San Leandro Oyster Beds

The bronze came off this mosaic between 2006 and 2010; its bolt holes and the contributors' board below it remain. What it described was a crop that could not breed here. After the railroad reached the Pacific, growers planted Atlantic seed oysters, which fattened in the bay but would not spawn in it, so new seed came west by rail year after year. Fences and armed watchmen guarded the beds against night raiders, the fifteen-year-old Jack London among them in his sloop, the Razzle Dazzle. Silt and pollution ended the industry in the early twentieth century.

What the plaque says

San Leandro Oyster Beds Oysters were the mainstay of the California fishing industry at the turn of the century. Along this site (the original Mulford Canal) the San Leandro oyster beds flourished. In 1892 William Roberts filed title to the beds south along San Lorenzo Canal and in 1895 Thomas Mulford filed title here at Mulford Canal. The beds were often plagued by "oyster pirates" such as Jack London. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 824 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with local civic and historical organizations, March 28, 1971.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Beach Overlook — 24 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
• Muir Woods National Monument — 25 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.

More markers nearby

• Estudillo Home — 2.7 mi
• Rancho San Antonio — 2.9 mi
• Peralta House — 3.0 mi
• Mills Hall — 5.8 mi