OYSTER-BEDS OF LOUISIANA. 51 



bonne Bay, being visited en route. No attempt was made to chart or 

 locate even approximately the individual beds examined on this brief 

 tour, but their general character, present condition, and future pros- 

 pects are reported upon in the following pages. 



The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to Col. F. C. Zacharie, 

 Hon. E. McCullom, Hon. Adolph Meyer, and Hon. S. P. Henry for 

 valuable assistance and information, and to Mr. F. F. Hansell for the 

 use of his yacht in visiting the St. Bernard beds in August, 1897. 



THE NATURAL OYSTER-BEDS OF ST. BERNARD PARISH. 



General description of the region. — The area embraced within the limits 

 of the reconnaissance made by the Fish .HatcZf, and shown upon the chart 

 accompanying this report, does not include all of the oyster-grounds 

 within the parish of St. Bernard. Field work was pushed into the inte- 

 rior waters lying southwest of Indian Mound Bay and Southwest Pass, 

 and known to the oystermen as Treasure Bayou, Mussel Bayou, Flat 

 Bay, etc., but the lack of a chart of this region approaching even 

 approximate correctness has made it seem inadvisable to attempt to 

 plot the oyster-beds found there, though they are described in general 

 terms in the text. South of Drum Bay, in which lie the southernmost 

 of the charted beds, are extensive areas of good oysters stretching 

 to the parish line at Mozambique Point, but these were not examined, 

 owing to lack of time. We were informed that notwithstanding their 

 extent and the good quality of the oysters they were not extensively 

 worked, on account of their inaccessibility as compared with other beds 

 of St. Bernard Parish, and for this reason it was considered that, for 

 the purposes of the investigation, it was not advisable to devote to 

 their examination time which could be more profitably spent in the 

 study of those beds which were in active use and which therefore pre- 

 sented problems of more immediate importance. In this connection 

 incidental mention may be made of the gregariousness and the general 

 lack of enterprise of the oystermen of this district, who, in the latter 

 part of the season, often spend upward of two weeks in loading their 

 boats in Three-mile Bay, rather than leave their fellows and familiar 

 ground to sail 20 or 30 miles to the southward, where they claim they 

 could secure their fares in three or four days. 



The district covered by the field work extends from Mississippi 

 Sound on the north as far as Morgan Harbor on the south, and from 

 Chaudeleur Sound to the zone where the water becomes of such slight 

 salinity as to be fatal to oyster life. Within the limits of the reconnais- 

 sance this zone accords approximately with the meridian passing through 

 Lake Borgne light house, in Mississippi Sound the oysters extending a 

 mile or two west of that limit, while in the marshes they are all east of 

 the line. The area covered by the reconnaissance was about 200 square 

 miles, comprising a large part of the "Louisiana Marsh." The land 

 is low, rarely rising more than 18 inches above the level of ordinary 

 high water, but in a few cases shell-banks have been thrown up by 



