Town built around trees and oysters

By PHUONG LE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Lloyd McHargue first stopped here on his way to dig clams on the Olympic Peninsula and thought: "Who in the world would want to live here?"

Turns out, he did.

That was back in 1964, when McHargue, now a retired physician's assistant, moved his family to Shelton, lured by the area's enchanted forests and abundant waterways.

Back then, the city that built itself around timber and oysters seemed an attractive place to raise a family.

With its evergreen forests, clear lakes and narrow inlets snaking to Puget Sound, Shelton felt so much like home that McHargue opted to stay.

"We're still in Shelton," says McHargue one morning over coffee at the popular Lynch Creek Floral.

Across the street, a truck driver cruising along historic downtown's main drag honks and shouts "hello" to someone on the sidewalk.

Inside the shop, longtime residents like McHargue and Ray Smith, a 21-year resident, relax, drink coffee and talk about how times have changed.

"We've got a real nice community here," says Smith, who retired after almost 39 years with J.C. Penney.

"I don't think the city is as wild as it used to be" when logging camps dominated, says McHargue, one of the first employees at the Monroe Correctional Facility.

Founded in 1855 in the shadows of the Olympic Mountains, Shelton developed hand in hand with logging and oyster production.

As those industries have subsided, Shelton has reinvented itself.

"Shelton is coming along," says Billie Howard, executive director of the Mason County Historical Society and longtime resident. "The city is trying to give Shelton a facelift."

The new face is multifaceted. It includes a retirement community, a thriving tourist stop and gateway to the Olympic Peninsula and Hood Canal and a city that prides itself still on its lumber mills, farms and oyster beds.

Fir, hemlock, cedar, pine and alder trees hug the two-lane roads in this city of about 7,810 people -- the government seat of Mason County, located about 18 miles north of Olympia.

Timber and shellfish have been the mainstays, and the town's two largest festivals pay tribute to those parts of Shelton's economic development.

Next weekend, Oysterfest will draw thousands of visitors for two days of oyster shucking, wine-tasting, music and seafood cook-offs.

With more than 20,000 visitors expected, the Oysterfest West Coast Oyster Shucking Championship at the Mason County Fairgrounds is the biggest draw.

Bragging rights for "fastest oyster shucker" remain hotly contested.

For five years, Xinh Dwelley, the 48-year-old chef of Xinh's Clam and Oyster House, proudly held those honors.

She stopped entering the contest after her last win in 1992, she says, because "when you win five times, it's time to stop."

Each night seems a busy one at the restaurant, Dwelly's employer of 20 years and a family business that has been around since the turn of the century.

Once known to the Skokomish Indians as King Skookum because of the strong rush of tides through a narrow inlet, the city got its name from David Shelton.

Shelton settled here in 1853 after traveling to the Pacific Northwest from Missouri by covered wagon. Early inhabitants included the Skokomish and Squaxin, the principal tribes of the region.

Mason County, which has about 46,700 residents, took its name from Charles Mason, the first territorial secretary and acting governor.

Shelton became the county seat in 1888 and dropped its previous name, Sheltonville.

Solomon Simpson set up the Simpson Logging Co. in 1895, which was the county's first major logging business.