392 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



State, and permitted him to take for liis own use an area not exceeding? 

 538 yards square (nearly (50 acres) and to hold the same for a iieriod 

 of twelve years. It also provid(Ml that no preemption should be per- 

 mitted "nearer than the extreme low-water mark in front of the shore 

 or water-front of another" without the consent of the owner of such 

 water-front. Within a short time after the passage of tin's l^ill many 

 acres of oyster-grounds were preempted, and witliin four years papers 

 had been iiled for about 30,000 acres of ground situated in (Talveston, 

 Matagorda, Espiritu Santo, Aransas, and Corpus Christi bays. 



No mention was made in the act of 1887 as to whether the preempted 

 area may not be natural OJ^ster- ground ; neither did this enactment 

 expressly repeal the act of 1879, though it seems to embrace much of 

 the subject-matter of that act. Hence the doubt existed as to whether 

 this last enactment permitted the preemption of natural oyster beds. 

 Many persons thinking that it did permit such preemption spent time 

 and money in obtaining bottoms of that descri])tion, as well as unpro- 

 ductive ground; these were chietly persons interested in the marketing 

 of oysters. Another class of men, mainly oystermen, while contending 

 that the provisions of the act of 1870 prohibiting the preemption of 

 natural oyster-grounds was still operative, yet fearing that the courts 

 might decide contrary to their ideas, took up such areas for their own 

 protection. A third class contented themselves with taking up grounds 

 on which oysters do not ordinarily grow, these being obtained partly for 

 planting oysters, partly for speculative purposes, and some (particularly 

 where the preemptor owned the adjoining water-front) merely to keep 

 out other x^ersons. 



This very unsatisfac^tory order of things existed when the State leg- 

 islature met in the spring of 18',)1, and an attempt was made at tliat 

 session to enact a satisfjictory law, and the "oyster question" became 

 of some prominence in Texas. This resulted in the enactment of tlie 

 law at i)resent in force, which provides for the preservation to the 

 public of all the natural reefs and ])ermits the preemption by each bona- 

 iide citizen for liiteen years of an area not exceeding 538 yards sqnare 

 (50.8 acres), not productive of oysters at the time of preemption; the 

 notice of preempti(m to be tiled for record with the clerk of the county 

 in which the grounds may be situated, ami its location to be designated 

 among other things by "four buoys aiujhored or tour stakes lirndyand 

 permanently i)lanted, one at each corner of such location. * * * 

 Said stakes sliall i»roject at least 4 feet ahove ordinary tides, aud shall 

 be not less than (> inches in diameter if of wood or 3 inches in diameter 

 if of iron."* 



No ground lias yet been obtained under tliislaw; all the areas noAV 

 held by individuals or corpoiatioiis having been preempted under the 



* It seems that this wonlrt matorially intorfpre with navigation .and serious 

 objootinns would ho mado to perniittinj; stalvcs iiiolies square to he " ilimly ami 

 perniaucutly planted" in uavigahh' waters. 



