW YORK CITY,
October 1, 1889.
EUGENE G. BLACKFORD, Esq., Commissioner of Fisheries and Shell Fish Commissioner, State of New York:

DEAR SIR. -- I have the honr to transmit herewith my report for the ten months ending October 1, 1888 [sic - 1889].

Very respectfully,
JOSEPH W. MERSEREAU,
State Oyster Protector.
-----

No. 80 FULTON MARKET, NEW YORK CITY, }
October 1, 1889.

EUGENE G. BLACKFORD, Esq., Commissioner of Fisheries and Shell Fish Commissioner, State of New York:

DEAR SIR.-- I respectfully submit the following report of my operations as State Oyster Protector for the ten months ending October 1, 1889. Since my last annual report in accordance with your directions, I have reported daily at this office, except on the dates hereinafter mentioned, viz.: December 25 and 28, 1888; January 1, 1889; February 12 and 22, 1889; March 19, 1889; April 18, 24 and 30, 1889; May 1 and 30, 1889; July 4, 1889.

I have been on duty only part of a day on the dates hereinafter mentioned, viz.: February 21, 1889 ; April 19, 1889.

On all other days from December 1, 1888, to September 30, 1889, inclusive (except Sundays), I have been on duty all day, subject to your instructions.

During the past year I have made daily inspections of manufacturing districts and other localities from which pollution of the waters might be expected, as is fully set forth in detail in my daily and monthly reports; this systematic surveillance has resulted in maintaining the general improvement of the waters of this section, and has elicited many encomiums from oystermen, yachtsmen, marine railway people, anglers and the press.

Fault finding is not a lost art; and men whose pleasures or business interests suffer restriction, or injury, are prone to vent their grievances. The commendations aforesaid, coupled with the fact that but very few complaints have been received, argues that public interests have been protected and much good accomplished. . . . .

*  *  *  *  *  *  

In April last the oystermen of City Island complained that the waters of West Farms creek, Westchester county, were polluted by refuse from the Metropolitan Dye Works, situated on the south bank of said stream.

The oystermen alleged that at times on the ebb-tide, the waters of the creek were discolored, assuming from time to time various hues; the discoloration extended from the dye works the entire length of the creek, out into the sound, and along the beach. It has been customary for the oystermen to place their oyster-floats at or near the mouth of the creek to allow the oysters therein to 'drink' the fresh water flowing out of the creek, to thus freshen or fatten them for market. Oysters so placed were subjected to the discolored and poisonous water from tLe dye works.

This matter was promptly investigated, and per your directions the offending party was officially, notified that the law would be enforced if the offense continued. No further complaint has been received at this office relating to this matter. The arrangement made some months ago with Lieutenant J. J. Hunker, U. S. N., supervisor of the port of New York, relating to dumping dredgings from Pelham creek, was satisfatory to the oystermen of that section, and seems to have been faithfully observed, as no complaint has since been received in reference thereto."

Source:  State of New York - No. 14 - In Assembly, February 10, 1890:  Eighteenth Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries, New York, N.Y., September 30, 1889, pp. 102-03, 107 (Albany, NY:  James B. Lyon, State Printer 1890).

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Recently I have devoted efforts to researching the history of oystering in the waters off City Island in the Town of Pelham during the early 19th century.  For a few of the many examples of postings to the Historic Pelham Blog that deal with oystering, see, e.g.: 

Thu., March 11, 2010:  The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878.

Mon., July 30, 2007:  1885 Report Notes Decline of Oyster Industry Near City Island in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., July 26, 2007:  Pelham's City Island Oystermen Feud with Long Islanders in 1869.

Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.

Fri., April 13, 2007:  Oystermen of City Island (When It Was Part of the Town of Pelham) Pioneered Oyster Cultivation.

Mon., September 18, 2006:  A Brief Description of Oystering in Eastchester Bay and at Pelham Published in 1881.

Fri., January 26, 2007:  A History of the Early Years of City Island When it Was Part of the Town of Pelham, Published in 1927.

Thu., December 3, 2009:  Pelham News on May 30, 1884 Including Allegations of Oyster Larceny and Meeting of the Pelhamville Improvement Association.

In 1881, the U.S. Department of the Interior published a book by Ernest Ingersoll entitled "The Oyster-Industry" as part of its series on "The History and Present Condition of the Fishery Industries".  The lengthy history includes much information about the early history of oystering in the waters near City Island when that area was part of the Town of Pelham.  Below are excerpts from the book on the subject.

"H. THE EAST RIVER AND PECONIC BAY.

34. OYSTER-INTERESTS FROM HELL GATE TO PORT JEFFERSON, NEW YORK, AND NORWALK, CONNECTICUT.

EAST RIVER DEFINED.--To oystermen, and for all the purposes of the present report, the East river is that narrow part of Long Island sound, at its eastern end, which extends from Hell Gate to the Norwalk islands on the Connecticut shore, and to Port Jefferson on the Long Island side. It is a district very old in the annals of oyster-gathering and culture, and one which contributes largely to the trade.

Early History Of Oystering. -- Traditions concerning the beginning of oystering as a regular industry are very few and faint. I am indebted to Mr. Theodore S. Lowndes, of Rowayton, Connecticut, for some pleasaut reminiscences.

It seems not to have been until about 1814 or 1815 that much attention was attracted to the oyster-beds of the East river, as a source of business advantage. At that time it was considered a degrading thing to rake oysters for a living, yet the father of my informant, Mr. Edward William Lowndes, went energetically into the enterprise, with several of his neighbors -- William Price, Drake Sopers, Stephen Jennings, James Jennings, and Benjamin Totten, the last named having returned from loyal participation in Commodore Perry's victory on lake Erie. All of these gentlemen lived on City island, and their descendants are still to be found among the leading citizens of that community. At that time there was no occasion to plant oysters, the bivalves being plentiful upon their natural beds, and easy of access with dredges, rakes, and tongs, very similar to those now in use. Mr. Lowndes writes me as follows:

The oysters caught nearest Hell Gate were in Flushing bay, between Barien's island and Fisher's point, and I've heard my father say that he had caught oysters below Blackwell's island, on the edge of the flats at Newtown creek, on the Long Island side, but they were only a small lot.

My father was often annoyed, in his day, by local laws and prejudices against oystermen. On one occasion, as I have heard him tell, while he was at work off Shippen point, on Long Island sound, he was taken ashore at Stamford, and had a ride given him into the country. When brought back his vessel was unloaded, and he was told to get out as soon as possible, which he was glad to do. On returning to New York, he went to the collector of the port, General Morton, who sent Captain Calhoun, commanding a revenue cutter in the United States navy, to inform the captains of some packets that plied between New York and Stamford, that if any oystermen should be disturbed again in that locality, he would come up with the cutter and protect them; but there was no further trouble. My father was concerned in several such vexatious adventures.

Mr. Lowndes and his fellow-citizens showed it possible to work at this with so much diligence and pecuniary success, as to put this occupation in a more favorable light, and caused many more of their neighbors to enter it. The result is, that probably two-thirds of the population of City island, to-day, derive their support from the oyster-interests owned there. The same is true of the north shore of Long Island.

Natural oyster-beds once existed in greater or less abundance all along the shore of Westchester county, New York, and the opposite coast. Though the Harlem river and the region near Hell Gate have long been abandoned, through over-raking and the unfavorable conditions which have followed the incessant commercial use of these waters, now within the great city of New York; a little farther up, the raking is still practiced. The passenger on the Harlem and New Rochelle railway, can see from the cars, the boats of men catching oysters in all the little nooks and corners of the coast above Port Morris, and across toward College point. The steamboats run daily across seed-ground, and make landings amid plantations.

East Chester Bay.--The first oyster-ground of any consequence, however, going up the river, is found in East Chester bay, which surrounds City Island. Off Throgg's point, at the southern end of this bay, are great natural banks, which have withstood long and steady raking. In these waters are the oldest artificial beds in the East river, for the regular planting of oysters (inaugurated, according to tradition, by Mr. Orrin Fordham) was begun here half a century ago.]

The planters all have their homes on City island, and are about sixty in number. In addition to these sixty planters, there are perhaps a dozen more men who get their living out of the business. It is safe to say, at any rate, that half a hundred families derive their support from the oyster-industry in this one community.

The total production of East Chester bay, last season (1879-'80), may be placed approximately at 53,000 bushels. In order to catch the seed of these oysters and carry them to the New York market, where all the crop is sold, there is owned here a fleet of one steamer, specially fitted, about 45 sloops, some 25 floats, and at least 100 skiffs. All of these craft are of excellent quality, and represent a value of something like $35,000, which, with an addition of about $5,000 for shore-property, may be taken as the amount of the investment in the industry at City island, exclusive of the value of the stock now lying under the water, on the various beds, and which is a sum hardly possible even to guess at.

Pelham TO Milton.--At Pelham, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Rye, and Milton, the business does not attain much dignity, although a large number of families, fully 100, are supported partly by it and partly by digging clams (mainly Mya arenaria), catching lobsters, and in other sea-shore occupations distinct from regular fishing. The ground occupied is embraced in little bays and sheltered nooks, for the most part, and is not of great extent. There are about 20 planters, who, at an average of 250 bushels--a large estimate, probably--would furnish a total of 5,000 bushels a year. Nearly if not quite all of this goes into the hands of peddlers, who dispose of it from wagons throughout the adjacent villages. Many of the planters, and some summer residents in addition, lay down seed wholly for private use. There is a large seed-bed off this part of the coast, which furnishes small stock, not only for local use, but for the towns both east and west. About $5,000 would no doubt cover the investment between City island and Port Chester.

Port Chester.--Port Chester is the last town in the state of New York, East Chester, just across the bridge, belonging to Connecticut. The exact boundary of the two states was long undecided, and was the cause of much annoyance and dispute among the oystermen of the contiguous waters, who were incessantly charging one another with violation of law and their neighbor's rights, by crossing the imaginary line, and so invading the property of the other state. In consequence of this a joint commission was appointed to settle the boundary between the states, the definition of which, so far as it relates to the waters of Long Island sound, is as follows:

Beginning at a point in the center of the channel about 600 feet south of the extreme rocks of Byram point, marked No. 0 on the appended United States' coast survey chart; thence running in a true southeast course three and one-quarter statute miles; thence in a straight line (the arc of a great circle) northeasterly to a point four statute miles true south of New London light-house; thence northeasterly to a point marked No. 1 on the annexed United States' coast survey chart of Fisher's Island sounds, which point is in the longitude E. three-quarters N. sailing course drawn on said map, and is about 1,000 feet northerly from the Hammock or N. Dumpling light-house; thence following the said E. three-quarters N. sailing course as laid down on said map, easterly to a point marked No. 2 on said map; thence southeasterly toward a point marked No. 3 on said map, so far as said states are continuous. Provided, however, that nothing in the foregoing agreement contained shall be so construed to affect existing titles or property, corporeal or incorporeal, held under grants heretofore made by either of said states, nor to affect existing rights which said states or either of them, or which the citizens of either of said states, may have by grant, letters-patent, or prescription of fishing in the waters of said sound, whether for shell or floating fish, irrespective of the boundary line hereby established, it not being the purpose of this agreement to define, limit, or interfere with any such right, rights, or privileges, whatever the same may be.

At Port Chester and East Chester lives a considerable colony of oyster-planters. In all, about 25 families derive their chief maintenance from this industry; but four-fifths of the planters find it necessary to supplement their profits from this source by other labor, in order to get a living. The total product of the locality was about 9,000 bushels last year, only a fraction of which is sent to New York. The price is now 80 cents for the small and $1 for large size. In 1878-'79 it was 20 per cent., and in 1877-'78, 40 per cent. higher. There are eight sloops, with floats, arks, etc., owned here, which foot up an invested capital of about $7,000.

Before leaving the New York waters of East river, however, it will be well to mention some laws applying to this coast. In the Revised Statutes of 1875, under Title XI, Fisheries, are the following sections applying here, in addition to the general important law prohibiting steam-dredging:

Section 5. Forbids taking oysters in Harlem river during June, July, and August.

Sec. 6. Provides jurisdiction in case of offense against section 5.

Sec. 7. Permits any owner or lessee of lands adjoining Harlem river to plant oysters in front of their property, where the ground is not occupied; but he must put up a plain sign, stating (with owner's name) that this is a private oyster-bed. No person except the owner shall take up oysters on such ground. Penalty, $50.

Sec. 8. Empowers constables of either Westchester or New York counties to seize boats and implements of offenders against section 7.

Sec. 9. Defines how arrests are to be made and offenders prosecuted."

Source:  Ingersoll, Ernest, The Oyster-Industry, pp. 88-89 (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1881) (Published by Department of the Interior, Tenth Census of the United States, Francis A. Walker, Superintendent - The History and Present Condition of the Fishery Industries Prepared Under the Direction of Professor S. F. Baird by G. Brown Goode). 

"New York Oyster-laws, Applicable To East River.--Certain enactments by the legislature of New York must be quoted, applying to the East river and the north shore of Long Island. These are substantially as follows:

Any person who shall * * * in any manner catch, interfere with, or disturb the oysters of another now or hereafter lawfully planted upon the bed of any of the rivers, bays, sounds, or other waters within the jurisdiction of this state, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Penalties, fine not exceeding $230, imprisonment not more than six mouths, or both.

No person who has not been a resident of the state for six months may rake or gather clams, oysters, or shellfish, in any waters of this state; but an actual resident may employ any person to gather shellfish for his benefit.

No dredging for clams or oysters within the state 'with a dredge, operated by steam-power', is permitted, and no dredges are to be used exceeding thirty pounds in weight.

In the general statutes the following sections apply to Queens county:

Section 78. Persons who have been for six months or more inhabitants of Queens county, may plant oysters in any of the public waters of that county, except Hempstead harbor, Jamaica and Hempstead bays, and Oyster bay harbor; and may acquire exclusive ownership of such beds.

Sec. 79. Any person as aforesaid may use land under public waters in Queens county, as aforesaid, 'not to exceed three acres in a bed, and on which there is no natural or planted beds of oysters, for the purpose of planting oysters thereon'; but he must clearly mark and define the portion so selected by him, as a notice to the public, and shall not hold possession unless he puts oysters upon it, within six months, to the extent of at least 50 bushels to the acre.

Sec. 80. Forbids any persons taking or disturbing oysters on beds mentioned in section 79.

Sbc. 81. Penalty for violation of section 80, fine not to exceed $100, or 60 days in prison, or both.

Sec. 82. Process of arrest and trial.

SEC. 83. Oyster-ground is forfeited in Queens county by ceasing to use it for one year, or at the end of two years from his removal from residence in the county.

Sec. 84. Forbids dredging for oysters in any waters of Queens county, except in Oyster bay harbor, and in Cow bay; and no person, unless a resident of North Hempstead, shall dredge in Cow bay. Penalty, fine not exceeding $100, imprisonment not over 60 days, or both.• [Footnote * at the bottom of the page reads as follows:  "Section 84 was repealed by chapter 402, laws of 1879, 'in so far as the same relates to the waters of the county of Queens, lying on the north side thereof, except that portion of the waters of Hempstead harbor lying south of a line drawn from the center of Sea Cliff dock, on the east side of said harbor, to the center of Mott's dock on the west side thereof.'"]

Sec. 85. Repeals previous laws inconsistent.

Sec. 86. "The natural growth or bed of oysters in * * * Little Neck bay, in said [Queens] county, is hereby defined as being between low-water mark and a distance of 500 feet therefrom, into the waters of said bay toward its center, beyond which, in the planting of oysters * * * the word 'natural' shall not apply.'

Methods Of Oyster-culture.—The East river is the scene of probably the most painstaking and scientific oyster-culture in the United States, and the methods in use there merit careful notice. It is impossible to ascertain when it first became a custom there to transplant oysters from the abundant natural beds along the shore to staked-in tracts off shore, nor is it of much importance to inquire. Probably the very first of this was done in the Harlem river. Half a century ago, however, City island was populated by oystermen; and in 1853 the New York Herald reported that the largest proportion of all the East river oysters, used in New York, came from there, 'where there are extensive artificial and natural beds'. The same article stated that then City island owned a fourth of the 100 boats engaged in conveying East river oysters to the metropolis, and that 100 men and families on the island obtained a living by oystering. The whole amount of property invested there was estimated at $1,000,000. This included the value of the beds, and was supposed to represent one-third of the capital of all the East river interest. This writer asserts that twenty years previous—which, would make it about 1833—East river oysters were almost  unknown in New York markets; and that it was not until about 1843 that any planting was engaged in. The character of this planting is not indicated; but I have no doubt that, whatever was the date of its origin, the credit of first truly propagating oysters from seed caught upon artificial beds or prepared receptacles, belongs to the men of City island. It had been a matter of common observation, that any object tossed into the water in summer, became covered at once with infant oysters. The sedges along the edge of the marshes, and the buoys, stakes, and wharf piles were similarly clothed. If the circumstances were favorable, this deposit survived the winter, and the next spring the youngsters*  [Footnote * at the bottom of the page reads as follows:  "There is no word in the northern states for infant oysters, except the terms 'set', 'spat', 'spawn', etc. all of which belong originally to the eggs or spawn of the oyster, and not to the young, but are frequently and confusedly applied as well to the half-grown mollusks.  In the south the name 'blister' (referring to its smooth, puffed-up appearance) is given to the infant oysters, and serves to distinguish them from 'seed', 'cullens', and 'oysters', which represent the successively larger sizes and stages of growth."] were large enough to be taken and transplanted. It was only a short

step in logic, therefore, to conclude, that if objects were thrown thickly into the water, on purpose to catch the

floating spawn, a large quantity of young oysters would be secured, and could be saved for transplanting at very slight expense. The next question was: What would best serve the purpose? Evidently nothing could be better than the shells which, year by year, accumulated on the shore from the season's opening trade. They were the customary resting-places of the spawn, and at the same time were cheapest. The City island oysterman, therefore, began to save his shells from the lime-kiln and the road master, and to spread them on the bottom of the bay,hoping to save some of the oyster-spawn with which his imagination densely crowded the sea-water. This happened, I am told, more than fifty years ago, and the first man to put the theory into practice, it is remembered, was the father of the Fordham Brothers, who still pursue the business at City island. In 1855, Captain Henry Bell, of Bell's island, planted shells among the islands off the mouth of Norwalk river, and a short time after, under the protection of the new law of 1855, recognizing private property in such beds, Mr. Oliver Cook, of Five-Mile river, Mr. Weed, of South Norwalk, Mr. Hawley, of Bridgport, and others, went into it on an extensive scale. Some of these gentlemen appear never to have heard of any previous operations of the sort. Discovering it for themselves, as it was easy and natural to do, they supposed they were the originators; but if any such credit attaches anywhere, I believe it belongs- to the City island men. It was soon discovered that uniform success was not to be hoped for, and the steady, magnificent crops reaped by the earliest planters were rarely emulated. Many planters, therefore, decried the whole scheme, and returned to their simple transplanting of natural-bed seed; but others, with more consistency, set at work to improve their chances, by making more and more favorable the opportunities for an oyster's egg successfully to attach itself, during its brief natatory life, to the stool prepared for it, and afterward to live to au age when it was strong enough to hold its own against the weather. This involved a. closer stndy of the general natural history of the oyster.

The first thing found out was, that the floating spawn would not attach itself to, or 'set' (in the vernacular of the shore), upon anything which had not a clean surface; smoothness did not hinder—glass-bottles were frequently coated outside and in with young shells—but the surface of the object must not be slimy. It was discovered, too, that the half-sedimentary, half-vegetable deposit of the water, coating any submerged object with a slippery film, was acquired with marvelous speed. Thus shells laid down a very few days before the spawning-time of the oysters, became so slimy as to catch little or no spawn, no matter how much of it was floating in the water above them. This taught the oystermen that they must not spread their shells until the midst of the spawning-season; that one step was gained when they ceased spreading in May and waited until July. Now, from the 5th to the 15th of that month is considered the proper time, and no shell-planting is attempted before or after. This knowledge of the speed with which the shells became slimy was turned to account in another way. It was evident that the swifter the current the less would there be a chance of rapid fouling. Planters, therefore, chose their ground in the swiftest tideways they could find.

The mere manner of spreading the shells was also found to be important. If they are rudely dumped over, half their good is wasted, for they lie in heaps. The proper method is to take them from the large scow or sloop which has brought them ashore, in small boat-loads. Having anchored the skiff, the shells are then flirted broadcast in all directions, by the shovelful. The next boat-load is anchored a little farther on, and the process repeated. Thus a thin and evenly-distributed layer is spread over the whole ground. Just how many bushels a man will place on an acre depends upon both his means and his judgment. If he is shelling entirely new ground, he will spread more than he would upon an area already improved; but I suppose 250 bushels to the acre might be recommended as an average quantity. Having spread his shells in midsummer, the planter, by testing them early in the fall, can tell whether he has succeeded in catching upon them any or much of the desired spawn. The young oysters will appear as minute flakes, easily detected by the experienced eye, attached to all parts of the old shell. If he has got no set whatever, he considers his investment a total loss, since by the next season, the bed of shells will have become so dirty that the spawn will not take hold if it comes that way. Supposing, on the contrary, that young oysters are found attached in millions to his cultch, as often happens, crowding upon each old shell until it is almost hidden, what is his next step?

The ordinary way in the East river and elsewhere, is simply to let the bed remain quiet, until, in the course of three or four years, such oysters as have survived are large enough to sell, when the bed is worked—at first, probably, with tongs and rakes, getting up the thickest of the crop. This done, dredges are put on, and everything that remains--oysters, shells, and trash--is removed and the ground left clean, ready for a second shelling, or to be planted with seed, perhaps right away--perhaps after the area has lain fallow, exposed uncovered to the influences of the sea for a year. Oystermen have an idea (probably well founded, though badly theorized upon) that this improves the bottom for oyster-culture, as much as a similar rest would the soil of an upland field for agriculture.

In the process of growth of the young oysters lodged upon the fields of cultch, when left undisturbed, there is, and must of necessity be, a great waste under the most favorable circumstances. Leaving out all other adversities, this will arise from over crowding. More 'blisters' attach themselves upon a single egg than can come to maturity. One or a few will obtain an accession of growth over the rest, and crowd the others down, or overlap them fatally. Even if a large number of young oysters attached to a single stool do grow up together equally, their close elbowing of one another will probably result in a close, crabbed bunch of long, slim, unshapely samples, of no value save to be shucked. To avoid these misfortunes, and, having got a large quantity of young growth, to save as much as possible of it, the more advanced and energetic of the planters, like the Hoyts, of Norwalk, pursue the following plan: When the bed is two years old, by which time all the young oysters are of sufficient age and hardiness to bear the removal, coarse-netted dredges are put on, and all the bunches of oysters are taken up, knocked to pieces, and either sold as "seed", or redistributed over a new portion of bottom, thus widening the planted area, and at the same time leaving more room for those single oysters to grow which have slipped through the net and so escaped the dredge. The next year after, all the plantation, new and old, is gone over and suitable stock culled out for trade, three-year-old East river oysters being in demand for the European market. This further thins out the beds, and the following (fourth) year the main crop of fine, well-shaped, well-fed oysters will be taken, and during the succeeding summer, or perhaps after a year, the ground will be thoroughly well cleaned up, and prepared for a new shelling.

All these remarks apply to a reasonably hard bottom, which requires no previous preparation. In portions of Long Island sound, especially off New Haven, it has been needful to make a crust or artificial surface upon the mud before laying down the shells. This is done with sand, and has been alluded to in the chapter on New Haven harbor.

Just what makes the best lodgment for oyster-spawn intended to be used as seed, has been greatly discussed. Oyster-shells are very good, certainly, and as they are cheap and almost always at hand in even troublesome quantities, they form the most available cultch, and are most generally used. Small gravel, however, has been tried on parts of the Connecticut coast with great success, the advantage being that not often more than one or two oysters would be attached, and therefore the evil of bunchiness would be avoided Where scallop shells, as in Narraganset bay, or, as in northern New Jersey, mussels and jingles, Anomia, can be procured in sufficient quantities, they are undoubtedly better than anything else, because they not only break easily in culling, but are so fragile that the strain of the growth of two or more oysters attached to a single scallop or mussel-valve, will often crack it in pieces, and so permit the several members of the bunch to separate and grow into good shape, singly. I am not aware that any of the elaborate arrangements made in France and England for catching and preserving the spat have ever been imitated here, to any practical extent. The time will come, no doubt, when we shall be glad to profit by this foreign example and experience.

Although the effort to propagate oysters by catching drifting spawn upon prepared beds has been tried nearly everywhere, from Sandy Hook to Providence, it has only, in the minority of cases, perhaps I might say a small minority of cases, proved a profitable undertaking to those engaging in it; and many planters have abandoned the process, or, at least, calculate but little upon any prepared beds, in estimating the probable income of the prospective season. This arises from one of two causes: 1st. The failure of spawn to attach itself to the cultch; or, 2d. In case a 'set' occurs, a subsequent death or destruction.

The supposition among oystermen generally has been, that the water everywhere upon the coast was filled, more or less, with drifting oyster-spat during the spawning season, whether there was any bed of oysters in the immediate neighborhood or not; in other words, that there was hardly any limit to the time and distance the spat would drift with the tides, winds, and currents. I think that lately this view has been modified by most fishermen, and I am certain it greatly needs modification; but, as a consequence of the opinion, it was believed that one place was as good as another, so long as there was a good current or tideway there to spread shells for spawn, whether there were any living oysters in proximity or not. But that this view was fallacious, and that many acres of shells have never exhibited a single oyster, simply because there was no spat or sources of spat in their vicinity, there is no reason to doubt.

Having learned this, planters began to see that they must place with or near their beds of shells, living mother-oysters, called 'spawners', which should supply the desired spat. This is done in two ways, either by laying a narrow bed of old oysters across the tideway in the center of the shelled tract, so that the spawn, as it is emitted, may be carried up and down over the breadth of shells waiting to accommodate it, or by sprinkling spawners all about the ground, at the rate of about 10 bushels to the acre. Under these arrangements the circumstances must be rare and exceptional, when a full set will not be secured upon all shells within, say, 20 rods of the spawners. Of course fortunate positions may be found where spawn is produced from wild oysters in abundance, or from contiguous planted beds, where the distribution of special spawners is unnecessary; yet even then it may be said to be a wise measure.

The successful capture of a plenteous 'set', however, is not all of the game. This must grow to salable maturity before any profits can be gathered, and it so often happens that the most promising beds in September are utterly wrecked by January, making a total loss of all the money and labor expended, that more than one planter has decided that it does not pay to attempt to raise oysters upon shells, so long as he is able to buy and stock his grounds with half-grown seed--a decision which may be based upon sound reasoning in respect to certain localities, but which certainly will not apply to all of our northern coast.

To what causes the well-filled artificial beds of infant oysters owe the destruction which seems often to overtake them in a single night, cannot always be told; we are not sufficiently acquainted either with the oyster or the conditions under which he lives, to detect the fatal influence. It is easily perceived, however, that these propagation beds offer an unusual attraction to all the active enemies of the oyster, such as winkles, drills or borers, and starfishes, since they find there food not only in a superabundance, but thin shelled and tender, so as to be got at in the easiest manner. It has very frequently happened in the East river, that starfishes alone have not only eaten up many acres of young oysters in a single season, on shelled ground, but so colonized there as to ruin utterly that tract for any further use, so long as they remained. It is certain that the half grown transplanted seed is less attractive to oyster-enemies than the propagation-beds; but when, as frequently occurs, the latter survive misfortune and attack, the yield of profits is so great as amply to compensate for the risk. Those who do not catch any or sufficient seed for their purposes, upon areas of shells or other cultch, annually procure young oysters of natural growth, or 'seed' with which to stock their beds. To this end they send their sloops from Norwalk eastward to the Housatonic beds, as has been described in a previous chapter, out into the sound off Bridgeport and to Shippen point, while the more westerly planters get their seed in the East river and off the Long Island shore. There seems to be little lack of supply, but the scene of good dredging and the amount gathered are continually changing. On the whole, however, there is a decrease of supply brought about by the largely increased number of boats now fishing every fall. More or less of the seed gathered here is sold by those who catch it, to local planters, and some goes to beds in Rhode Island and New York bay, or the south shore of Long Island. On the contrary, some little foreign seed, chiefly from the North river, is brought to Connecticut beds. The deep-water sound seed is the best. The seed is not usually culled, but is sold to the planter at about 25 cents a bushel, and distributed upon his grounds just as it is caught. In a bushel of it, consequently, not more than one-fourth (in a fair run) will consist of living oysters, the remainder being dead shells and trash of all sorts. Of this mixed stuff from 300 to 400 bushels are put on an acre lot. If it were culled, even roughly, it would bring from 40 to 50 cents, and one-half the quantity would be enough for the same ground, since the danger of planting top thick must be avoided. Frequently this is done. Some planters here never disturb their beds until they begin to take them up for market; but others make a practice of shifting their transplanted oysters, when two or two and a half years old, to a new spot. There they lie for one year, and are then ready for sale. The cost of shifting is from 10 to 15 cents a bushel; but the increase, both in size and flavor, is thought to compensate for this extra outlay.

The great drawback to East river oyster-planting of every kind, is the abundance of enemies with which the beds are infested. These consist of drum-fish, skates, and, to a small degree, of various other fishes; of certain sponges and invertebrates that do slight damage; and of various boring mollusks, the crushing winkle, and the insidious starfish or sea-star. It is the last-named plague that the planter dreads the most, and the directly traceable harm it does amounts to many tens of thousands of dollars annually in this district alone. Indeed, it seems to have here its headquarters on the American oyster-coast; but as I shall devote to it a special description in my chapter on the Enemies of the Oyster, I will only mention here the fact of its baleful presence, which has utterly ruined many a man's whole year's work.

Destruction Of East River Oysters.--Nearly all the East river oysters are sold in the shell in New York. Those from the Connecticut shore and City island are generally taken to the city in the sloops of the owners, and sold to dealers at the foot of Broome street. This is partially true also of those raised on the Long Island shore; but there the New York firms, themselves often co-planters with the countrymen, send boats to buy up cargoes at the beds at a small discount from city prices."

 Source:  Ingersoll, Ernest, The Oyster-Industry, pp. 94-97 (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1881) (Published by Department of the Interior, Tenth Census of the United States, Francis A. Walker, Superintendent - The History and Present Condition of the Fishery Industries Prepared Under the Direction of Professor S. F. Baird by G. Brown Goode). 

"New York Markets In 1853.--In the spring of 1853 there appeared in the New York Herald a series of articles on this trade in the metropolis, which bore the impress of accuracy to a greater degree than is usual in such communications.  It asserted that then the oyster trade might be called only thirty years old, yet that there were a thousand vessels, of from 45 to 200 tons, engaged in winter in supplying the dealers in Oliver slip and other depots with Virginia oysters. The value of these vessels, on an average, was $3,000 each. This statement must, of course, have included all bringing southern oysters to any portion of New York bay, and, at best, seems exaggerated. 'The crew,' continues the account of these vessels, 'is composed generally of four hands and the cook, and the monthly wages given to each person varies from $12 to $30 * * *. Unlike the fishermen of Fulton market, they do not own shares in the boats upon which they are employed.'

The account continues:

The amount received for Virginia oysters, sold by the dealers in Oliver slip alone, is estimated at $250,000 a year. This, however, is not more than one-third of the quantity disposed of in the vicinity of Catherine market; for the space in the slip is so limited that the business of the dealers is greatly retarded and cramped. In consequence of this the principal supply is furnished direct from the boats to the retail-dealers throughout the city. About $300,000 worth of all kinds of Virginia oysters arc sold by the boats, which, added to the sales of the dealers, make a total of three-quarters of a million of dollars.  This is an immense amount of money, but it is not more than one-eighth part of the value of all the oysters sold during the year in this city.*  [Footnote * at the bottom of the page reads as follows:  "Here, again, I should say the estimate was large--two or three times too high, at least.--E.I."]

During the months of December, January, February, and March about $500,000 worth are sold from the boats at Coenties slip. There are no scows or oyster-stands at this place, on account of the transient character of the trade there, and the dealers are consequently obliged to sell them off the boats. There are some days when from 20 to 30 vessels are in dock together, and * * * the wharf is thronged with wagons waiting to receive their loads, while the hands on the boats are straining every nerve to supply the incessant demands of customers. The business of the day commences about six o'clock in the morning, and continues until four in the afternoon.

Of East river oysters alone about $500,000 worth is sold during the year in Oliver slip. The supply comes from Bridgeport, Norwalk, Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Sawpits, City island, and a few other places along the western shore; and from North port, Oyster bay, Lloyd's harbor, Huntingdon, Cold Spring, and Cow bay on the southern side. The largest proportion come from City island, where there are extensive artificial and natural beds, which furnish some of the best oysters obtained in the East river.

The reporter then mentions that of the 100 boats employed in carrying East river oysters to Oliver slip in 1853, 25 belonged to City island, where 100 families were supported by this industry. "The whole amount of property invested in the oyster-trade with this island," he states, 'including the boats of the oystermen and of the dealers, the value of the beds, etc., is estimated nt $1,000,000. And this is not more than one-third of the whole amount invested in the entire trade of the East river.'

The same writer mentioned that the annual sales of a single dealer in East river stock amounted in 1852 to $100,000; and complained that the conveniences offered by the city to the business at Oliver slip was very inadequate, although a fee of $75 a year was paid as scow-wharfage. He enumerated nine scows there then, valued at about $4,000, total. These scows were 30 by 12 feet in dimensions, and would hold from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels each. Out of these scows, he says, is sold yearly about $500,000 worth of oysters, exclusive of the amount bought from boats direct, which dealers estimate at $1,000,000. 'This estimate is derived from a calculation of the number of boats arriving during each year, and their capacity.'

At Washington market, according to the same chronicle, there were at this time twelve scows, having a total value of about $15,000. They had not even the scanty wharf accommodations vouchsafed at Oliver slip, but lay exposed so that they were knocked about by every high wind with great force, and damage was done which now and then amounted to total wreck, and always caused bitter complaints against the city. The total sales in and about Washington market were estimated at $3,000,000 annually, which, again, I must beg the reader to regard as an overestimate.

'It is only within the last five or six years,' says this writer, 'that the dealers commenced shipping in the shell, and at present a most extensive trade is carried on with Cincinnati, St. Louis, and several other western cities. Before this they were sent in kegs hermetically sealed * * * as far as California * * *. Pickled oysters are sent to every part of the United States by our dealers, and immense quantities are bought for shipment by vessels.'

The recapitulation with which these newspaper reports closed is annexed:

Number of boats of all sizes (50 to 250 tons) in the Virginia oyster-trade......1,000

In the East and North river trade.....................................................................200

In the Shrewsbury trade...................................................................................20

In the Blue Point and sound trade...................................................................100

In the York bay trade....................................................................................200

Total...........................................................................................................1,520

Sales of Virginia oysters, including those planted in Prince's bay...............$3,000,000

East and North river oysters.....................................................................1,500,000

Shrewsbury oysters.....................................................................................200,000

Blue Point and Sound oysters......................................................................200,000

York bay oysters........................................................................................300,000

Total sales...........................................................................................5,200,000"

Source:  Ingersoll, Ernest, The Oyster-Industry, pp. 123-24 (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1881) (Published by Department of the Interior, Tenth Census of the United States, Francis A. Walker, Superintendent - The History and Present Condition of the Fishery Industries Prepared Under the Direction of Professor S. F. Baird by G. Brown Goode).