WEBVTT - When Was a Battle Fought Over Eggs?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Volga bum here. Eggs aren't a dime

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<v Speaker 1>a dozen, but they aren't exactly in short supply either.

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<v Speaker 1>It's difficult to imagine fighting a war over an egg, right,

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<v Speaker 1>but this is exactly what happened in the Great fair

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<v Speaker 1>Alons Egg War of eighteen sixty three, a time when

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<v Speaker 1>people went to, if you'll pardon me, great eggstremes to

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<v Speaker 1>secure eggs. They weren't fighting over ordinary chicken eggs, though.

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<v Speaker 1>We're talking about the eggs of the common mirr, a

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<v Speaker 1>penguin like bird that nests on rocky cliffs and spends

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<v Speaker 1>its winters at sea. During its breeding season, which runs

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<v Speaker 1>from May to July, the birds lay spotted, pointy eggs

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<v Speaker 1>about twice as big as a chicken egg. The blotchy

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<v Speaker 1>patterns make it easier for the birds to identify their

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<v Speaker 1>eggs among the thousands that dot the rocks, while the

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<v Speaker 1>pointed design makes it more likely that the egg will

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<v Speaker 1>spin in a circle if it rolls out of the

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<v Speaker 1>nest rather than falling into the sea. And it just

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<v Speaker 1>so happens that about two hundred years ago, the common

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<v Speaker 1>mir's favorite egg laying perch in the lower forty eight

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<v Speaker 1>was just off the coast of San Francisco. The fair

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<v Speaker 1>A Lons Islands are a series of small outcroppings of

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<v Speaker 1>jagged granite upshoots about twenty seven miles or forty three

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<v Speaker 1>kilometers from San Francisco's coastline. The birds land by the

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<v Speaker 1>thousands on the islands, nesting, wing to wing, and dotting

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<v Speaker 1>the landscape with egg after egg. When the California gold

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<v Speaker 1>rush overburdened then tiny San Francisco with a largely unsupervised

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<v Speaker 1>maleu of hungry miners and profit hungry businesses, the area's

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<v Speaker 1>common mirrors numbered into the tens of thousands, perhaps into

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<v Speaker 1>the millions, and their eggs were ripe for the picking.

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<v Speaker 1>Six men decided to profit from the bird's efforts. In

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen fifty one, they sailed to the islands and claimed ownership,

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<v Speaker 1>complete with company shares. But it wasn't easy to gather

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<v Speaker 1>the eggs. They had to climb steep cliffs slick with

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<v Speaker 1>sea spray. The highest peak is Tower Hill, three hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and forty eight foot jagged rise of marble. While being

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<v Speaker 1>swarmed by mers and many other seabirds that call the

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<v Speaker 1>Island's home. Still, they persevered, and the Egg Company began

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<v Speaker 1>making a sizeable profit selling the freely collected common mur

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<v Speaker 1>eggs to San Francisco bakers. For the articles episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on, the author spoke with Jerry mc chesney, manager

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<v Speaker 1>of the Falaron National Wildlife Refuge and its Common murr program.

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<v Speaker 1>He said come mer eggs were an incredibly abundant resource

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<v Speaker 1>at a time when San Francisco was overwhelmed by people.

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<v Speaker 1>Flooding in San Francisco not only lacked the infrastructure it needed,

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<v Speaker 1>but there were no chicken farms to supply such a

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<v Speaker 1>great need. By the early eighteen sixties, the Egg Company

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<v Speaker 1>had some serious competition. Its hold on the islands was

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<v Speaker 1>tentative at best. Four years earlier, US President James Buchanan

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<v Speaker 1>solidified the federal government's own claimed the land for a lighthouse,

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<v Speaker 1>and then, on a summer day in eighteen sixty three,

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<v Speaker 1>seven armed challengers sailed towards the island. When their three

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<v Speaker 1>boats attempted to land, the egg company four men warned

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<v Speaker 1>them off, but the interlopers declared that they intended to

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<v Speaker 1>land in spite of hell. What came next, the Egg

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<v Speaker 1>company owners opened fire and When the challengers fired back,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the egg company men was killed. The egg

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<v Speaker 1>company men then fired on and wounded five of the

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<v Speaker 1>men in boats, who, after twenty minutes of warfare, sailed

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<v Speaker 1>back to home base. One of the injured men died

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<v Speaker 1>a few days later. The post gold Rush tension, although

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<v Speaker 1>not as dramatic, continued for years until commercial egging was

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<v Speaker 1>banned in eighteen six after the California Academy of Scientists

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<v Speaker 1>successfully lobbied for its end. In a late nineteen sixties,

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<v Speaker 1>the US Fish and Wildlife Service began managing the islands

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<v Speaker 1>and protecting common murr breeding areas. Even so, the consequences

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<v Speaker 1>of commercial egging were devastating to the bird population and

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<v Speaker 1>still echoed today. There are now about three hundred thousand

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<v Speaker 1>common murr that travel to the islands for nesting season,

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<v Speaker 1>still fewer than it had before the Gold Rush more

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<v Speaker 1>than a century and a half ago. Mc chesney said

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<v Speaker 1>of the birds, it's something I never get tired of watching.

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<v Speaker 1>The islands themselves are beautiful, rugged and other worldly, but

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<v Speaker 1>to be out there during the peak of the breeding season,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a spectacle to behold. Today's episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>the article ridiculous history and fifty years ago men killed

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<v Speaker 1>for the eggs of these birds on how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Written by Laurie L. D. Brainstuffs production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radio in partnership with how Stuff Works and is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clay. For more podcasts my heart Radio,

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