Mossback’s Northwest: Keep Clam and Carry On

Restaurateur Ivar Haglund capitalized on clams and kept the virtues of clam broth — or clam nectar — on menus with a winking suggestion that it might be an aphrodisiac. But he also promoted an old frontier song that said that the abundance of clams was the essence of the good life in Puget Sound country — especially for those not prosperous in farming, prospecting or any other frontier endeavor.

Haglund sang folk songs on the radio, and one of these was called “The Old Settler.” It was written by an Olympia lawyer, Francis Henry, and published in 1877. It ends like this:

“No longer the slave of ambition,

I laugh at the world and its shams

As I think of my pleasant condition,

Surrounded by acres of clams —

Surrounded by acres of cla-a-ams,

Surrounded by acres of clams,

A poor boy will never go hungry,

Surrounded by acres of clams!”

In other words, one could be as happy as a clam here. There are a number of different versions of the song, and the original had some objectionable lyrics. Haglund named his waterfront restaurant “Acres of Clams,” though he hardly gave up on ambition as an entrepreneur.