The Great Seattle Oyster War
When Colonel Jim Steel discovered a legal loophole to seize Seattle’s tide flats for private oyster farming, he triggered a chaotic race against a major land company.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Tuesday afternoon, Colonel Jim Steel went to a Pacific Coast fish market and ordered several sacks of oysters. He had them delivered to the wharf, put on a boat, and taken out into the bay. In the gray, early light of the morning, the magnificent proportions of Colonel Steel loomed upon the ridge of Pacific Avenue. He had a new clay pipe in his mouth, and although the match with which he tried to light it went out nineteen times, he evinced not the slightest impatience. When asked about his oyster business, he explained that he was planting a farm to grow the 'big, old-fashioned oysters.' It is generally understood in the city that Steel was the first to move in the matter of fencing in the tide flats with piles. When his plans were leaked, the Land Company started to work, and the memorable race between the two forces resulted. While the Land Company believes it can hold the claim, Steel maintains his right under the 1877 act to encourage the cultivation of oysters, which allows citizens to claim up to 50 acres of tide flats for farming, provided they mark the corners with stakes. The rivalry has moved from the water to the courts, as the Land Company seeks an injunction to restrain him, but Steel claims he is more determined than ever, having sought legal advice to protect his oyster harvest.
“It is easy to use big-sounding words and make grand promises on paper. But if Toklas & Singerman were to follow the general Seattle dry goods fashion the English language would have to be remodeled to show how far they surpass all competitors.”
This 1887 dispute over the 'tide flats' mirrors Seattle’s long history of legal battles over waterfront ownership, from the filling of the industrial flats to modern struggles over public access to the shoreline. Just as Steel used a niche law to stake a claim on public waters, contemporary developers and residents often clash over the privatization of the commons in a rapidly growing city.
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