Little Oyster and Big Oyster - Ellis and Liberty Islands and the Story of Wells Fargo

Many people outside of New York City look at Ellis Island and Liberty Island thinking that they were always there. But that wasnt always true. In the 1600's when Hudson first arrived they were just mud flats created by the accumulated silt from the Southward flow of the Hudson River to the Harbor at the tip of Manhattan Island.

They were the oyster beds where the Lenape Indians got their oysters. At that time the oysters were 10 inches long. They were also the source of the wampum used as money by the Lenape and other tribes in the surrounding area.

As late as 1800 these 2 areas were called Liitle Oyster, which became Ellis Island; and Big Oyster, which became Bedloe's and then Liberty Island. But until then they were really just mud shoals and a hazard to navigation.But they were a great source of food; namely the Oyster. At that time the area was considered the largest oyster bed in the world.

A great book on the subject is "The Big Oyster" by Mark Kurlansky. A wonderful h in story of both the delicacy and New York's harbor of the time. Yet another good book on the subject is "The Oyster Pirates."

The photo above is from 1937 and shows a pile of the shells left from lunch. Although the size of the oyster had shrunk, the pollution and over harvesting had not yet decimated the oyster beds. But it had diminished them in both quantity and size.

And lets not forget the role these oysters played in uniting the East and West in developing America.

In 1841 a man named William Harnden, considered by many to be America's the nation's first "expressman", hired Henry Wells to figure out how to deliver things quickly between New York City and Albany. The Post Office was too slow, and personal couriers too expensive. That left only a few stagecoach companies to fill the gap. But Henry Wells had him beat by offering a unique idea; delivering for multiple customers at a time laid out logistically.

Wells, along with Will Fargo, who partnered up in the 1840's, had to prove their worth to get an investor to enlarge their business westward from Buffalo. And this is where the Oyster enters the picture.

One of their best known achievements was in bringing fresh oysters up to Buffalo, the jumping off point westward on the Erie Canal, from NewYork City's oyster beds to show case their ability to deliver.

Until then overland travel was considered too slow to deliver fresh seafood far inland. The Erie Canal was the best means of East West transportation, but the Southern route to New York was still mostly rutted, muddy roads.

If they could pull this off they would be able to secure the necessary funding to go Westward to St. Louis, and from there to the later Comstock Lode of Silver and the the gold of San Francisco. In the 1840's the train was still in the stage of proving it's worth. So the timing was just right.

Here is Mr. Well's account of that event, 75 years afterwards;

"It may amuse you to hear that the oyster was a powerful agent in expediting our progress.

That very delicious shell fish was fully appreciated by the Buffalonians — and deeply they felt the sad fact that there was one occasion toward spring, no oysters in Buffalo. James Leidley, the tavern keeper, asked me why the express could not bring them.

“Bring oysters by coach over such roads!” was my astonished exclamation.

His answer was the keystone to all success in enterprise.

“If I pay for them — charge just what you will.” They were brought — opened in Albany and brought to Buffalo at the cost of $3 the hundred — and the arrival of those oysters by express at Buffalo created a sensation as great as would today the coming hither of a section of the Atlantic Telegraph."

Later, in the 1870's, after trains were well proven, Wells Fargo still had routes not yet  covered by the trains. And in 1849 the stagecoach transported much of the gold from Sutter's Hill to San Fransico.

For the names of more books on this subject you can just hit the link below to the NY Public library.  Since there are no real photos of the old mud flats which became Ellis and Liberty Islands, that is where I got the photo of the oyster shells.

So remember, the next time you shuck an oyster, or eat one fried, it's not just an oyster you're holding. It's a piece of history.

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/06/01/history-half-shell-intertwined-story-new-york-city-and-its-oysters