10 OYSTER CULTURE EXPERIMENTS IN LOUISIANA. 



SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING SURVEYS. 



The first of these applies to the manner of making and recording 

 the surveys of leased bottom and is made with a full understanding 

 of the great difficulties confronting the surveyors in the conduct of 

 their work. The oyster regions of the state are almost wholly in 

 an intricate system of bays and bayous lying in the midst of a flat 

 and topographically featureless expanse of salt marsh and prairie. 

 The land is rarely more than a foot or two above high-water mark 

 and is almost devoid of trees and conspicuous distinctive marks of 

 any kind. For a large part of the area there are no even approxi- 

 mately satisfactory maps or charts. The work of the United States 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey has been confined almost entirely to the 

 outer coast, which alone is of importance from a viewpoint of navi- 

 gation, although in a few places, as in the St. Bernard marshes, 

 Barataria Bay, and, more recently, in Terrebonne Bay, the work 

 has been carried some distance inland. JVIany bodies of water of 

 more or less importance in the oyster industry are not shown on 

 any maps published, many others are so incorrectly laid down as 

 to be practically or absolutely unrecognizable, and on some maps 

 there are shown bodies of water which do not exist. 



Confronted by these serious difficulties, the lack of comprehensive 

 surveys and authentic maps, and the paucity of conspicuous per- 

 manent landmarks, the surveyors in many cases have been at a loss 

 to prepare plats of much value as matters of permanent record. The 

 corner marks of the leaseholds are frail stakes standing in the water, 

 where they are subject to the erosions of destructive marine organ- 

 isms and dislodgment by gales and collisions with passing boats. 

 They must be frequently replaced, and are of no value as final points 

 of reference. 



In the great majority of cases important corners can be " tied up " 

 to no permanent natural objects, and they are located with respect to 

 bearings and angles taken to tangents of points of land. As is well 

 known to those familiar with the region, many of these points are 

 so similar to one another that it is difficult to recognize the descrip- 

 tions and, moreover, they are undergoing constant erosion from the 

 waves. Narrow strips of land are converted first into islands and 

 then eventually disappear entirely and within a few years may 

 become absolutely useless for topographical reference. At the present 

 time, with the leaseholds comparatively iew and genei-ally more or 

 less isolated from one another, the matter is not of grave immediate 

 importance, the chief desideratum of confining the lessee to an area 

 no greater than that to which he is entitled being easily attained. 

 The nice location of a man's 10 or 20 acres is of little present moment, 

 provided that he pays the rental on the full area occupied. 



