6 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN VICINITY OF APALACHICOLA, FLA. 
also did practically all the plotting and made the smooth sheet and 
chart. The tide-gauge observations were made at Apalachicola by 
Thomas J. Adams and J. H. Marshall and at the station on St. 
Vincent Island by Oscar Barrow, all of the Fish Hawk. At the- 
remaining stations the readings were made by either civilians or by 
members of the working party detailed for that purpose. The survey 
was greatly facilitated by the zeal and interest taken by those engaged 
in the work. 
During the season of 1895-96 the Bureau made a survey of the 
oyster beds in these waters “ from Indian Pass to and including Cat 
Point, Bulkhead, and East Hole Bars. 
HISTORICAL DATA. 
Although no written word is left of their labors, the first persons 
engaged in the oyster industry in this region were undoubtedly the 
aborigines. These people were evidently keenly observant of the 
economic worth of oysters and carried on the fishery quite exten- 
sively for a long time, as is indicated by the presence of large quan- 
tities of oyster shells in long windrows and piles on the banks. This is 
particularly noticeable along the north shore of the western half of 
St. Vincent Sound. 
The following brief account of this oyster region, covering a period 
of 80 years, is based on data kindly furnished by John G. Ruge and 
others of Apalachicola, Fla., and also from the report of the previous 
survey. 
Oysters were first taken for the local market in 1836, but the 
industry did not attain much importance until 1850. It contimued 
rather active until the Civil War, when work practically ceased. The 
beds meanwhile improved and were in very good condition. After 
the war the oyster business was again taken up, but it was not until 
1878 that it was carried on at all extensively. It then continued 
active for about eight years, when, on January 12, 1886, the greater 
part of the oysters, owing to a series of low tides, was materially 
injured by a-hard freeze. The reefs, however, recovered and the 
season of 1890-91 was very productive. 
During the winter of 1893-94 the beds of St. Vincent Sound and 
Apalachicola Bay were nearly destroyed, and for the next two years 
practically no oysters were taken from these places. Meanwhile Cat 
Point, Bulkhead, and Porter Bars furnished the greater part of the 
oysters brought to market. 
On October 8, 1894, a heavy gale caused many of the oysters to be 
covered with sand and mud. Then this was followed by a freeze on 
December 29 and for several days the temperature fell to 14° F., 
a Report of a survey of the oyster regions of St. Vincent Sound, Apalachicola Bay, and St. George 
Sound, Fla. By Lieut, Franklin Swift, U.S. Navy. Report of the Commissioner for 1896, p. 187-221, 
