OYSTER BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI SOUND, ALA. 



23 



The eastern part of this bed is a small area of very scattering 

 growth lying north of a long shell bank west of Grants Island. It lies 

 in the very shoal water which stretches north to Gull Island, on a 

 deposit of an inch or two of soft mud on a substratum of hard sand 

 and shells. The oysters are small and })oor. West of this lies the 

 dense growth covering an area of about 39 acres in a depth of water 

 varymg from 1 to 5 feet. This bottom consists of densely com- 

 pacted sand and shells, with oysters of the raccoon type in clusters. 

 On the western border of this growth there is a depleted area on which 

 there are few" oysters of any size. The bottom changes gradually 

 from hard sand and shell close to the dense area to soft mud with 

 buried shells on the western border of the bed. 



Details of Examination of Peter Billys Gully. 



Angle 

 No. 



Date of 

 examination. 



Depth 

 of 



water. 



Character ol growth. 



Oysters caught per 

 square yard. 



Estimated quantity oys- 

 ters per acre.' 



Spat. 



Culls. 



Counts. 



Seed. 



Market. 



Total. 



428 



Dec. 29,1910 



do 



do 



Dec. 31,1910 



do 



do 



do 



Dec. 29,1910 

 do 



Feet. 

 5.00 

 4.50 

 4.00 

 3.00 

 1.00 

 3.00 

 1.50 

 5.50 

 6.00 



Dense ... 



5.6 



4.4 



4.0 



1.2 



.0 



1.7 



.0 



.0 



.0 



38.7 



76.1 



58.0 



30.4 



21.9 



35.8 



5. 7 



.0 



.0 



15.6 

 15.5 

 26.5 

 11.2 



9.7 



13.3 



2.4 



.7 

 .0 



Bush. 

 310 

 564 

 434 

 221 

 153 

 263 

 40 

 



Bush. 

 250 

 248 

 424 

 179 

 155 

 213 

 38 

 11 



Bush. 

 560 



431 

 432 



468 



do 



do 



... .do 



812 

 858 

 400 



470 



do. 



308 



471 



do 



476 



469 

 430 



Very scattering 



Depleted 



78 

 11 



434 



do 





















CxRAXTS PASS. 



Grants Pass is a dredged channel cut through the oyster beds 

 which extend as a practically unbroken reef from Cedar Pomt to 

 Little Dauplmi Island and separate Mobile Bay from Mississippi 

 Sound. The channel itself carries a minimum depth of about 11 

 feet, but at the Mobile Bay end the water shoals to about 8J feet, 

 and opposite the w^estern or Mississippi Sound end to about 6^ feet 

 at low water. There is a row of 7 dolphins or clusters of piles for 

 25 to 60 yards north of the thread of the channel. The oyster bed 

 designated by the name of this pass is here arbitrarily assumed to lie 

 not only in the deep water of the channel, but to extend as a strip 

 about 200 to 250 yards wide on each side of the row of piles above 

 described, with the exception of the cluster at the Mobile Bay end, 

 which is assumed to lie in Big GuUy bed. This bed was extensively 

 worked by tongers during the period of the survey and with Pass 

 aux Herons, which adjoins it to the south, produced the bulk of the 

 oysters taken by tonging in the winter of 1910-11. 



The extent and productiveness of this bed are show^n on the table 

 following. 



