![]() Early European settlers harvested the oysters for their own consumption and likely small-scale local trade. Native tribes throughout the Puget Sound region relied on the oyster not only for sustenance but also customs and trade. Until the late nineteenth century, this was the only oyster to be found in Washington waters.Ī naturalist with Captain George Vancouver's 1792 expedition to the region is said to have noted a bountiful supply of oysters on tidelands of Discovery Bay on the Olympic Peninsula. ![]() This small oyster was especially prolific in Willapa Bay and southern Puget Sound. Middens - ancient mounds of discarded shells and other debris - show evidence of the oyster's importance to Native populations of the region for countless generations. Though five species of oysters are grown in Washington waters today, only one is naturally at home here: the Olympia oyster ( Ostrea lurida), known early on simply as the native oyster. One city on Willapa Bay, South Bend, proclaims itself to be no less than the "Oyster Capital of the World." 1 oyster-growing state in the country, and among the most celebrated and valued sources of oysters in the world. These forces together made Washington the No. Add to that the tenacity, ingenuity, hard work, and scientific know-how of countless individuals. The bays and inlets, tidal activity, climate, and overall geography produce a habitat that has been called "oyster nirvana" (Jacobsen, 165). Western Washington has an environment exceptionally conducive to oysters. If not for this and other geological events that shaped the state's waterways, the story of oysters in Washington would be far less compelling. When the glacial ice melted and receded, it left a dramatic landscape that includes Puget Sound and Hood Canal. The foundation of the state's oyster culture dates to the work done by thousands of feet of glacier advancing southward over many thousands of years. Elements as disparate as California's Gold Rush, pulp mills, and World War II share in the industry's story. Washington's oyster industry has experienced many triumphs and challenges in its century-plus of existence, with a wide range of factors playing a part.
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