Oyster car photographic image search
I am performing archival and pictorial research for a public television documentary film production on the history of the San Francisco Bay.
We are attempting to locate original photographic prints or negatives of the stock cars used to transport seed oysters from the East Coast to the San Francisco Bay area on the transcontinental railroad beginning in 1870, and live fish from 1874 onward.
The oyster cars that ran prior to 1874 were apparently a private, commercial operation. The live fish cars were used by the U.S. Fish and Fisheries Commission for distributing fish stock to America's waterways.
If your archive contains negative or print images that meet these general descriptions, we would be interested in determining their suitability for inclusion in our documentary film project.
—Noah Belikoff
Courtesy of Noah Belikoff, U.C. Berkeley.
Daily Alta California, October 22, 1869
EASTERN OYSTERS
Arrival of the First invoice per Pacific Railroad.
Almost daily for years some of the unfortunates who live at restaurants has been heard to say, "How I should like to be East once more to have a good feed of oysters." And then there generally ensues a conversation between the speaker and the waiter in regard to the merits of oysters found in different localities, concluding with a sigh from each. Since the completion of the railway, gourmands have anxiously awaited the coming of the month containing the letter "R," in the hope of receiving bivalves fresh from the Eastern shore. Yesterday a large invoice of fresh oysters, in the shell – the pioneer invoice – packed in barrels filled in with ice, was received and distributed among the principal dealers. These oysters, which came through in seven days from Baltimore, arrived in excellent condition, and were heartily enjoyed by those fortunate enough to have an opportunity of testing them. They are to be found at several places in the city, among which we may mention those of John Howe, 504 and 506 Sansome street; Joe GuistIe, in the California Market, and Porter & Lewis' saloon, in the Merchants' Exchange. At the latter place the reporter noted with interest the healthy appetite of one young man – not a big fellow either – who devoured six plates of the bivalves in succession, and when the reporter left was waiting with anxiety for the seventh dish. The fate of this young man is unknown – the reporter lived to tell the tale.
Oyster Car, 1897.
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 2:53 PM
26 Comments:
The CPRR Museum is not aware of having any 1870's oyster car photographs.
From: "Larry Mullaly" lmullaly@jeffnet.org
I just stumbled across an oyster car item in Gerald Best transcriptions from the Sacramento Daily Union of 11/3/1869:
"First car of oysters on an Empire Line refrigerator car came through on a passenger train bound for San Francisco."
This may be a paraphrase. I am unfamiliar with the Empire Line.
—Larry Mullaly
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
The Empire Line was a Fast Freight line associated with the Pennsylvania RR. Similar to the California Fast Freight Line that CP, SP, UP, C&NW, and Rock Island operated in the 1880s. (Obviously the Empire Line was established much earlier – in the 1860s I think.)
—Kyle
... I'm wondering what significance the Fast Freight designation has. Is this just an early name for "express" service?
–Noah
From: "Larry Mullaly" lmullaly@jeffnet.org
Subject: The Empire Line and oyster cars
Yes, these were express services, often desirable because of the specialized cars they could provide. I found the following very interesting piece of the origins of the Empire Line. It raises the image of oysters being shipped in barrels, although fails to show a photograph of a "rack car." Perhaps other members of the CP Discussion Group have East Coast contacts that could help us with this.
—Larry Mullaly
------------------
The Empire Line
Joseph D. Potts, a civil engineer and minor official of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was one of the first to understand the glorious profits made possible by the ugly tank car. With the backing of Thomas Scott, vice-president of the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad, he helped organize the Empire Transportation Company in March 1865. This private car line was tied to the Pennsylvania’s recently acquired Philadelphia & Eire, and through that association it was able to reach hundreds of miles east and west of Corry, a principal terminal to the Empire Line ... Potts was ambitious and energetic. He purchased thirty-four hundred boxcars for grain and a fleet of four hundred rack cars for barrels. Grain elevators were assembled as was a line of lake steamers. Pipelines and a great oil terminal at Communipaw, New Jersey, were constructed. By 1875 Empire was operating just over thirteen hundred bright green cars. [The line was sold out to Rockefeller in 1877 and diverted into his Union Tank Car line.]
John H. White, Jr., The American Railroad Freight Car (John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1993), pp. 378-379.
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
In the early years oil was shipped in barrels, not in tank cars – so that would be the rack cars referred to. Tank cars started coming in in the late 1860s, but rack cars for barrels continued in use a lot later.
But I think this is not all the story – I'm pretty sure there was an Empire Fast Freight Line much later than 1877. Perhaps the company was split, with Empire Transportation going to Union Tank Line (an acquisition which I have also found other reference to in the past – and photos of Empire Line tank cars), but with the Empire Fast Freight Line continuing separately as an affiliate of the Pennsy.
Besides, the Sacramento Union article specifically mentions the oysters arrived in an Empire Line reefer.
—Kyle
Excellent source information on the scope of the east coast oyster imports ( sorry no rail car pictures ) is found in U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Part XVI, Report of the Commissioner for 1888 Pages 153 -155. Author is J.W. Collins- Govt. Printing Office 1892.
To quote Collins-" soon after direct rail communication with the east, about 1869, the firm of A. Booth & Co. brought to San Francisco three carloads of live Eastern oysters of large size "( My paragphrase here- market wouldn't buy them all- so to avoid loss- planted in S.F. Bay- oysters thrived- opportunity seen ) " The following year seed oysters were imported from the east and oyster beds were started on a commercial basis. About 1871 Booth & Co. sold out their interest to Morgan Oyster Co which largely increased the business". ( My paraphrase here- seed oysters shipped in spring & fall- transportd by the carload on freight trains- usually 3 weeks on the road- in favorable weather very small loss of oysters- 85 to 95 barrels shipped per rail car, no ice in barrel itself. One barrel holds 4,000 to 8,000 seed oysters. Cost per barrel in New York is $3.50. Freight fluctuated- $400 to $500 per rail car. In Largest year 120 carloads shipped, average from 1878 to 1888 was 100 carloads.
Also I have been searching for any actual freight records for Morgan Oyster Co. if anyone knows those sources. Thanks
Ron Minks
ronaldminks@hotmail.com
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
Many thanks, Ron. I'll be interested to learn more about the oyster business. Booth and Company was a commercial merchant firm based in San Francisco and Sacramento dating back into the 1850s. They were also active in fruit export from California to the East.
—Kyle Wyatt
From: "Ronald Minks" ronaldminks@hotmail.com
The definitive work on the California oyster business – in my opinion – was done in 1963 as a Cal. Berkeley thesis by Elinore Barrett. Thanks to the web and digitization by the University on a site called Calisphere – her entire oyster thesis is now viewable on line.
Her work is footnoted throughout referencing her source documents. I have found by reading a good many of the source documents that she was indeed an impeccable scholar.
... It seems the State Fish and Game people liked her work so much they printed it as one of their bulletins:
THE RESOURCES AGENCY OF CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME
FISH BULLETIN 123
The California Oyster Industry
By ELINORE M. BARRETT
1963
There's quite a story in all this oyster business – hope you enjoy reading and learning about it
—Ron Minks
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
Subject: California Oyster Business history
... Looks like lots of good info, including on early shipments to California by train. ...
From: "Noah Belikoff" nbelikoff@berkeley.edu
To get an idea of what sprang from those "excess" oysters that weren't initially sold and instead planted in the bay, see the [above images].
The descendants of those oysters are still in the bay....
—Noah
From: "Noah Belikoff" nbelikoff@berkeley.edu
Thanks! This reference source made for a very informative read – a well-rounded history of the San Francisco Bay oyster industry.
Attached find scans of a newspaper article and advertisement – from the October 22, 1869, issue of Daily Alta California (five months post-golden spike) – announcing the arrival of the first shipment of oysters to San Francisco from the east via the transcontinental railroad.
Thanks again for all the great information you all have provided on this subject.
—Noah Belikoff
Noah Belikoff commented regarding the above transcription of the newspaper article:
... The only thing I can't be sure about is the name 'Guistie'. I'm pretty sure the penultimate letter is an 'i', though it may be an 'l', ... and the final letter could be an 'e' or a 'c'. The name 'Howes' appears in the advertisement that I sent accompanying this article, so, presuming it was correctly spelled in the ad, then in all likelihood the author of this article misspelled his name here (leaving out the final letter 's').
The reference to the months ending in 'r' is to those months in which it was safest to ship the oysters – when they were not spawning, and when it was cold enough for the stock to survive the journey. ...
—Noah
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
On the earlier discussion of the Empire Line, I checked the August 1888 edition of the Railway Equipment Register. The Empire Line is listed with a lot of cars – mostly box cars, but also about 50 refrigerator cars (32 feet long), and a bunch of rack cars. There are a number of participating railroads, notably including the Pennsylvania, Delawre & Hudson, Lackawanna, Erie, Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia & Reading, Rock Island, Minneapolis & St Louis, and others. This entry is, of course, nearly 20 years after that first batch of oysters arrived in California in an Empre Line refrigerator car.
Among the early refrigerator car designs patented were those by LeGrand Kniffen of Worchester, Mass, in 1867 (pat #69223), J. B. Sutherland of Detroit in 1867 (pat #71423), William Davis of Detroit in 1868 (pat #78932, reissue #3119), Theodore Hyatt of New York in 1870 (pat #101879), Alfred Booth of Chicago in 1870 (pat #107217) – Central Pacific built some, William Philips of Elmwood, Ill, in 1870 (pat #107716), and the jackpot – Joseph Potts of Philadelphia and Benjamin Lamason of Milton, Pa, in 1870 (pat #104765) with patent assigned to the Empire Transportation Co. I bet that is what the oysters came out in. Milton was the site of an important car building firm, the Milton Car Works of Murray, Dougal and Company, known especially for tank cars, later part of American Car & Foundry, and still building tank cars today. Lamason was associated with the company in the 1860s and 70s.
—Kyle Wyatt
From: kylewyatt@aol.com wrote:
... note [above] the patent number for the likely type of refrigerator car that brought out the first oysters in 1870. ...
From: "Noah Belikoff" nbelikoff@berkeley.edu
Subject: Oyster car patents
... It's really impressive how you guys dig up all this stuff.
The drawings associated with the patents are interesting, though they wouldn't likely be useful for illustrating the film. I did find an 1897 photo of a Pullman-built oyster car that plied the Port Arthur, TX - Kansas City trade [above]. The interesting thing about it to me is the reference on the side to "The Stilwell Oyster Car." Stilwell (sometimes spelled Stillwell), was also the middle name of the owner of the Morgan Oyster Company, John Stilwell Morgan. Now I'm wondering if there might be some familial connection between him and Arthur E. Stilwell, the designer of the Pullman oyster car.
—Noah
From: Ronald Minks
I would be most interested in seeing any such shipping documents that may have survived in an archive/library. The two primary company names are J.& J. Ellsworth of New York (the shipper), and the Morgan Oyster Company of San Francisco as the receiving party.
From: "Noah Belikoff" nbelikoff@berkeley.edu
We have a typescript of an oral history dictation completed in 1888 by John Stillwell Morgan, owner of Morgan Oyster. I'll try to have a look at it next week, however it does not seem to be something that would contain anything like shipping documents. There were numerous fires that consumed significant portions of San Francisco in the 19th century. If such papers somehow survived those firestorms, there's a good chance they eventually perished in the 1906 conflagration. But I will certainly keep an eye out for them in the course of my work on this film project.
BOOK: The Oyster Industry by E Ingersoll, 1881.
Thanks for this. You railroad guys are really into this stuff! It's fantastic that you all are keeping the history alive. I'm duly impressed.
—Noah
Re: Live Fish Cars
The use of fish cars was rather more widespread than one might expect. The federal government had some, possibly under the Dept of Agriculture, and they put out a booklet called The Fish Car Era, ... A variety of states had similar cars as did the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, and their last car is in Montecello, IL. ... The booklet on these cars was published by the Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in 1979. Its story starts in 1872 with the set-up of the U.S. Fish Commission under the Dept of Commerce. Fish were first shipped by train in milk cans with an attendant going with them in 1874. The first purpose built car was ordered in 1881. Car #2 came in 1882, #3 in 1884, and #4 in 1893. The first steel car was #7, in 1916. The last was #10 in 1929. By 1940 only three were operating, and one was wrecked in 1944. The last was taken out of service in 1947. And this only talks about Federal cars, with state and aquarium cars also operating during this period and beyond.
—Ron Goldfeder, St. Louis
[from the R&LHS Newsgroup.]
Re: Fish Cars
From Michigan History magazine:
Title: THE FISH WHO RODE THE RAILS.
Citation: Michigan History Magazine 2003 87(2): 19-26. ISSN: 0026-2196
Abstract: Presents the story of the two railcars, the Whitefish and the Wolverine, used during 1888-1935 by the Michigan state hatchery program to transport, at its peak, over sixty million fish, averaging over 25,000 miles a year. Though the railroad allowed free use of the rails, motor trucks eventually became more practical for the transportation of fish to stock public rivers, lakes, and streams. ...
Michigan's Oden State Fish Hatchery, near Petoskey, Michigan, has a full-size replica of one of these cars on display to the public, in case you ever happen to drive through the northern extremity of lower Michigan.
—Bradley A. Scott
[from the R&LHS Newsgroup.]
Re: Fish Cars
Be sure to check Mid-Continent Railroad Museum at North Freedom, WI. They have a restored fish car dating from the Wisconsin Game and Fish Department days.
—Dave Coleman
[from the R&LHS Newsgroup.]
Re: Fish Cars
Add Pennsylvania to the list of states owning such a car. ...
—Schuyler Larrabee
[from the R&LHS Newsgroup.]
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
For more info on fish cars, check out:
The Fish Car Era of the National Fish Hatchery System
From Wikipedia
Other interesting articles ...
and striped bass stocked in pacific ocean
and Dr Livingston Stone
D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery has a replica fish car
For the Michiganders and Michigeese among us, the Oden State Fish Hatchery, near Petoskey, has a replica of one of the state wildlife department's fish cars.
The Wisconsin Fish Car is at Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin.
See also hatch
Also Breaking News
And fishcar
And fishcar – with a number of other links
A History of California's Fish Hatcheries 1870–1960
The chapters on the Mt Shasta hatchery, including fish cars
Pennsylvania fish car
And even a little narrow gauge hatchery railroad in Germany
An 1891 New York Times article about a fish car
Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, 1885
—Kyle Wyatt
[from the R&LHS Newsgroup.]
Also see, The Fish Car Era.
Also see Railroad History magazine, #192, which has an article about fish cars by William Middleton.
[from the R&LHS Newsgroup.]
Also see the image:
United States Fish Commission Railroad Car
From the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
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