The Egg War of Farallon Islands

The California Gold Rush of the 1850s induced another rush for a commodity, which, although not precious, became such rare and expensive that people literally killed each other for it. That commodity was eggs. The rush for gold triggered one of the largest mass migration in American history that brought some 300,000 fortune-hunters from all over the world to the then thinly-populated ex-Mexican territory of California. Ships poured into San Francisco bay, and this small seaside settlement of about 200 residents mushroomed into a thriving town of 36,000. One of the Farallon Islands with its many bird residents. Photo credit: Dave/Flickr The rapid rise in population of San Francisco led to the shortage of food, and once all the chickens and eggs in the Bay area had been devoured, people started looking elsewhere for their daily protein fix. Just 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco, are a group of islands called Farallon, that are home to the largest seabird colony in the United States outside of Alaska and Hawaii. The Russian traders were the first to exploit this natural resource. They harvested elephant seals for their blubber, and fur seals, California sea lions and Steller’s sea lions for their pelts. Then there were eggs, lots of them. The common murres—a seabird not much larger than a chicken—laid white elongated eggs with black spots that are much larger than chicken eggs and somewhat tough shelled that facilitated their easy exportation with minimal damage. Eggs of the common murre bird. Photo credit: Frans Lanting/Mint Images/Alamy The story goes that an enterprising doctor named Robinson and his brother-in-law got themselves a boat and sailed to the Farallons, where they loaded their vessels with murre eggs. Although they lost most of their haul in the rough sea, the doctor still managed to make a profit of $3000, selling the eggs at the going price of $1 a piece, or about $30 today—a ludicrously expensive rate.