14 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE SHELL FISH COMMISSIONERS 
stant reference to meet the requirements of the work, and frequent 
calls are made for tracings from them, which require a great deal 
of time, skill, and labor to make. 
There are twelve books of designations and titles copied from 
town records and indexed. 
Six hundred and sixty-five applications have been made, and 
the same number of notices filled and posted. Most of these ap- 
plications were examined by the Commissioners. Many of them 
were contested; some were withdrawn; some failed to take the 
deed after it was tendered, and some were rejected. Five hun- 
dred and eighty-three deeds were drawn and delivered, covering 
an aggregate of 50,549;%, acres. 
In addition to this, many letters are received daily at the office 
which have to be read and answered, either by the Commissioners 
personally, or, by their advice, through the Clerk or Engineer. 
These letters come from persons engaged in the industry, from 
people in all parts of the State, from officials of other States, and 
even foreign countries; and common courtesy required that the 
information sought should be given, when possible. Such corre- 
spondence is a natural result of the reputation which th State 
has gained at home and abroad through her system of protecting 
the oyster industry. 
During all this time the Commissioners were searching for 
information about the owners and claimants of lots. As soon as 
practicable, after claims were discovered, the claimants were noti- 
fied to accompany the engineers on a survey—sometimes with the 
adjoining claimants, and sometimes without them. These surveys 
and all other information of importance were returned to the 
Commissioners, and, after due deliberation, were mapped. In the 
fall of 1886 this preliminary work was completed, and maps 
showing the outline and location of every lot, as claimed, within 
the jurisdiction of the Commissioners, were made and filed in the 
town clerks’ offices of the respective towns west of New Haven. 
Now, all this tedious work was absolutely necessary as prelim- 
inary to the final mapping. 
The Commissioners had nothing before them but a bare waste 
of waters. As the position of a lot under water could be deter- 
mined only by ranges and bearings upon objects on the shore, 
and as most of the town designations previously made had been 
so located, the first thing necessary was to establish these objects, 
—such as rocks, trees, buildings, steeples and the like—and where 
