The full phrase is "happy as a clam
at high tide."
The phrase originated in the north-eastern states of the USA in the early 19th century. The earliest citation that I can find is from a frontier memoir
The Harpe's Head - A Legend of Kentucky, 1833... The expression was well-enough known in the USA by the late 1840s for it to have been included in John Russell Bartlett's
Dictionary Of Americanisms - A Glossary of Words And Phrases Usually Regarded As Peculiar To The United States, 1848:
"As happy as a clam at high water," is a very common expression in those parts of the coast of New England where clams are found.
Text from The Phrase Finder.
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