1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: Good shit. Damn it, I botched another introduction. I'm Robert Evans. 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 1: This is Behind the Bastards, the podcast that is never 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: introduced professionally, despite it being literally my my one job 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: to do um in order to distract that Sophie. Okay, 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:24,159 Speaker 1: everyone already knows I sucked up. You don't have to. 6 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: You have to jump on, jump on the kick me 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:33,200 Speaker 1: pile here to distract from my failures. Uh Dollie, Wayne Davis, Hey, guys, 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: it's good to be back. I didn't think you've messed 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: it up. I thought the enthusiasm was there. That's all 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: it really counts. Thank you, Billy, thank you for thank 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: you for successfully helping to hype me back up. Now 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: my ego has exploded again. I'll lock it up. They're 13 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: real big, it's fun. I just want to I just 14 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: want to publicly say that Robert told me if if 15 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: he ever asks me for green juice, I'm supposed to 16 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: kill him. Yes, that was our rule because of a 17 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: celebrity that she'll not be named ego. Oh, you get 18 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,680 Speaker 1: under the green juice level. I think that's asking you 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 1: can get your own green juice. I'm not going to 20 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: be drinking green juice. If I care about living that 21 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: long ever, then I've lived too long already. Yeah. Oh yeah, 22 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: you don't have kids. See, we have to think different. 23 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: You got it. You got mad at you. That's good, Billy. 24 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: It's been a little while. How have you been. I'm good. Yeah. 25 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: We've all been fighting the powers their own ways. M M. 26 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,119 Speaker 1: I saw some of your fighting the power. You can 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: talk about the movie you were in now, I assume 28 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: if it's a secret, it's a bad one. Still, I 29 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: think yeah, I think, yeah. It is fun when people 30 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: ask me like was that you and I don't know. 31 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: I do not know. Well, Billy, I wasn't bored at 32 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: too you guys were you were And it's a great movie. 33 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: You were great in it. Uh. And you got to 34 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: hang out with some of my favorite Chudu Pacific Northwest. Yeah, 35 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: some of the people with guns who like to stand 36 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: on street corners and yell at teenagers. That was lovely. 37 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: I mean, it wasn't like I've told my wife and 38 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: other people. It was like, they're like, were you scared? 39 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: I was like, it was people I grew up or with. 40 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,799 Speaker 1: I know how to talk to them. Yeah, they're not 41 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: they're not super complicated, but you know it is complicated, Billy. 42 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: That was a great transition, Thank you. No, I was 43 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: gonna guess so much stuff in my brain just eggs, eggs. 44 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: You're complicated A lot going on with an egg oh man. Yeah. 45 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: I forgot what podcast I was on and where we 46 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: were going, and I was like, oh, eggs, and then 47 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: I was like, no, this is not gonna go. And 48 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: I like eggs, and now I don't like them. You 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: like eggs, so you like eggs. You're on board? Is like, 50 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: eg eggs, that's correct. Yeah, they're far as a diet, 51 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: they're pretty great. How do you feel about war h 52 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: m hm less I feel I mean, at this at 53 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: this point in history, I think it's a silly consent. 54 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: How do you feel about the city of San Francisco. 55 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: I'm okay, all these things together, I'm on board with Okay. Yeah, 56 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: that's what we're talking about, the egg war that that 57 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: rocked San Francisco for like thirty years back in the 58 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: eight hundreds. Hail. Yeah, yeah, we're talking about silly war 59 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: that I would be involved in. It is some silly bullshit, Billy. 60 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: It is some very very funny, silly bullshit, and it 61 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: starts as most stories of silly bullshit do in the 62 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: city of San Francisco, or at least like the collection 63 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: of tents and whorehouses that became San Francisco eventually, But 64 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: it was really just a campsite with a lot of 65 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: prostitutes back there. Yeah. Yeah, it's always been pretty great. 66 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: It's always it's always been great. Yeah. And the poop 67 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: on the streets thing not new, no, no, no, no. 68 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: The abundance I think is the new part. Yeah. Although 69 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: when I was there, I was like, it's not that 70 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: their ship on the street that is not new. There's 71 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: a lot of it, you guys. And they're like, that 72 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: is the problem. That is the problem. And I also 73 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: think the average fiber content per person shipping on the 74 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 1: street may have increased. That's the theory I have. I think, Well, 75 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: I think, if we're being honest, what happens is when 76 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: you're on heroin, you get constipated and then you release 77 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: all of it at once, is what we're dealing with. Yeah, 78 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: um so Billy. In eighteen forty eight, the city of 79 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,119 Speaker 1: San Francisco's population was a mere eight hundred people, and again, 80 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: it was basically just a big, muddy camp site. Um, 81 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: there were more redwoods than people at this stage. And 82 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: there used to be a shipload of redwoods all over 83 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: San Francisco before we murdered all those priceless works of 84 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: natural art so that we could have, you know, like 85 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: the wee work buildings. Can you imagine if there were 86 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: redwoods just all over the city now instead of the 87 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 1: things that are there. Some of the things that are there, 88 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: we're just like, no, like some of them. Yeah, we 89 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: can keep like the five hundred Club, like the good 90 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: bars and ship Yes, that's yeah, all of North Beaches, yes, yeah, 91 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: just a bunch of bars and redwoods and nothing else. Yeah, yeah, 92 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: a couple of grocery stores. So yeah. On January, a 93 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: carpenter building a mill near Coloma, California, found flakes of 94 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,919 Speaker 1: gold in the water. The news got out, and in 95 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: very short order, tens of thousands of Americans flitted into 96 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: California's first gold rush. And California has kind of always 97 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: been just a series of gold rushes ever since. That's 98 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: why there's forty million people here, because people are dumb 99 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: and they like they like easy money. Um. Also, the 100 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: weather Vegas an't getting smaller, No, no, it's not, thank God. 101 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: Actually the selection, Thank god for last f one time. 102 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: I will say that that is that that you're looking 103 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 1: at the mat. Huh, I'll be damned. Well they did 104 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: it all right. I guess we'll keep gambling illegal everywhere else. 105 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: You guys earned another four years. Well my thought was 106 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: like with that was like real quick or oh he's 107 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: piste off everyone. Yeah, he's he's got Vegas angry. Yes, 108 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: and they're so easy to distract. Yes, Uh yeah, it 109 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: is funny that he picked a fight with Philadelphia too. Yeah, 110 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: that's just you. Yeah, you can't. They'll they'll come to 111 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: they'll cross anile to get in a fight. Uh, speaking 112 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 1: of fights, you know because the Oakland Raiders this is 113 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: close enough anyway. Uh yeah. So all these people start 114 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 1: flooding into California because they want to shipload of gold, 115 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: and the city of San Francisco, or the collection of 116 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: tents that became San Francisco, grew rapidly from a population 117 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: of about eight hundred and eighteen forty eight to twenty 118 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: thousand people by eighteen fifty. Um. Yeah, that's a lot. 119 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: I just think of. Have you and we've been to 120 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: those cities like where the population explodes in the infrastructure 121 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: can't really handle it. Just traffic everywhere. Yes, that's just traffic. 122 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: This is like before sewers. Yeah, like you see right 123 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: now in a couple of cities in the world or 124 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: even in the United States. Um, you know, they grew 125 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: too fast. There was a sudden influx of people in 126 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: the infrastructure can't keep up. And it's a problem, going 127 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: from eight hundred to twenty thousand people in two years 128 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: as a calamity. It's like a hurricane hit Like it's 129 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: a natural disaster, you know. Um, And it doesn't it 130 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: doesn't go well. It creates a series of problems, most 131 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: of which will actually sound eerily familiar to anyone who 132 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: lives in San Francisco today or who's just like driven 133 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: through it. Uh. And I want to quote here from 134 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: a paragraph in the Anals of San Francisco about the 135 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: city culture during the gold Rush era. Despite the and 136 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: again this is like written in fucking the eighteen fifties, 137 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: despite the amazingly high cost of living and the extraordinary 138 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: opportunities for frittering away money, everyone in daily San Francisco 139 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: was supremely confident that he would be able to return 140 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: home with an incalculable amount of gold. Everything was conceived 141 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: on a vast scale, and there was always plenty of 142 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 1: cash available for any scheme that might be proposed, no 143 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: matter how impossible or bizarre it seemed. Oh, how the 144 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: times have changed. Yeah, it's a completely different city today. Wow, 145 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: you wouldn't write that exact same paragraph about San Francisco 146 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:36,959 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty years later. It's just that that that 147 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: voice has changed now. It's like now it's like in 148 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: a land of ones and zeros. Yeah, no, bro, you'd 149 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: plenty of cash for any plan you could propose. Yeah. No, 150 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: they're like big cars, but they carry a lot of people, 151 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: you know those busses. No, no, no, because we don't 152 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: pay the driver a salary. Instead he could super mile 153 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 1: fee based on an app and we don't have to 154 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: give him healthcare. Brilliant, Yeah, brilliant. Why do you see 155 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do to Rhodes. That's we're laughing, But 156 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: that's a conversation. Yeah, that is a conversation. I'm excited 157 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: for Rotor without an E, the app to come out 158 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,959 Speaker 1: and privatize the filling of potholes so that there are 159 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: somehow more of them. Um do that it doesn't work. 160 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: So most depictions of San Francisco in the eighteen fifties 161 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: portrayed as again essentially just a pile of brothels, casinos, 162 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,679 Speaker 1: and crude tent neighborhoods filled with filthy male miners. One 163 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: of the first problems that this explosion population had is 164 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: that there were almost no women in the entire city. That's, oh, 165 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: that's not good for the prostitution. Well, it's good for 166 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: the prostitutes that are there. Well that, yeah, it's good 167 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:56,719 Speaker 1: for Brenda. Brenda is having a good time. It's a 168 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: seller's market for Brenda. Hey, that's so. One miner during 169 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: this period is purported to have acquired a single woman 170 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: slipper and made a good living, charging his fellows a 171 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:15,359 Speaker 1: dollar to touch it. I know that that you understand 172 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: how that works to do you know what? I just 173 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: thought of times in my life from it, I could 174 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: say I could see making a living doing that, and 175 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 1: so yeah. A less ethical business person in the same 176 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: field was a Liza Farnham, who operated a boat called 177 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: the Bride Ship that ferried women from the East coast 178 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: to the west, presumably so they could marry. Would schever 179 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: miners had the best luck and uncovering gold. Yeah, time period, 180 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: if we're being honest, that is not the worst way 181 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: people were getting married. No, because there's a decent chance 182 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:51,719 Speaker 1: you'll die on the boat. That's way better than being 183 00:10:51,720 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 1: married back the yea. So, food was, however, by a 184 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: wide margin, the most expensive thing in the city because again, basically, 185 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: no one lived in California at this point. I say 186 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 1: basically no, like white people lived in California, and the 187 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: Indigenous people were not exactly psyched to help out a 188 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: bunch of gold miners, um. And also you know genocide 189 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: and such. Um. So, yeah, there was not a great 190 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: deal of farming infrastructure. There was not a great deal 191 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: of food for this sudden this what had essentially been 192 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,680 Speaker 1: a small town that had turned into what at that 193 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: point was like a mid size city almost overnight. Um, 194 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 1: they're just like, wasn't fucking food And for an example 195 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: of how like incredibly expensive ship was in San Francisco 196 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: at this point, it was actually worse than it is 197 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: today by comparison. So restaurants in imag because it's incredibly 198 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: expensive to eat. That's my opening joke. The taco My 199 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: opening joke is literally to the crowd like, oh do 200 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:57,839 Speaker 1: you all are you all roommates? Is that how you 201 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: the whole crowd roommate? And they everyone laughs every time 202 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 1: because it's funny. Yeah, because they're actually two different households exactly. Yeah. 203 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: So at this period of time in the early eighteen fifties, 204 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 1: restaurants in town charged a dollar for a slice of 205 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: bread two dollars if it was buttered, which is the 206 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: equivalent of fifty six dollars in modern money. Wow, it's 207 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: neck and neck, it is. That's because San France, where 208 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 1: that the toast craze came from. Oh, you can get 209 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:33,439 Speaker 1: some good toast in San Francisco. Look, they've gotten good 210 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: at making toast over the years. I guess it's always 211 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:41,359 Speaker 1: been a staple. Uh. In eighteen fifty a nice breakfast 212 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: for two, which consisted of cheese, butter, sardines, bread, and 213 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: two beers would cost the equivalent of modern dollars. So 214 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 1: it's the same, it's the same. Yeah. As it's probably 215 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: clear by now, the real money to be made in 216 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: San Francisco ring the gold Rush was not in mining gold, 217 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: but was in selling miners the things that they needed 218 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,839 Speaker 1: it radically inflated prices, which is kind of the same. 219 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: There's a fun story from Redding, California, which is the 220 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: center of the marijuana industry that nobody ever talks about 221 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,200 Speaker 1: because nobody wants to think about reading all that much. 222 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: Just on the highway, so it's easy. It's where they 223 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: a lot of the sales. Yeah, and it's it's a 224 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: good growing area all around it because it's dry but 225 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: also hot, like people talk about Humboldt, but it's a 226 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,440 Speaker 1: bit wet there. Um. One of the big things that 227 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: is like a major product in the pot industry of 228 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: turkey bags, which is what you put the pot into 229 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:37,959 Speaker 1: when you process it. And they're the bags that you 230 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: would brian a turkey in. And the company that made 231 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: these bags noticed that year round they were selling a 232 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: shipload of turkey bags in Redding, California. So they said, 233 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: like a representative out to figure out, like people just 234 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: eating turkey all year round in this town. And then 235 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: he found out and he had to like quietly go 236 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 1: back home, like we can't really advertise on this. I 237 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: just this is just interviewed a lady in southern Humboldt. 238 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: And during the camp days, a bunch of revenuers is like, 239 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: as I as I was pointed out they said the 240 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:14,559 Speaker 1: rs I was like, well, moonshine, they call the revenuers 241 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: and there again and they went this guy was selling 242 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: uh black pipe and he sold way anyone ever had 243 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: ever ever sold ever. And they're like, let me see 244 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: your books that. The old man was like, nah, no, 245 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,320 Speaker 1: you don't need to know why I'm selling this much 246 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: of this stuff because if because you guys will make 247 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: them stop doing this. And I like money, man, I 248 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: ain't doing anything illegal. I just like that. The old 249 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: man was like, no, no, I ain't turning that money 250 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,520 Speaker 1: fountain officer, nothing I need to be doing that. So 251 00:14:57,600 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: the same thing is happening in San Francisco. During this period. 252 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: People are figuring out the people who are really making 253 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: money aren't mining gold. They're mining miners, you know, um 254 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,800 Speaker 1: and yeah. The most intelligent of them realize that, you know, 255 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: the easiest thing to sell miners and the most profitable 256 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 1: thing would be food, um, and sex. But there was 257 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: more competition in the sex business. Now. The most desired 258 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: food stuff in all of the Bay Area was eggs. 259 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: Not only are eggs filled with protein, they're necessary ingredient 260 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:28,520 Speaker 1: in all manner of pastries and cakes. You know, you 261 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: can't make fucking bagels or whatever without or whatever. I 262 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: don't know, you cant of together without eggs. Yeah, they're 263 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: critical and a last for the growing polity gold rush. 264 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: Arai San Francisco was completely the funk out of eggs. 265 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: The problems started when the first ten thousand men are 266 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: so flooded into the city and devoured every single chicken 267 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 1: and rooster that they could get their hands on, like 268 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 1: a whole word of protein hungry locusts. They just ate everything, 269 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,600 Speaker 1: like there's enough chicken to feed eight hundred people. People 270 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: move in and eat it all overnight, and suddenly there's 271 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: no more birds to lay eggs. Uh. Now, it's not 272 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: quite certain why, but no additional birds arrived for years 273 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 1: to restock the Bay area's farms. And this is a 274 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: bit of a historical mystery because both southern California and 275 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: Baja had farms and had chickens, and even in eighteen 276 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: forty nine, it wouldn't have been hard to send a 277 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: few boatloads of birds up the coast um and there 278 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: are different theories about why none of them actually were, 279 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,760 Speaker 1: Like there were no just no populations of breeding chickens 280 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: in the Bay area. One of the theories comes from 281 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: an artist named Eva Croissant, who was one of the 282 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 1: world's top experts on the very weird subject of today's episodes, 283 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: and she cites some convincing evidence that a mix of 284 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: two factors contributed to the lack of poultry. Number One, 285 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 1: chicken feed wasn't terribly short supply, and thus chickens were 286 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 1: primarily fed garbage, which didn't help their health. And some 287 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: sort of horrible bird plague kept killing off imported birds, 288 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: because we do have cases of people bringing in birds 289 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: and then the lull die basically overnight. So for whatever 290 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: the cause was, it was impossible to establish a population 291 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: of chickens in the city of San Francisco for years. 292 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: As a result of this, in a city famed for gold, 293 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: one of the most valuable items was the humble HNN egg. 294 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: It was not uncommon for eggs to be imported from 295 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: as far away from Chile, like they're they're bringing Chilean 296 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: eggs into San Francisco because there's no laying eggs. And 297 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: you see that, I think, yeah, and I I could 298 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: see those assholes still doing stuff like that today. Yeah, 299 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 1: that's a Chilean egg. Motherfucker. That's you're gonna have to 300 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: pay a lot of money for these Chilean chickens. You 301 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: know where Chili is. No, Yeah, it's real, real fancy. 302 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:44,959 Speaker 1: The eggs very they feed the chicken setting. So the 303 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: price of eggs at its peak was near the equivalent 304 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: of thirty dollars in a modern dollars an egg in 305 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: San Francisco. Um, yeah, I know some people who would 306 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,919 Speaker 1: be very rich based on their backyards if that was 307 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: still the case. One journalist at the time noted that 308 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,199 Speaker 1: the city of San Francisco was desperate for eggs and 309 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 1: that a fortune would be made by any man or 310 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,160 Speaker 1: woman daring enough to figure out how to provide them. 311 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: And it just so happened, Billy, that twenty six miles 312 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: off the coast of the Bay lay the fire Aland Islands, 313 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,439 Speaker 1: known as the Islands of the Dead to the coast 314 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: Miwalk tribe. The fire Lands are some of the least 315 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:23,679 Speaker 1: pleasant land on planet Earth. Two hundred and eleven acres 316 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: of rocky cliffs and outcroppings of solid granite. They're basically giant, 317 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: sharp boulders in the middle of the sea. That I 318 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: was going to say, it's like it just sounds like 319 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: big rocks. Yeah, they're huge, deadly rocks. One representative of 320 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 1: the National Marine Sanctuary described them as looking like a 321 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:41,360 Speaker 1: piece of the moon that fell into the sea. Now, 322 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,360 Speaker 1: the far Lands have never hosted human populations naturally, like 323 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: like the indigenous people didn't live there. They call them 324 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: the Islands of the dead. Like, don't fucking go there, 325 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 1: you'll get killed. It's a bad place to be, partly 326 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,200 Speaker 1: because the seas around them are incredibly rough, and until 327 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 1: people had kind of like more modern boats, even when 328 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: people had modern boats, boats crashed into them all of 329 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: the goddamn time. I was gonna say, it's still just 330 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: it's needless, you guys, you don't need to do this. Yeah, 331 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: And there was really nothing there. The island's only natural 332 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,840 Speaker 1: inhabitants were hordes of sea lions and hundreds of thousands 333 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:16,879 Speaker 1: of birds. The most common species was called the common mirror. 334 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: It's a small ocean bird with exactly one note where 335 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 1: the attribute. Its eggs are the size of soft balls, 336 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:24,919 Speaker 1: so it's smaller than a chicken, but it's eggs are 337 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: like twice the size of a chicken's eggs. Now Mere 338 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: eggs are actually if you look them up online. They're 339 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: really cool looking eggs. I kind of want to get 340 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: some and try them. They're rounded at the bottom and 341 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,160 Speaker 1: narrow on the top, kind of like one of those 342 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,919 Speaker 1: Russian nesting dolls. Um And it's theorized that this is 343 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: because they lay them on the sides of cliffs and 344 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: stops them from like rolling over. I really need. They're 345 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: very vividly colored. Some of them are like turquoise, and 346 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: they're covered in like black markings that look almost like 347 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: alien handwriting. They're like like a nice like a nice 348 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:58,640 Speaker 1: mug from like from like, yeah, they look like somebody 349 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,360 Speaker 1: in Taus made them, and like, yeah, that's what you described. 350 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: I just thought of Aunt I had. I'm like, she 351 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 1: would love this. Side note question, Billy, when I said, 352 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,159 Speaker 1: do you want to come back on behind the Pastors? 353 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: Did you think we would be talking about hex? I don't. 354 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: I never know. I didn't. I didn't think that the 355 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: president of the United States that would discuss stuff that 356 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: we had discussed the bleach that was like, I was like, 357 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: I don't like that. I'm ahead of this. I don't 358 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, I'm not. I'm not wild about the 359 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:39,639 Speaker 1: fact that the thing that we laughed at because it 360 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: was absurd was then urged for people to do by 361 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: the president during a pandemic. Yeah, when everyone was joking 362 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:50,639 Speaker 1: about it. When it happened, I was like, this isn't good. 363 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,399 Speaker 1: This is a problem. People are gonna die. Yeah. I 364 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:56,880 Speaker 1: was like, people are already doing this, and if the 365 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: president mentions it, it's not good. People are like, inn't 366 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,520 Speaker 1: this funny. I'm like, I wish it was a dude. 367 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,439 Speaker 1: That's the thing. That's what's beautiful about the thing that 368 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: happened with the Four Seasons because most of the things 369 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:12,639 Speaker 1: that people have thought was funny that have happened this 370 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: year aren't really funny if you understand what's going on. 371 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:20,080 Speaker 1: They're terrifying. That one was actually that's just perfect. Yeah 372 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: I did. I laughed that laugh where I didn't make 373 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: noise when I first read about it because I was 374 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: like I did that thing where I was like, who's 375 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,160 Speaker 1: behind like, because I was like some comedian did this 376 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: is very funny? Yeah? I did do that. Did you 377 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,880 Speaker 1: also do like the dry heat? Because it was like 378 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 1: it was like my little toddler crying where I was 379 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: like the harder I thought about it, the more I 380 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: was like that is, it's every now and then Karma's 381 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: just like here you go. What was even What was 382 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:54,720 Speaker 1: even better about that one was being able to share 383 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,000 Speaker 1: it with people who hadn't seen the story yet and 384 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 1: then got to appreciate their initial laugh about it's still funny. Sorry, 385 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 1: that eggs my bad. Perfect, No, Sophie, not back to eggs, 386 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: because we're professionals and that means it's time to go 387 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: to ads. Oh see, Sophie, sometimes I bring us to 388 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: ads and you don't warn me because I remember and 389 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:18,879 Speaker 1: you don't. So there you go. I'm a hack on 390 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,919 Speaker 1: a fraud, Robert. I'll fire myself now you're making me 391 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,879 Speaker 1: feel bad. It was a harsh treatment. You really you 392 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,479 Speaker 1: really spun that back at me. Now the guns pointed 393 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:34,800 Speaker 1: in the other direction, just like Raytheon brand shoot yourself 394 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: in the face rifles. Wanted a rifle that you're going 395 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,120 Speaker 1: to happen? Ye, I don't know. That's not my best 396 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: Raytheon joke. Nope, but I'll take it. I'm sorry, ads, 397 00:22:52,480 --> 00:23:01,679 Speaker 1: we're back. Uh well, Billy eggs, eggs eggs. So I 398 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: do suggest looking up mirror eggs because they're they're kind 399 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,680 Speaker 1: of fucking awesome. Actually, they really neat eggs. Uh there 400 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,480 Speaker 1: and yeah, they're they're edible, um, although they have a 401 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: red yolk and a bluish tint um that most people 402 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:20,040 Speaker 1: describe as unsettling to eat. Uh. And they yeah, because 403 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,360 Speaker 1: it's like a weird color. And it's not it's not terrible, 404 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: but it's not super appetizing. Um. But there were a 405 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 1: funckload of them. A few sailors over the years had 406 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 1: stopped off at the fire lands and found that during 407 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,439 Speaker 1: big chunks of the summer it was covered in just 408 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: piles of tens of thousands of eggs um. And while 409 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: they wouldn't taste great fried, they worked perfectly if you 410 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: mixed them in the dough. You could bake with them 411 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: and you wouldn't notice that you were using a hen egg. 412 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:46,960 Speaker 1: And they're twice as big as a hen egg. So 413 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: they really go a long way towards alleviating the the 414 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 1: egg shortage. And I'm gonna quote from the Smithsonian here. 415 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: Stale mirror eggs had a strong fishy aftertaste in the 416 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,280 Speaker 1: words of one commenter, and overripe mirror egg is something 417 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: never to be for gotten. It requires about three months 418 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 1: to get the taste out of the mouth. As a result, 419 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,879 Speaker 1: the eggers inaugurated each harvest season by smashing all of 420 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 1: the mere eggs on the island, thereby ensuring the collection 421 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: of freshly laid eggs. So when people started harvesting these 422 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 1: eggs which we were about to get into, you would 423 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: have to break all of the eggs that were there 424 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: when you arrived, because it would force the mirrors to 425 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: lay new eggs. And then you would take those eggs 426 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 1: and bring them back home. And if you're thinking was 427 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: this bad for the mirror population, yes, yeah, no I 428 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,680 Speaker 1: was as soon as you said commerce, these birds are fucked. 429 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 1: They don't do great. So bit by bit people started 430 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: to talk about how all the eggs on this island 431 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: might be able to satisfy the Bay area's deep hunger 432 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,399 Speaker 1: for pastries. The first man to try and make a 433 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: fortune off of Farrell and Eggs was an adventurer from 434 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,399 Speaker 1: Maine named Doc Robinson. He'd heard whispers of mere eggs 435 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: in the saloons and gambling dens on the waterfronts. In 436 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: the spring of eighteen forty nine, Doc and his brother 437 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,120 Speaker 1: Oran chartered a boat and headed to the islands. They 438 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 1: found them absolutely covered in birds, hundreds of thousands of mirrors. 439 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:03,879 Speaker 1: The men loaded their boats so full of eggs that 440 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: they could barely fit inside it. And I'm gonna quote 441 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,199 Speaker 1: now from the book The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey. 442 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: Robinson and Dorman loaded their boat with eggs and headed 443 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 1: back to San Francisco, coming up against a nasty storm 444 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 1: and dumping half their cargo into the ocean just to 445 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 1: stay upright. Nonetheless, they sold the remaining eggs for a 446 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: dollar a dozen and pocketed three thousand dollars, serious money 447 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: in those days. Robinson opened his own burlesque call, another 448 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: big growth segment of the fledged in California economy, and 449 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,119 Speaker 1: neither man ever went back to the fire loans, but 450 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 1: others did. Within a week of the successful egg sale, 451 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: Southeast Fareland was swarming with eggers. In keeping with the 452 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: land grabbing ethos, six men immediately staked their claim, declaring 453 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: that the islands belonged to them exclusively due to rights 454 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,919 Speaker 1: of possession, and incorporating as the Fireland Egg Company. Egging 455 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: the lucrative proved a tough way to make a living. 456 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,920 Speaker 1: The season spanned eight flurried weeks between May and July, 457 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,440 Speaker 1: during which time, it was man against mirror, and both 458 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: parties against the goals, climbing near vertical rises of crumbling 459 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,480 Speaker 1: and it. The eggers carried clubs in their free hands 460 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: to fend off the attacking birds at the same time 461 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: stuffing the eggs and especially designed egg shirts. Giant gunny 462 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,919 Speaker 1: sacks with multiple pockets scalp wounds were common. So I 463 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: just have no I mean, I've never wanted a fortune 464 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: that bad. I don't think. Yeah, and it's it's not 465 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,400 Speaker 1: even a fortune because these guys. After the first guy, 466 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: he makes a fortune, right, he makes sense to me. 467 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: You go out, you have like one real shitty weekend, 468 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: and you come back alive, and you buy a burlesque 469 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: call and you sell sex for the rest of your life. Um, under, 470 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,959 Speaker 1: I understand that these guys are like day laborers. And 471 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: it's it's so bad because the goals eat the mirror eggs, 472 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: so like while you're climbing up the rock, they're like 473 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: die of bombing you and like biting into your skull 474 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: and clawing at you to get at eggs. Ah, it's 475 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 1: a bad gig. It just sounds like a metaphor for 476 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,120 Speaker 1: modern day San Francis. Yeah, yeah, it's not any different today. 477 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 1: I would describe what they're doing is like driving for Uber, yes, 478 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: but more ethical. Yeah, though it's a it's a fair wage, Yeah, yeah, exactly. 479 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,920 Speaker 1: I'm sure they were getting a better wage than Uber driving. 480 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:24,120 Speaker 1: Oh man. Yeah. So. Harper's magazine sent a journalist down 481 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:26,080 Speaker 1: to the fire Allons in the eighteen sixties to look 482 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: at the egging operation, and we have from that reporter 483 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: a first hand account of of what it was actually like. 484 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: And I'm gonna just hand making vomit noises. From fifteen 485 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,119 Speaker 1: to twenty men are employed during the egging season and 486 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: collecting and shipping the eggs. They live on the island 487 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,440 Speaker 1: during that time and rude shanties near the usual landing place. 488 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 1: The work is not amusing, for the birds seek out 489 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 1: the least accessible places, and the men must follow, climbing, 490 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:53,640 Speaker 1: often where a goat would be. All would almost hesitate, 491 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:55,840 Speaker 1: But this is not the worst. The goal sits on 492 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: her nest and resists the robber who comes for her eggs, 493 00:27:57,960 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: and he must take care not to get bitten. The 494 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,359 Speaker 1: mere remains until her enemy is close upon her. Then 495 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 1: she rises with a scream, which often startles a thousand 496 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: or two of the birds who whirl up into the 497 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: air in a dense mask, scattering filth and guano all 498 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: over the aggres. So just ship clouds raining down on 499 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: you and into your open scalp wounds from the goals 500 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: that have dive fopped you as you're doing your job, 501 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,800 Speaker 1: almost as high because you're you're you're really high up, 502 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,440 Speaker 1: so don't you go. Yeah yeah, and if you fall, 503 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: you'll die horribly. Um and yeah, it was. The men 504 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: who did the job tended to be as shady as 505 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,679 Speaker 1: you would expect of people who are willing to do 506 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,840 Speaker 1: that kind of work. The egg company hired mainly Greek 507 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: and Italian immigrants who were comfortable with danger and desperate 508 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: for money. And we all know what Italians are like, 509 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: right I don't. It's very anti Italian show billy. Yeah, No, 510 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: it's fine, it's fine. I know what they're like. Yeah. 511 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: So the rocks they scrambled up and down were slick 512 00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: with water, and bird ship men fell all the time, 513 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: often from great heights. When workers died, they were just 514 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 1: entered into the company log books as missing. For an 515 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: example of one death. Oh man, yeah, it's funny, and 516 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: I was okay, I'm making a bad joke with the 517 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: shadiness of the Italians. But one of the aspects of 518 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: this that's really interesting is that a lot of the 519 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 1: Italians involved in this were like leftist labor organizers and 520 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: this was just like the only work they could get 521 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: because it was a bad time to be a part 522 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: of organized labor, especially as things get into the eighteen sixties. Um. 523 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: So that's a dimension of all of this too, is 524 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: that there's like these these guys who are kind of 525 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:42,480 Speaker 1: locked out of the main economy because of you know, uh, 526 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: companies not companies not wanting to hire people who want 527 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: to stand up for their rights as labors, so instead 528 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: they get dive bombed and covered and ship. Um it's yeah, 529 00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 1: you don't want to know, you don't want to work 530 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: for the man, you can work for the birds. Well, 531 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 1: and then it's also probably one of those gigs you 532 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: don't know one tails you what it's really like, and 533 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: then you learn what it's like when you get out there. Yeah, 534 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: And the point I'm making by bringing this up is 535 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: that a lot of these guys, a lot of them 536 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 1: did have you know, some sort of criminal background. The others, 537 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,400 Speaker 1: you know, being a labor organizer in this period means 538 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 1: you've been in a lot of street fights. And the 539 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: point I'm making is that these are really tough people 540 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: who are comfortable with violence, and that's going to matter 541 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,400 Speaker 1: in a bit. Yeah. Yeah, But first I want to 542 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,560 Speaker 1: talk about people dying on the job, because that's always fun. 543 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: It's can I just say, let's do the job pitch 544 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 1: where if if you're just like, okay, yeah, you gotta 545 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: ride a boat out there. Okay, that's fine. I don't 546 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: care about that, and then you like heights trick, I 547 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: don't care about that, like caney climb yeah, who you 548 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: just climb up there and get that egg, all right. Also, 549 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 1: the birds will they're gonna try to hurt you, all right, 550 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: and you're gonna get covered and ship there go your 551 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: open head wound. That's what I was gonna say. Yeah, 552 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 1: they're also you know how clean birds are. They're gonna 553 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:14,120 Speaker 1: ship in your open wounds. And then that guy goes, 554 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,640 Speaker 1: now I get how much an egg? Yeah, I like 555 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: like ten cents. You know you're getting paid. You're getting paid. 556 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:27,760 Speaker 1: It's not bad. So for an example of one of 557 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: the kind of one of the ways people died horribly 558 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: doing the egg job. In eight fifty eight, the Daily Alta, 559 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 1: California reported that an egger quote missed his hold while 560 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: robbing a goal's nest over the edge of a precipice, 561 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: and falling was dashed to pieces on the rocks below. 562 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: That's how you wants Yeah, that's instant. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 563 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:57,120 Speaker 1: I hope so, I hope it wasn't slowly dashed to pieces. Uh. 564 00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: And you know nobody went for that body. They just said, oh, 565 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:03,720 Speaker 1: I didn't show up to work today. Yeah, no way 566 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: to know. Send his wife and children a bill for 567 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:13,560 Speaker 1: the passage over. So the eggers developed a distinctly bleak 568 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:15,880 Speaker 1: view of their work, due in part to their forbidding 569 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:18,280 Speaker 1: surroundings and in part due to the death rate. Stories 570 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: began to spread that if an egger spent too much 571 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: time on the islands, he would start to see his 572 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,120 Speaker 1: name spelled out in the markings on the mirror shells. 573 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:27,720 Speaker 1: But still, the money was good, and the Pacific Egg 574 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 1: Company was soon harvesting thousands of dollars and eggs every 575 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: single trip. It was not long before other entrepreneurial types 576 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: noticed this, as a journalist for Harper's wrote, of course 577 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: there was an egg war. The prize was too great 578 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: not to be struggled for. Well, yeah, you're gonna have 579 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: a war with the eggs. Yeah, it's good to know 580 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: that the that the press has always been stroking just say, 581 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,000 Speaker 1: any type of war. Yeah, if you guys tried shooting 582 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: at each other yet, I'm gonna stand over here, maybe 583 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: give it a shot. Uh okay from the Devil's Teeth quote. 584 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: There were NonStop dust ups as rifle gangs battled the 585 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 1: company for the right to harvest the eggs. On more 586 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: than one occasion, soldiers were summoned to calm things down. 587 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: The battles often lasting for weeks, involving threats, fist fights, barricades, 588 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 1: and small arms, and during those interlude San Franciscan's would 589 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 1: go eggless once again. Sometimes the ejected gangs would hide 590 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,360 Speaker 1: in see caves instead of sailing back to San Francisco, 591 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 1: waiting for the authorities to leave so they could take 592 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: another run at the eggs. One tenacious group steered their 593 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: boat inside Great Mirror Cave and remained there for two days, 594 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: during which they were drizzled non stop with guano. The 595 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: ammonia build up inside the cave killed several men and 596 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: the danger. They were piste to death, and the dangers 597 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: didn't stop once the cargo was collected. Boats returned running 598 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: eggs to the mainland were hijacked with regularity, so we 599 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: got egg pirates in the mix. Well that's why, as 600 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 1: you're describing this, it just made me laugh because I'm like, man, 601 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: if you gamify, humans are down for whatever the fucking prizes. Yeah, yeah, 602 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:02,480 Speaker 1: wait here, while my friends choked to death on bird piss, 603 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:07,600 Speaker 1: we're gonna make money, right, will beat those guys. Yeah, 604 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: just as long as I get more eggs than the 605 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 1: other assholes exactly. Now. What was already a very complicated 606 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: and violent situation was compounded by some decisions the government 607 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 1: made in eighteen fifty two. They decided to build a 608 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:25,760 Speaker 1: lighthouse on the Farrelland Islands. This was a sensible call geographically, 609 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: because ships kept running into the rocks in the dead 610 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:29,759 Speaker 1: of night or during storms. It's a good place for 611 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,560 Speaker 1: a lighthouse, um. But actually building a lighthouse on such 612 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: inhospitable terrain was easier said than done. Stone had to 613 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:40,080 Speaker 1: be quarried on the island to create the lighthouse. Workmen 614 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,240 Speaker 1: had to haul bricks up the hillside on their backs, 615 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:46,040 Speaker 1: it was just a miserable, miserable, miserable job. They completed 616 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 1: construction in eighteen fifty three, and just as they were 617 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,120 Speaker 1: about to begin operation, they had to like the last 618 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:52,960 Speaker 1: thing they had to do. After spending like more than 619 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: a year agonizingly quarrying rock to build a lighthouse, the 620 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: last thing they had to do was take a lens 621 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: up into the tower. And it's soon as they try 622 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 1: they realized that the lighthouse wasn't big enough for the 623 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: lens to fit. So they had to knock down the 624 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 1: lighthouse and rebuild it two years. Oh I think one 625 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: dude about how well it was like halfway up. It's 626 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 1: like how you get you know what? Never mind, never mind, 627 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,520 Speaker 1: never mind, mind. I'm just not gonna say anything. I'm 628 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 1: gonna not be here. I'm gonna quit tomorrow. Uh So, 629 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,359 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty five they finally finished the damn thing. 630 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,320 Speaker 1: Several lighthouse keepers and eventually their families moved on to 631 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:38,359 Speaker 1: the island as its only permanent residence. Now this immediately 632 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 1: caused problems with what by then was just called the 633 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: Egg Company. See, the Egg Company claimed to have a 634 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: total monopoly on the island, a fact which was disputed 635 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: by the government and basically everyone else who wasn't the 636 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:54,799 Speaker 1: Egg company names. No, that's on purpose, like when you 637 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: name your cat cat or tiger. Well no, I think 638 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,200 Speaker 1: what they're doing is like, now there can only be 639 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: one and we are the egg the Egg Company. We 640 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:09,399 Speaker 1: we will abide no competition. Facebook ship drop the Yeah, 641 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:11,959 Speaker 1: I mean Facebook was the Egg Company was the first 642 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:15,280 Speaker 1: investor in Facebook. I think it should just be company. 643 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:22,360 Speaker 1: Drop the V. I think the the I think the 644 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,279 Speaker 1: V is the key. The is the key, that the 645 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,560 Speaker 1: is the key. So yeah, the Egg Company says, all 646 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,759 Speaker 1: of the eggs and everything else on the fairylands are 647 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,719 Speaker 1: our property, um, which again they have no legal right to. 648 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,279 Speaker 1: But they do have guns. So the lighthouse keepers do 649 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:44,000 Speaker 1: understand America. They understand America. That said, the government had 650 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: guns too, So the Egg Company couldn't like kick the 651 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: lighthouse keepers off, but they could repeatedly threaten them with violence. Um. Now, 652 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,719 Speaker 1: but the problem what would I don't understand that they 653 00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:01,160 Speaker 1: were like, hey, we'll gonna get you. Yeah. Part of 654 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,160 Speaker 1: the they were like, we don't. You can't. If you're 655 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,279 Speaker 1: going to be here, you can't eat any of the 656 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,239 Speaker 1: eggs or anything else. That's on the island, and they 657 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:11,360 Speaker 1: were like, but we live here and it's the government's island. 658 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:14,160 Speaker 1: So that starts the problem, um, and what kind of 659 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,960 Speaker 1: continues it is that. So in eighteen fifty eight, this 660 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 1: guy named Amos Clift gets hired to be the head 661 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:24,719 Speaker 1: keeper of the lighthouse, and Amos kind of organize the 662 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: other lighthouse keepers by saying like, hey, guys, our pay 663 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,560 Speaker 1: is complete. Ship, like, we're not getting nearly enough money. 664 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 1: We have to live in this terrible death island in 665 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 1: in the ocean where it's always miserable. The least that 666 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,360 Speaker 1: we can should be able to do is make a 667 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,120 Speaker 1: funckload of money selling these eggs like these we have 668 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 1: a right to this island. The egg company people don't, 669 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:48,160 Speaker 1: So why why don't we try profiting off of this ship, Like, hey, 670 00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:52,399 Speaker 1: you guys, we've got to have at least one perk here, yeah, yeah, 671 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:54,600 Speaker 1: and that park should be getting rich off of the 672 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,759 Speaker 1: egg rack. Yeah. Now, the problem is, of course there's 673 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: only a few lighthousekeepers. The Egg Company is basically a 674 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,880 Speaker 1: mafia at this point, including the fact that it's filled 675 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 1: with Italians. Um. So, for the most part, the outnumbered 676 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: and vulnerable lighthouse crew tried to pick at the margins 677 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 1: of the company's egg business and avoid direct confrontation. Yeah. 678 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,720 Speaker 1: It worked for a little while. You got a guerrilla 679 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:22,720 Speaker 1: warfare that Yeah. Amos, however, was kind of impatient. Uh. 680 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:25,359 Speaker 1: He was not willing to just nibble at the edges. 681 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,160 Speaker 1: He wanted a big cut of that sweet sweet egg company. 682 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:31,800 Speaker 1: And he was also a heavy drinker um which worked 683 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,320 Speaker 1: at a lighthouse. You know, man, that is that's a 684 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:45,480 Speaker 1: being ambitious and headstrong and and and an alcoholic. Yeah yeah, so, 685 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:49,560 Speaker 1: author Susan Casey, he doesn't didn't write about being a drunk. 686 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,200 Speaker 1: But author Susan Casey, who went through all of the 687 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,360 Speaker 1: letters he sent home to his family during this period, 688 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: noticed like the way that he wrote would change over 689 00:38:57,520 --> 00:38:59,279 Speaker 1: the course of a long letter in a way that 690 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:04,000 Speaker 1: heavily just drinking quote and almost all his letters, which 691 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:07,279 Speaker 1: tended to run several pages, clifts. Elegant penmanship starts off 692 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 1: impressively and then morphs into a scrawling mess as the 693 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,520 Speaker 1: handwriting degenerates. The complaints about his post became increasingly bitter, 694 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:16,720 Speaker 1: and his plans for total egg dominance grow larger in scale, 695 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,239 Speaker 1: and a letter to Horace was one of his family members. 696 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,360 Speaker 1: Written on November fifty nine, he outlined the situation. Before 697 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 1: I came here, this egg company used to have things 698 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:27,399 Speaker 1: all their own way. But since I have been here, 699 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:29,600 Speaker 1: things have taken a turn, and they have ascertained that 700 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,680 Speaker 1: I am not as easily bluffed. I think it will 701 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:34,360 Speaker 1: now be settled in the egg company driven off the island. 702 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 1: I shall not abate my efforts in the least, and 703 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:42,359 Speaker 1: if I succeed, I may perhaps reap the benefits. Uh man, 704 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,759 Speaker 1: he's gonna get the eggs. So imagine, I mean, just 705 00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: from the another perspect like the egg company, this dude 706 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: shows up and they're like, it's already a nightmare here, 707 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,359 Speaker 1: like this is hard enough. Do you think that they 708 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 1: called him a rotten egg? Behind back? Thank you? I've 709 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:06,799 Speaker 1: been holding them in from the entire podcast. I like 710 00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:10,319 Speaker 1: to think any of these dudes use puns. No, No, 711 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:13,279 Speaker 1: he was too drunk and too obsessed with eggs. Do 712 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:17,200 Speaker 1: you want to know who's not too drunken obsessed with eggs? Though, Robert? Oh, Now, 713 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:20,480 Speaker 1: the people of Raytheon are are big into the egg business. 714 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:24,560 Speaker 1: In fact, there's the only right now are our friends 715 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:28,000 Speaker 1: who are behind such wonderful inventions as the missile guidance 716 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:30,800 Speaker 1: chip for the hell Fire missile and the missile guidance 717 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,279 Speaker 1: chip for the r X nine the Knife missile. Are 718 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 1: working on a way to shoot eggs right into the 719 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:39,360 Speaker 1: mouths of hungry people. It speeds exceeding forty feet per second. 720 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: Not rotten eggs, fresh eggs. We were trying to fade 721 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:46,399 Speaker 1: him to perfection. Only the fresh, so fresh they will 722 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:50,439 Speaker 1: completely penetrate up to three human bodies before shattering. That's 723 00:40:50,480 --> 00:41:04,960 Speaker 1: the add ads. All right, we're we've were, we are, 724 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,960 Speaker 1: we are, we are we are. You try that again, buddy, No, No, 725 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:12,840 Speaker 1: we just are. We just are are. We just are 726 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:19,319 Speaker 1: We're being That's true. Yeah. So for Amos Clift, the 727 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 1: egg racket meant a chance at more money than he like, 728 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,680 Speaker 1: than he would ever have a chance of making anywhere else. 729 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,319 Speaker 1: As he wrote back home to his family, the egg 730 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:29,600 Speaker 1: seasons the months of May and June, and the profits 731 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:31,759 Speaker 1: of the company after all expenses are paid, is every 732 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:34,440 Speaker 1: year from five to six thousand dollars quite an item. 733 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 1: And if this island is government property, I have a 734 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,200 Speaker 1: right to these eggs, and I am bound to try 735 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 1: and get it. And of course he also added that 736 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:43,920 Speaker 1: once he got rich off of the eggs, the government 737 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:48,279 Speaker 1: could kiss his foot. Um. So interesting, guy, Amos, He's 738 00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:50,720 Speaker 1: decided this is how he's going to make his fortune, 739 00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:53,400 Speaker 1: and he's kind of revealing his moves though too a 740 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:58,440 Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah. Yeah, this is the government's island, so 741 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:00,200 Speaker 1: I have a right to the eggs, but also suck 742 00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:03,319 Speaker 1: the government once they get rich. Yeah, like, hey, man, 743 00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:05,440 Speaker 1: just leave the last part out, Dude, I think you 744 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: gotta play it. Yeah. Yeah, he wasn't. He wasn't a 745 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:12,400 Speaker 1: smooth customer. So Amos organized the lighthouse keepers into a 746 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:16,560 Speaker 1: brisk business that partly involved discouraging eggers from landing. Because 747 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 1: they're the lighthouse they can make it hard for boats 748 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:22,240 Speaker 1: to land. Um. And yeah, they would also like basically 749 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: work with groups of eggers to stop other groups from 750 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:27,600 Speaker 1: landing and get kickbacks from them. And of course they 751 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:30,000 Speaker 1: also got involved in the business of gathering and smuggling 752 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:32,839 Speaker 1: eggs back into the mainland. So he's gets a couple 753 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:36,000 Speaker 1: of rackets set up. Uh what did micro cause him 754 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:41,839 Speaker 1: of a city? Yeah? Yeah, it is a very San 755 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:50,719 Speaker 1: Francisco story. Yeah, it's nice. Just immediately like we can 756 00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:53,800 Speaker 1: like this racket work for everybody. I think there's a 757 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:55,480 Speaker 1: little bit of money around the edges of this. For me, 758 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:58,000 Speaker 1: all I got any was over some people who aren't me. 759 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:03,120 Speaker 1: Just every American story ever is just going like, oh 760 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:06,359 Speaker 1: I got this, Yeah you can. There's a lot about 761 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 1: America in this tale. So right around the same time 762 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 1: as Amos is getting his his his egg scheme off 763 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:17,160 Speaker 1: the ground, San Francisco's Daily Alta newspaper reported that the 764 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:19,960 Speaker 1: egg company had begun to wage an open guerilla war 765 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 1: against the state, breaking up government roads as well as 766 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:26,080 Speaker 1: drawing lines fencing off chunks of the island and putting 767 00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:29,040 Speaker 1: up warnings that light keepers and their families could only 768 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:33,560 Speaker 1: cross on pain of death. So like destroying the roads 769 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:36,040 Speaker 1: that were built to allow the lighthouse to function um 770 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,480 Speaker 1: and to allow like like basically trying to cut off 771 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:41,640 Speaker 1: their supply lines, fencing off the areas where the eggs are, 772 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:45,960 Speaker 1: and threatening to murder government employees who cross onto egg territory. 773 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:48,840 Speaker 1: In June of eighteen sixty is things escalated to a 774 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:52,440 Speaker 1: point where lightkeepers felt unsafe to travel outside without rifles. 775 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,520 Speaker 1: Clift wrote a letter to his family that we are 776 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:57,600 Speaker 1: now in the midst of the egg season and the 777 00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:04,359 Speaker 1: egg Company and the Lightkeepers are at are now. Soon 778 00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:07,080 Speaker 1: after this point, the Eggers launched a full frontal assault 779 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:09,280 Speaker 1: on the Lightkeepers, trying to force them off the island 780 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,520 Speaker 1: at gunpoint. In July, one of the assistant lightkeepers was 781 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:15,880 Speaker 1: ambushed and injured. Justice Clift was plotting his response to 782 00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,279 Speaker 1: these offenses. The US government realized what was going on, 783 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,080 Speaker 1: and rather than getting broiled in an egg based insurgency, 784 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,480 Speaker 1: they fired Clift for the undue assumption to monopolize the 785 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:29,560 Speaker 1: valuable privilege of collecting eggs. I hate to side with 786 00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:31,879 Speaker 1: the government that they got a goddamn point on this one. 787 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:34,000 Speaker 1: This kind of seemed like he was a problem. Do 788 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:36,880 Speaker 1: you take any of his relatives, like he had some 789 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:40,359 Speaker 1: smartass cousins or stuff. They're like, dude, you've got to 790 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:45,080 Speaker 1: read Amos his egg letters. They are awesome. I think 791 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:46,840 Speaker 1: he might be. I think he might be in some 792 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:50,759 Speaker 1: real trouble. He's talking about gunfights. It's but he's talking 793 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:53,840 Speaker 1: about eggs. It's the funniest ship you have ever heard, 794 00:44:55,719 --> 00:45:00,080 Speaker 1: uh people. Yeah. So, at the same time that the 795 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 1: egg company men were sparring with the lighthouse Keepers, another 796 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:06,080 Speaker 1: rifle egg poaching company was forming with the goal of 797 00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:09,279 Speaker 1: conquering the Farrelland Islands for themselves and taking them from 798 00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:12,319 Speaker 1: the Egg Company. While the Egg Company was American run, 799 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:15,239 Speaker 1: this new company was made up entirely of Italian immigrants. 800 00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:18,080 Speaker 1: Both claimed to have legal possession of the island, and 801 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,839 Speaker 1: it seems unlikely that either did. From a local news 802 00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:23,719 Speaker 1: article at the time quote the chief of police and 803 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:26,040 Speaker 1: a posse visit the scene. For a long time two 804 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:27,640 Speaker 1: years or more, the right to gather the eggs on 805 00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,600 Speaker 1: the Farrelands Islands has been in dispute between rival companies, 806 00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:33,120 Speaker 1: and rumblings of approaching troubles between them have been heard 807 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:35,480 Speaker 1: for a year. One of these companies has composed mainly 808 00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:37,319 Speaker 1: of Americans, and it is known that the far as 809 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:39,600 Speaker 1: the Farrelands Egg Company. The other is made up of 810 00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,920 Speaker 1: Italian fishermen. The American company claimed to have had original 811 00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:45,080 Speaker 1: possession of the island and issued script in the usual 812 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:48,319 Speaker 1: manner of corporations. The Italian company were subsequent claimants, and 813 00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,680 Speaker 1: in a suit between them and Judge Hager's Court lately 814 00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,640 Speaker 1: a writ of ejectment was sued against the Italians, who, 815 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:57,040 Speaker 1: being in part possession, refused to obey the summons yesterday, 816 00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:00,000 Speaker 1: Chief Barks sent out officers Ellison Clark to arrest certain 817 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:02,600 Speaker 1: of the Italians, and when they found two parties armed 818 00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:04,640 Speaker 1: to the teeth, in possession of different parts of the 819 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:08,240 Speaker 1: island and breathing defiance against each other, the officers attempted 820 00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:10,480 Speaker 1: to serve their writ but were opposed, and though the 821 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:13,120 Speaker 1: partisans of the egg companies sided with the officers, they 822 00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,239 Speaker 1: were unable to effect the arrest of more than three 823 00:46:15,239 --> 00:46:17,279 Speaker 1: of the other party, the rest vowing that they were 824 00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:20,240 Speaker 1: ready for a fight and would rather be shot down 825 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:29,160 Speaker 1: than arrested. So yeah, yeah, I just I don't over eggs. 826 00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:34,560 Speaker 1: Starting a farm a little outside of town would have 827 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,759 Speaker 1: been way easier than this. Yeah, it does seem like that. 828 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,359 Speaker 1: Seems like that would have been eggs over easy, and 829 00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:44,200 Speaker 1: they chose eggs over hard. I can't even look at 830 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:46,680 Speaker 1: you right now. I know, I know. I wanted to 831 00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:50,520 Speaker 1: throw the microphone, but it's mine. Yeah, well that's why 832 00:46:50,520 --> 00:46:55,000 Speaker 1: I missed the studio. We'd be throwing a lot. Yeah, 833 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,640 Speaker 1: some for somebody said they are upset that we're not 834 00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:02,399 Speaker 1: throwing bagels anymore, and it's because we're own houses. That's 835 00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:07,880 Speaker 1: my property. No, I yeah, when I throw eggs in 836 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:10,439 Speaker 1: the in the office, it's Daniel who has to clean 837 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:12,439 Speaker 1: them up. And when I throw eggs in my own home, 838 00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:16,000 Speaker 1: it's well, not me still, but someone else who has 839 00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:19,879 Speaker 1: to clean them up. Yeah. Wow, you're gonna make your 840 00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:26,520 Speaker 1: cat clean that up. Yeah, she loves eggs. Probably over 841 00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:28,560 Speaker 1: the next couple of years, that's one story. There were 842 00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:31,279 Speaker 1: multiple gunfights like that, and like they would send in 843 00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:34,040 Speaker 1: like police and soldiers to the island and there would 844 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:36,680 Speaker 1: be like partisan sniping between the sides, and it just 845 00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:40,040 Speaker 1: kept happening between these Americans what are essentially American and 846 00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:45,359 Speaker 1: Italian gangs who are are smuggling eggs. Um. Yeah, it's 847 00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:50,839 Speaker 1: like the meth trade, but sillier. As the Smithsonian Institute notes, 848 00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:54,640 Speaker 1: it does not get you high. I mean, if you 849 00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:57,359 Speaker 1: eat only protein, you can get a little bit fucked up, 850 00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,680 Speaker 1: but not in a pleasant way. No, were like a 851 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:05,840 Speaker 1: sick tier stomach way, feel good. Yeah. The egging season 852 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:08,600 Speaker 1: became increasingly violent. In the words of one commentator, the 853 00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:11,600 Speaker 1: eight weeks between May and July evolved into an annual 854 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:15,120 Speaker 1: naval engagement known as the Egg War. Brawls broke out 855 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:18,080 Speaker 1: constantly between rival gangs, ranging in brutality, from threats and 856 00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:22,160 Speaker 1: shell throwings to stabbings and shootouts. The fighting was not 857 00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:25,440 Speaker 1: confined to the islands. Boats transporting eggs were hijacked regularly. 858 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:27,960 Speaker 1: According to the San Francisco Examiner, there were many a 859 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:31,040 Speaker 1: bitter and fatal encounter between larger parties of rival claimants 860 00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:34,880 Speaker 1: in boats mounting small cannons. Back in San Francisco, the 861 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,520 Speaker 1: courts were barraged by a dizzy variety of egg related 862 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:41,560 Speaker 1: cases that included charges of petite larceny, trespassing, property damage, 863 00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:47,040 Speaker 1: resisting an officer, and manslaughter. So cannons have entered into it. 864 00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:51,520 Speaker 1: Just well, we got lawyers involved, we got the press involved. 865 00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:55,520 Speaker 1: Now that. Now we've got arms dealers involved, gun runners 866 00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:59,600 Speaker 1: running guns to the eggmen. So they got they got raffles, 867 00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:03,759 Speaker 1: need a cannon. Oh yeah, those rifles aren't gonna work 868 00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:07,520 Speaker 1: if they brought cops into the matter. Just a cannon 869 00:49:07,719 --> 00:49:13,920 Speaker 1: is what you guys need. And I got a cannon, okay. 870 00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:18,520 Speaker 1: So it all came to a head. Finally, in the 871 00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:21,720 Speaker 1: spring of eighteen sixty three, a man named David Batch 872 00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:25,240 Speaker 1: Elder managed to gather together an army of Italian fishermen. 873 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:28,320 Speaker 1: They made several attempts at an aquatic landing on the island, 874 00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:31,880 Speaker 1: each time the United States Revenue Cutter Service the Coastguard, 875 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:34,680 Speaker 1: before the Coastguard caught them and took their guns. But 876 00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:37,920 Speaker 1: eventually batch Elder and his comrade succeeded in sneaking around 877 00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:40,880 Speaker 1: the cutter Service and landing on the island. On the 878 00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:44,280 Speaker 1: evening of June three, eighteen sixty three, the fishermen sailed 879 00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:46,080 Speaker 1: out to the Fara Loans again and were met by 880 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:49,400 Speaker 1: a group of armed Egg Company men. Isaac Harrington, the 881 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:52,120 Speaker 1: company's foreman, warned the men who were trying to land 882 00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:54,920 Speaker 1: that they would do so at their peril. In return, 883 00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:57,839 Speaker 1: batch Elder shouted that they would come in spite of 884 00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:02,080 Speaker 1: hell um. And then things got a little bit less dramatic, 885 00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:04,120 Speaker 1: and the Italians got drunk on their boats all night 886 00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:06,480 Speaker 1: and spent the evening making fun of the people on 887 00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:10,160 Speaker 1: the shore. But then at dawn, but hungover Italian soldiers 888 00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:16,279 Speaker 1: attempted another landing. So these these hungover Italians try to 889 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:18,719 Speaker 1: land again after making fun of the Egg Company all night, 890 00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:21,080 Speaker 1: and the employees of the Egg Company opened fire for 891 00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:23,680 Speaker 1: the next twenty minutes. There's just like a massive gun 892 00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:26,879 Speaker 1: battle which includes cannons on both sides. By the time 893 00:50:26,920 --> 00:50:29,759 Speaker 1: the Italians retreat, one egg company man is dead and 894 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:32,359 Speaker 1: five boatmen are wounded, one of whom was shot through 895 00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:36,040 Speaker 1: the throat and died a little bit later. So pretty 896 00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:40,239 Speaker 1: sizeable gunfight there. Now. This finally forced the government to 897 00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:43,920 Speaker 1: take action, not by banning egging, but by officially banning 898 00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:48,319 Speaker 1: everybody besides the Pacific Egg Company from egging. Unfortunately, for 899 00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:51,040 Speaker 1: a reason that cannot be explained, the company found fewer 900 00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:53,920 Speaker 1: and fewer eggs on the island every single year. There 901 00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:57,560 Speaker 1: were fewer birds too, and again no possible explanation as 902 00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:03,000 Speaker 1: to why this might have been happened. In true capitalistic fashion, 903 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:05,360 Speaker 1: the egg company decided to make up for lost profits 904 00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:08,040 Speaker 1: by butchering hundreds and hundreds of seals and lions in 905 00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:10,200 Speaker 1: order to turn them into oil, because again, there's not 906 00:51:10,239 --> 00:51:14,200 Speaker 1: as many eggs anymore. Now this process the clubs. We 907 00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:19,360 Speaker 1: got clubs, we were using them to hit birds, but 908 00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:21,680 Speaker 1: now the birds are gone. At the birds they don't 909 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:28,320 Speaker 1: want to come around anymore. Yes, uh, capitalism, I felt 910 00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:32,120 Speaker 1: that in my chest. So they start butchering sea lions 911 00:51:32,160 --> 00:51:34,880 Speaker 1: and seals, and the process of turning them into oil 912 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,879 Speaker 1: is like it's a nightmare. You basically like cut off 913 00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:39,920 Speaker 1: their fat and put them in these huge pots. So 914 00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:43,000 Speaker 1: you've got these giant pots of like boiling animal fat. 915 00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:45,640 Speaker 1: And since there's no money in cleaning up the rest, 916 00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:48,279 Speaker 1: they would just leave the putrefying carcasses of the sea 917 00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:51,120 Speaker 1: lions and the seals to rot next to these giant, 918 00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:56,400 Speaker 1: like bubbling cauldrons of fucking poison fat. The once pristine 919 00:51:56,440 --> 00:51:58,960 Speaker 1: wilderness of the Fara Loans were was filled with a 920 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:01,680 Speaker 1: permanent haze of at smog and the stink of rotting 921 00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:05,640 Speaker 1: flesh permeated everything. So they just turning the more door 922 00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:12,040 Speaker 1: like they we've won the egg war. Let's ruin the islands. God, yeah, 923 00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:16,799 Speaker 1: it's good stuff. It is. It is, like, hey, that's 924 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:20,400 Speaker 1: I think that's humanity right there. Yeah. Yeah. There's a 925 00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:23,080 Speaker 1: lot to say about climate change in this, including the 926 00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:26,759 Speaker 1: fact that after the company wins and begin committing genocide 927 00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:30,720 Speaker 1: against a second species the they also start to attack 928 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:34,280 Speaker 1: the lighthouse operators again. Um. For one thing, the company 929 00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:36,719 Speaker 1: wanted to restrict the lighthouse operators and their families from 930 00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:39,080 Speaker 1: taking eggs for their personal use, even though the ships 931 00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:41,600 Speaker 1: that brought them food would often be late by weeks 932 00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:44,200 Speaker 1: due to bad weather, and sometimes they needed to hunt 933 00:52:44,239 --> 00:52:47,399 Speaker 1: the local birds in order to survive. They also tried 934 00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:50,040 Speaker 1: to force the lighthouse to destroy its fog horn, which 935 00:52:50,040 --> 00:52:53,440 Speaker 1: existed purely to save the lives of boats filled with people. 936 00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:55,680 Speaker 1: But the fog horns scared the birds, so they were like, 937 00:52:55,719 --> 00:53:00,279 Speaker 1: you gotta shut that thing off. Just in eighteen eighty 938 00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:03,920 Speaker 1: one company men assaulted another lighthouse keeper for harvesting eggs, 939 00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,759 Speaker 1: and in May of that year, the fucking army had 940 00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:09,960 Speaker 1: to forcibly evict the egg company from the far Lands islands. 941 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:13,920 Speaker 1: So I just can you imagine being the governor and 942 00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:17,680 Speaker 1: you just keep getting this this one island. You're like, God, damn, 943 00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:20,600 Speaker 1: these egg guys have to send the army out over eggs. 944 00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:25,920 Speaker 1: Army is this? Uh? And that happens, by the way, 945 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:29,080 Speaker 1: that big gun battle between those two sides occurs like 946 00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:35,480 Speaker 1: the same time that Gettysburg is happening. It's just easily 947 00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:38,239 Speaker 1: a much more important battle. I think we can all agree. Well, 948 00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:40,520 Speaker 1: that just sounds like, oh, you guys are doing fighting. 949 00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:44,920 Speaker 1: We'll do fighting. You Gettysburg cowards out would really go 950 00:53:45,120 --> 00:53:49,759 Speaker 1: We'll do well, you know, you guys fighting over freedom. 951 00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:55,680 Speaker 1: We got eggs doing eggs. This is a West coast. 952 00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:58,360 Speaker 1: That is a West coast versus East coast. They like 953 00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:01,759 Speaker 1: they're fighting. It's like racism and slavery back there. You're like, 954 00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:06,800 Speaker 1: where are you guys? Eggs Yep, a slightly higher profit margin. 955 00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:14,720 Speaker 1: So the egg war finally ends after like literally thirty 956 00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:18,239 Speaker 1: years of escalating violence. Um and in part because they 957 00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:24,040 Speaker 1: finally established chicken farms in Pedaluma and suddenly eggs every 958 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:32,239 Speaker 1: every direction around San Francisco is farms, but they weren't yet. 959 00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:38,120 Speaker 1: It's I like, dude, that just immediately we started a brothel. 960 00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:40,799 Speaker 1: He's like, man, I'm not going back to that island 961 00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:45,600 Speaker 1: that I Am done with eggs all gonna be I mean, 962 00:54:45,680 --> 00:54:50,120 Speaker 1: eggs will still be involved, but in a lesser direct way. Yes, yes, yes, 963 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:56,480 Speaker 1: so uh yeah. Mirror eggs became much less common over 964 00:54:56,520 --> 00:55:00,280 Speaker 1: the years because after four decades of taking all of 965 00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:02,520 Speaker 1: of not just smashing of like not just taking eggs, 966 00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:04,600 Speaker 1: but smashing all of the eggs on the island so 967 00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:06,239 Speaker 1: that they would lay more eggs and than taking all 968 00:55:06,239 --> 00:55:09,279 Speaker 1: of those the bird. The mirror population on the Phara 969 00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:12,520 Speaker 1: Loans dropped from an estimated four hundred thousand to sixty 970 00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:17,680 Speaker 1: thousand um because you know, yeah, it was a good 971 00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:20,400 Speaker 1: old fashioned genocide. So you could say there's a degree 972 00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:25,160 Speaker 1: to which the industry kind of destroyed itself because it 973 00:55:25,200 --> 00:55:29,400 Speaker 1: was greedy, uh, and made the environment that sustained it 974 00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:35,239 Speaker 1: no longer possible. Oh yeah, I guess there's no. No, 975 00:55:35,320 --> 00:55:37,120 Speaker 1: it's a thing that has never happened again and never 976 00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:39,880 Speaker 1: will happen again. Probably not happening right now. There's no 977 00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:42,799 Speaker 1: signs of that happening now. No, why would we? Why 978 00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:47,720 Speaker 1: would we? Why would we do the same thing repeatedly, uh, 979 00:55:47,920 --> 00:55:52,600 Speaker 1: thousands of times until we all die? That doesn't sound 980 00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:56,280 Speaker 1: like us. What if we just made seeds that only 981 00:55:56,280 --> 00:56:04,759 Speaker 1: worked once? Well, Billy, that's the war that was kind 982 00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:07,680 Speaker 1: of Yeah, it was. It was a hoot of one. 983 00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:09,480 Speaker 1: And I think it's like one of those where it's 984 00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:11,239 Speaker 1: like I don't think there's a bad guy and I 985 00:56:11,239 --> 00:56:12,920 Speaker 1: mean there's a good guy or a bad guy on 986 00:56:12,920 --> 00:56:14,440 Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, I think the good guy is the 987 00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:19,480 Speaker 1: guy who made that brothel on one. Yes, he was, 988 00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:21,960 Speaker 1: and he told some people about the reck. How did 989 00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:23,919 Speaker 1: you get this brothel? He's like, Oh, there's an egg 990 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:25,960 Speaker 1: island out there. I wouldn't go out there though, when 991 00:56:25,960 --> 00:56:28,680 Speaker 1: people are like good, He's like, I told you guys 992 00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:33,239 Speaker 1: not to go out there. Yeah. Um, it's a it's 993 00:56:33,280 --> 00:56:35,880 Speaker 1: a it's a hoot of a tale. Um. I should 994 00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:38,400 Speaker 1: note here that I found out after I had finished 995 00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:41,279 Speaker 1: researching and started writing that this is another episode that 996 00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:44,320 Speaker 1: I think the Dollar beat me too, So like, to 997 00:56:44,400 --> 00:56:47,560 Speaker 1: hell with you, Dave, I'm gonna I'll get my revenge. 998 00:56:47,960 --> 00:56:50,000 Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna not do it because it was election 999 00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:51,560 Speaker 1: week when I wrote this, and I don't have that 1000 00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:58,000 Speaker 1: much time to research stuff. But yeah, it's okay, Yeah, 1001 00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:05,120 Speaker 1: it just happens. It's the Internet anyway, and they're both talented, 1002 00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:11,040 Speaker 1: so we did. Yeah. Um, so you know, listen to 1003 00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:14,200 Speaker 1: listen to both listen to both episodes, and then send 1004 00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:19,480 Speaker 1: Dave and I both extensive essays taking apart who did 1005 00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:23,400 Speaker 1: better at which portions? Um, because we I guarantee you 1006 00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:27,160 Speaker 1: will both read them and take them to heart. We'll 1007 00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:29,800 Speaker 1: just be like the press. We'll just sit over here 1008 00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:32,120 Speaker 1: and we'll be like, you guys should fight with guns. 1009 00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:34,440 Speaker 1: We're gonna be over here. That's what will let you 1010 00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:37,280 Speaker 1: guys fight. Yeah, I think I think Dave and I 1011 00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:40,640 Speaker 1: are going to do a joust over. I guess who 1012 00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:43,080 Speaker 1: has the right to talk about Henry Kissinger. I don't know. 1013 00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:47,360 Speaker 1: Exhausting project that should be I think that's its forces 1014 00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:51,280 Speaker 1: should be joined. Yeah, I've talked to actually we've yeah, yeah, yeah, 1015 00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:53,280 Speaker 1: we've talked a little bit about that idea. It's just 1016 00:57:53,320 --> 00:57:55,760 Speaker 1: a matter of people's schedules. And also, like, do you 1017 00:57:55,800 --> 00:57:57,320 Speaker 1: have any idea how hard it is to write an 1018 00:57:57,360 --> 00:58:01,280 Speaker 1: actual episode about Henry Kissinger? And it's it's when you 1019 00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:03,160 Speaker 1: said it too, was like I got excited, and then 1020 00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:05,160 Speaker 1: you get a little scared too, because you're like, he's 1021 00:58:05,160 --> 00:58:09,080 Speaker 1: still alive. I don't know. I've read to two books already, 1022 00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:10,800 Speaker 1: and I think I'm gonna need to read two more 1023 00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:14,080 Speaker 1: to be able to like realistically write a nice, succinct, 1024 00:58:14,120 --> 00:58:17,680 Speaker 1: four part episode about the man. He's still doing stuff. 1025 00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:23,800 Speaker 1: He's never going to stop. He's always he should be dead, Yes, 1026 00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:26,960 Speaker 1: he should. If you take nothing else out of this 1027 00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:30,439 Speaker 1: episode about eggs, it's that Henry Kissinger ought to be dead. 1028 00:58:31,080 --> 00:58:33,960 Speaker 1: He may be eating those island eggs. That's a secret. 1029 00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:41,439 Speaker 1: I think he eats islands and hope, Well, Billy, I'm 1030 00:58:41,480 --> 00:58:48,400 Speaker 1: a fan of him. If he's listening, I'm yeah, same here, Bill, 1031 00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:52,080 Speaker 1: you got anything you want a pluggety pluggety plug. I 1032 00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:55,720 Speaker 1: wasn't bored too. That was really fun. Um see if 1033 00:58:55,760 --> 00:58:58,800 Speaker 1: you can find me, uh and oh, I have a 1034 00:58:58,960 --> 00:59:03,280 Speaker 1: cannabis podcast. We interview the growers and the movers and 1035 00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:06,920 Speaker 1: shakers in that make up communities. Were season two. We're 1036 00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:10,840 Speaker 1: in Humboldt County right now, and they have opened our doors, 1037 00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:14,200 Speaker 1: I mean their arms in their doors to us in 1038 00:59:14,240 --> 00:59:16,840 Speaker 1: a way that we didn't foresee. So this season keeps 1039 00:59:16,880 --> 00:59:20,640 Speaker 1: getting longer. It's really cool. Now, Billy, one last question 1040 00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:23,600 Speaker 1: before we go out. If you were a strain of 1041 00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:27,840 Speaker 1: cannabis number one sativa or indica and number or hybrid 1042 00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:30,160 Speaker 1: I guess, and number two, what's going to be the 1043 00:59:30,240 --> 00:59:32,760 Speaker 1: ratio of th HC to cb D and the Billy 1044 00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:37,480 Speaker 1: Wayne Davis. Well, here's the thing, oh h they're having 1045 00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:42,040 Speaker 1: because of you know, legality, it's tough to get a strain. 1046 00:59:42,560 --> 00:59:48,960 Speaker 1: There's some strains that have the higher C B d UM. 1047 00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,439 Speaker 1: It's just hard to find because what happens. And this 1048 00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:54,280 Speaker 1: is just from knowing, this is from doing this podcast, 1049 00:59:54,320 --> 00:59:57,520 Speaker 1: and I know just a smidge of the knowledge. But 1050 00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:03,160 Speaker 1: because of capitalism, Uh, they bread a bunch of ships 1051 01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:06,040 Speaker 1: and ruined some of the strains, but jacking up the 1052 01:00:06,080 --> 01:00:09,360 Speaker 1: THHC because you don't because you've got so many different 1053 01:00:09,440 --> 01:00:14,480 Speaker 1: cannabinoid receptors that they're just now learning about. So my 1054 01:00:14,680 --> 01:00:17,040 Speaker 1: strain that I always go to is like I like 1055 01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:20,120 Speaker 1: a sativa. That's like it's it's one of the purest 1056 01:00:20,120 --> 01:00:22,520 Speaker 1: one is jack her air. Now most things are a 1057 01:00:22,600 --> 01:00:28,000 Speaker 1: hybrid now um because they've cross bread so much stuff 1058 01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:31,000 Speaker 1: that it's hard to find just a pure sativa or 1059 01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:35,080 Speaker 1: a pure endica. And again it's capitalism. And then you know, 1060 01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:41,040 Speaker 1: and some of the old land races are harder to 1061 01:00:41,080 --> 01:00:46,680 Speaker 1: grow because of capitalism. There's just no money in it. Well, Billy, 1062 01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:49,200 Speaker 1: I guess that's the same. I mean no, it was 1063 01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:51,320 Speaker 1: kind of the same story that I just told you, 1064 01:00:51,400 --> 01:00:55,600 Speaker 1: but with marijuana and instead of eggs and more gunfights, 1065 01:00:55,600 --> 01:01:01,080 Speaker 1: but they're less publicized. Are talking? Well, we didn't answer 1066 01:01:01,080 --> 01:01:02,919 Speaker 1: this question. What if you were a type of egg? 1067 01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:04,439 Speaker 1: What type of egg would you be? Like? How would 1068 01:01:04,480 --> 01:01:07,360 Speaker 1: you would you be? Oh? Fucking ostrich? Hell? Yeah, go bigger, 1069 01:01:07,400 --> 01:01:14,200 Speaker 1: go home, Billy. I like duck eggs. Yeah, And also 1070 01:01:14,280 --> 01:01:16,960 Speaker 1: I just had some dullard duck eggs. Always ordered duck 1071 01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:22,800 Speaker 1: if it's on the menu, and duck fat. Yeah. Recently, 1072 01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:24,919 Speaker 1: we went out and went mushrooming and picked a bunch 1073 01:01:24,920 --> 01:01:27,720 Speaker 1: of chantrells in the in the deep dark woods, and 1074 01:01:27,760 --> 01:01:29,920 Speaker 1: then had a fucking My friends brought over a duck 1075 01:01:29,960 --> 01:01:32,439 Speaker 1: they'd slaughtered, and we had and I kept the duck fat. 1076 01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:34,680 Speaker 1: So I was just every day for like the next week, 1077 01:01:34,720 --> 01:01:36,680 Speaker 1: I was just throwing duck fat, and every goddamn thing 1078 01:01:36,760 --> 01:01:42,920 Speaker 1: I made sounds awesome. Duck ship, duck fats amazing. Well, 1079 01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:47,160 Speaker 1: everybody eats some fucking duck fat. Destroy capitalism or at 1080 01:01:47,240 --> 01:01:50,760 Speaker 1: least eggs. I don't know. The episodes over