A custom cigar box label commissioned by Wallace Stewart for his Toke Point Oyster Company, circa 1904.

Hon. Peter Wallace Stuart

aka Capt. Wallace Stewart

1863-1911

Peter Wallace Stewart (sometimes spelled Stuart) was born at Bruceport, Washington Territory, on June 14, 1863. His father, Charles W. Stewart, arrived at the ill-fated Pacific City in 1850 in a party led by Dr. Elijah White. When Pacific City was taken for a military establishment, Charles staked out a claim on Shoalwater Bay at the location still known as “Stuart Slough.” He married Ophelia, a Quinault woman, who was well-known for her intelligence and warmhearted generosity. Unhappily, the three children born to them were soon left orphans.

Son Wallace grew up in the oyster business. He was one of the first to suggest transplanting Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) to Shoalwater Bay and was the first to organize the successful Toke Point Oyster Company. As owner and manager of that company, Wallace Stewart made the Toke Point oyster famous.

Like most of the Shoalwater Bay oystermen of the late 19th century, Capt. Wallace Stewart (which is apparently how he was spelling his name during his sailing years) belonged to the Shoalwater Bay Yacht Club with headquarters at Oysterville, then the county seat. After the races, the club always gave a Regatta Ball, long remembered as the crowning social event of the season. Spectators came from as far away as Portland to watch the event and to participate in the celebratory festivities afterwards.

In 1905, some years after the regattas had ceased, Stewart wrote an article about those races for an unnamed publication, “Racing Sailors of the Early Days” was reprinted in 1966 in the second issue of the Pacific County Historical Society’s quarterly, the Sou’wester. In it, Stewart praises the skills of the oystermen who sailed their working boats (called “plungers”) in those races. In particular, he mentions E.G. Loomis, Thomas, Captain Al Harris, J.C. Johnson, Capt. A.T. Stream, Forney Soule, James Johnson, Capt. Wes Whitcomb, Isaac Smith and Charles Fisher, as well as boat builders Dan Louderback and the Patterson Brothers. Stewart says little about himself, although his name has come down through the annals of the famous “racing sailors” as the best of them all in the Shoalwater region.

More Information about plungers

More Information about plungers

Perhaps the best description of the boats called “plungers” by local mariners was written by Frank Turner (1882-1961) in his column “From Auld Lang Syne” printed in The Ilwaco Tribune:” Plungers were sailboats, with jib and mainsail, about 30 feet long or less, and 10 feet wide. They had centerboards, which is a kind of movable keel very useful in shallow waters in holding a sailboat ‘into the wind.’ The pioneer boat builders became very skillful in constructing these boats, and it became customary to hold annual regatta meets to see which boat could sail a thirty mile course in the shortest time. Seamanship as well as skillful boat building had much to do with the outcome, and the running of a regatta was a time of great and exciting gatherings.

In 1908, Stuart was elected state representative from District 19 representing Pacific and Wahkiakum counties. While in office, he was the author of much oyster legislation and, serving as chairman of the State Board of Oyster Commissioners, it was he who selected the state oyster reserves. A resident of Tokeland after 1893, it was here he met an accidental death by drowning at about 9 o’clock Wednesday night, March 21, 1911. Planning to work late at his office in preparation for a trip East on Saturday, and with appointments elsewhere on Thursday and Friday, he was not missed until he failed to come to South Bend to see his son, Charles, a student there.

When a Washington state legislator dies in office, it is customary to give a eulogy in a joint session of both the House and Senate, rather than just the one in which the legislator served. Two eulogies were given for Peter Wallace Stewart by legislators from his district on Shoalwater Bay — one by Captain A.T. Stream, also serving in the House with Representative and by Sen. Harry Albert Espy, Stuart’s “opposite” during the 13th Legislative Session. Both men spoke to Stewart’s character and I have chosen to include Capt. Stream’s here in deference to brevity. (Apologies to my grandfather, Harry Espy, who tended to be verbose on all occasions.)

From “Memorial Addresses in Joint Session of Senate and House: Thirteenth Legislature of the State of Washington 1913”: Mr. Stream Spoke as Follows: Peter Wallace Stewart was born at Willapa Harbor in Pacific County. He was a man beloved by all. Wallace Stuart was a man who, it is safe to say, had no enemies in the community where he lived… He was of a jovial disposition, always happy and good natured. He was liberal in his views, and always willing to grant to the other fellow the right of his own thoughts and opinions. He was a good citizen, a splendid neighbor and a kind and loving father.