OtSTEK BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI EAST OF BILOXL 



11 



DESCRIPTION OF NATURAL BEDS, 



SCRANTON REEF. 



Scranton Reef lies in the shallow water west of the mouth of Pasca- 

 goula River. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching for upward 

 of IJ miles in a southwesterly direction from the depleted bottom 

 close to shore to a depth of 3 or 4 feet at its outer edge. Its former 

 natural limits apparently have been greatly extended within a 

 recent period, partly by the ordinary operations of oystering, 

 partly through the agency of gales which have distributed oysters 

 and shells over the surrounding mud and sand and, principally 

 through planting operations, reported to have been conducted by 

 the State on the originally barren bottom contiguous to the offshore 

 margin of the natural bed. 



The original reef, and practically the only part of the present bed 

 which has reef-like characteristics, is a narrow strip of raccoon 

 oystei-s having a length of about IJ miles in an approximately east 

 and west direction, and an average width of about 200 yards. The 

 later natural and artificial accretions to the bed lie north and south 

 of this ridge. 



The bed constitutes the largest continuous area of oyster growth 

 in that part of Mississippi covered by the survey, but the oysters at 

 the time of examination were small, rough, and inferior, and there is 

 every reason to believe that that has been their condition for some 

 years. During the time of the survey practically no oysters were 

 taken from the bed. 



The area, condition of oyster growth, and estimated content of 

 this bed are shown in the following table; 



Oyster Growth on Scranton Reep. 



The dense growth lies in the planted area outside the original reef 

 as an arcuate strip about one-half mile long and 250 yards wide. 

 The depth of water over this is about a foot less than on the adjacent 

 bottom bearing a more scattering growth, and varies from about 2^ 

 feet at the northern to 4 feet at the southern end of the strip. It is 



