COASTS OF WASHINGTON AND OREGON, 11 
end of Vancouver Island, and it is possible that a bank or banks of 
greater or less extent exist off the northwest coast. 
Grays Harbor section.—Good halibut bottom should be found in this 
region, although soundings at this time failed to indicate such a place. 
The following paragraph is taken from the report on the 1914 survey: ¢ 
Off Grays Harbor the continental shelf, which here attains a width of 25 to 30 
miles, is covered from shore outward to between the 40 and 50 fathom curves with 
fine gray sand, and beyond that line out into deep water is composed almost uni- 
formly of green mud. An outcrop of shale was found on one sounding about 25 
miles west of Point Chehalis. In the vicinity of Chehalis Bank, reported by Capt. 
Tanner, the soundings increased regularly in depth offshore, and showed nothing 
but green mud from the 46-fathom mark to a depth of 64 fathoms and doubtless 
beyond that. To the northward of this reported bank, and between 10 and 15 miles 
offshore, a patch of gravel bottom was found in 38 to 40 fathoms. 
The patch of gravel mentioned in the latter part of the above 
extract was relocated during the present investigation and found to 
be at least 6 miles in diameter. Between this and the 100-fathom 
line the bottom was found to be composed of fine gray sand or of 
green mud. 
An extensive ledge of hard and granular shale lies along the 100- 
fathom line 31 miles west of Point Chehalis. In the same locality 
an outcrop of hard, rocky shale covered the bottom at a sounding 
of 279 fathoms. 
From 35 to 40 miles northwest of Point Chehalis the bottom is 
very irregular, dropping from 77 fathoms in depth to over 200 fathoms 
within a distance of a mile. The depths on a line of soundings at 
1-mile intervals proved to be yay, 115, 110, s55, spp, and 77 fathoms.® 
With the exception of the spots tabulated below, the bottom was 
found to be composed mainly of green mud or of gray or black sand 
of varying degrees of coarseness. At one sounding, 37 miles north- 
west of Grays Harbor, a sample of fine white sand with a few black 
specks was obtained. 
There were located in this section 14 patches of good or favorable 
halibut bottom. In fact, good bottom may be found everywhere 
along the 100-fathom line between the depths of 90 and 115 fathoms. 
Perhaps the most promising locality is at the northern limit of opera- 
tions along the southeast ridge of the deep channel which separates 
Flattery Bank from the coast of Washington. The bottom here is 
of coarse gravel, rocks, and coarse sand. A tabulated list of the 
most favorable bottoms follows, with location and the character of 
the bottom: 
a Survey of the fishing grounds on the coasts of Washington and Oregon in 1914. Bureau of Fisheries 
document no. 817, p. 13. 
b The character + means no bottom found at the depth indicated. 
