1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,320 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Volga bum here. Eggs aren't a dime 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: a dozen, but they aren't exactly in short supply either. 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 1: It's difficult to imagine fighting a war over an egg, right, 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: but this is exactly what happened in the Great fair 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: Alons Egg War of eighteen sixty three, a time when 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: people went to, if you'll pardon me, great eggstremes to 8 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: secure eggs. They weren't fighting over ordinary chicken eggs, though. 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: We're talking about the eggs of the common mirr, a 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: penguin like bird that nests on rocky cliffs and spends 11 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 1: its winters at sea. During its breeding season, which runs 12 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: from May to July, the birds lay spotted, pointy eggs 13 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: about twice as big as a chicken egg. The blotchy 14 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: patterns make it easier for the birds to identify their 15 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: eggs among the thousands that dot the rocks, while the 16 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: pointed design makes it more likely that the egg will 17 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: spin in a circle if it rolls out of the 18 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: nest rather than falling into the sea. And it just 19 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: so happens that about two hundred years ago, the common 20 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: mir's favorite egg laying perch in the lower forty eight 21 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: was just off the coast of San Francisco. The fair 22 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: A Lons Islands are a series of small outcroppings of 23 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: jagged granite upshoots about twenty seven miles or forty three 24 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: kilometers from San Francisco's coastline. The birds land by the 25 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: thousands on the islands, nesting, wing to wing, and dotting 26 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: the landscape with egg after egg. When the California gold 27 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: rush overburdened then tiny San Francisco with a largely unsupervised 28 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: maleu of hungry miners and profit hungry businesses, the area's 29 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: common mirrors numbered into the tens of thousands, perhaps into 30 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: the millions, and their eggs were ripe for the picking. 31 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: Six men decided to profit from the bird's efforts. In 32 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one, they sailed to the islands and claimed ownership, 33 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: complete with company shares. But it wasn't easy to gather 34 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: the eggs. They had to climb steep cliffs slick with 35 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: sea spray. The highest peak is Tower Hill, three hundred 36 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,559 Speaker 1: and forty eight foot jagged rise of marble. While being 37 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: swarmed by mers and many other seabirds that call the 38 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: Island's home. Still, they persevered, and the Egg Company began 39 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: making a sizeable profit selling the freely collected common mur 40 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: eggs to San Francisco bakers. For the articles episode is 41 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: based on, the author spoke with Jerry mc chesney, manager 42 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: of the Falaron National Wildlife Refuge and its Common murr program. 43 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: He said come mer eggs were an incredibly abundant resource 44 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: at a time when San Francisco was overwhelmed by people. 45 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: Flooding in San Francisco not only lacked the infrastructure it needed, 46 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 1: but there were no chicken farms to supply such a 47 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: great need. By the early eighteen sixties, the Egg Company 48 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: had some serious competition. Its hold on the islands was 49 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: tentative at best. Four years earlier, US President James Buchanan 50 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: solidified the federal government's own claimed the land for a lighthouse, 51 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: and then, on a summer day in eighteen sixty three, 52 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: seven armed challengers sailed towards the island. When their three 53 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: boats attempted to land, the egg company four men warned 54 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: them off, but the interlopers declared that they intended to 55 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 1: land in spite of hell. What came next, the Egg 56 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: company owners opened fire and When the challengers fired back, 57 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: one of the egg company men was killed. The egg 58 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: company men then fired on and wounded five of the 59 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: men in boats, who, after twenty minutes of warfare, sailed 60 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: back to home base. One of the injured men died 61 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: a few days later. The post gold Rush tension, although 62 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: not as dramatic, continued for years until commercial egging was 63 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: banned in eighteen six after the California Academy of Scientists 64 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: successfully lobbied for its end. In a late nineteen sixties, 65 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: the US Fish and Wildlife Service began managing the islands 66 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: and protecting common murr breeding areas. Even so, the consequences 67 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: of commercial egging were devastating to the bird population and 68 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: still echoed today. There are now about three hundred thousand 69 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: common murr that travel to the islands for nesting season, 70 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: still fewer than it had before the Gold Rush more 71 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: than a century and a half ago. Mc chesney said 72 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: of the birds, it's something I never get tired of watching. 73 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: The islands themselves are beautiful, rugged and other worldly, but 74 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 1: to be out there during the peak of the breeding season, 75 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: it's a spectacle to behold. Today's episode is based on 76 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: the article ridiculous history and fifty years ago men killed 77 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: for the eggs of these birds on how stuff works 78 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: dot com. Written by Laurie L. D. Brainstuffs production of 79 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,040 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio in partnership with how Stuff Works and is 80 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clay. For more podcasts my heart Radio, 81 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, couple podcasts, or wherever you 82 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.