The North Carolina Field 243 



ing bottoms, possibly may never produce many market- 

 able oysters, conditions are different in the broader 

 water. In Pamlico Sound, a body of water approx- 

 imately sixty miles long by twenty-five miles wide, the 

 possibilities of future oyster culture seem to be great. 

 Opening through the spit that separates it from the 

 ocean, are five or six inlets of sufficient size to give the 

 sound waters a tidal rise and fall of three or four feet. 

 There are, however, no tidal currents except near the 

 inlets, but variable wind currents, often having a velocity 

 of half a mile an hour, are frequently developed, and 

 serve the purpose of carrying food to extensive oyster 

 beds in various parts of the sound. The greater part of 

 the bottom is of hard sand, covered by a thin layer of 

 mud and organic material. The water is shallow, sel- 

 dom attaining a depth of more than twenty feet. Here 

 and there are extensive tracts at a distance from shore 

 over which there are less than ten feet of water. Waves 

 drag the bottom during severe storms, and sand thus 

 shifted where oysters are growing destroys them in 

 great numbers. 



The history of the oyster industry in Pamlico Sound 

 is a record of the usual series of events. Natural beds 

 were discovered, dredging became excessive, the beds 

 were soon impoverished, many of them being completely 

 destroyed, and the ruin of a large natural source of 

 wealth was begun. All this occurred much more rap- 

 idly than in Chesapeake Bay — a fortunate circumstance 

 in one way, because it is the usually necessary prelim- 

 inary to oyster culture. 



In the winter of 1887-8 a survey of the oyster grounds 

 of the sound was made by Lieutenant Winslow, U. S. N.. 

 and many extensive oyster beds, before unknown, were 



