OYSTEK BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 13 



low-water depth of 3 feet. Dressing Island was a peninsula at the 

 time the Coast Survey topographic work was performed, but a chan- 

 nel carrying H feet into Live Oak Bay has since been eroded through 

 its neck. 



Browns Cut is an uncompleted canal dug in the spring of 1905 

 from the head of Browns Bayou nearly to the gulf shore. It is the 

 intention of the projectors to continue this upon favorable oppor- 

 tunity, so as to admit salt water to the head of the bay. Owing to 

 the shifting character of the sands on the gulf coast it is doubtful, 

 however, whether this channel can be maintained without constant 

 work, as the tendency of the currents will be to pile up a sand bar 

 at its inner end, which by checking the currents will probably eventu- 

 ally result in the silting up of the cut. 



THE OYSTER BEDS. 



DENSITY OF OYSTER GROWTH. 



The oyster beds of Matagorda Bay above Half Moon light-house 

 as developed by this survey comprise a total area of 3,111 acres, 

 exclusive of shores and bayous. It must not be assumed, however, 

 that this area is all oyster-bearing, for many of the scattering and 

 very scattering beds consist of an aggregation of small patches 

 separated by more or less extensive areas of barren bottom. In 

 the region above Dressing Point, for instance, it is quite possible to 

 find stretches of barren bottom within the limits of charted beds, 

 but further investigation would show such barren bottom to be 

 surrounded by more or less productive areas. 



Only the general extent of the beds is indicated on the accom- 

 panying chart, and no attempt is made to show the position or the 

 extent of the individual patches. Even were it practicable to find 

 and locate with instruments each of these, it would be quite impos- 

 sible as well as useless to plat and exhibit them on the chart. The 

 chart is intended to show that over the broad area represented 

 oysters will be found in an average density of growth indicated by 

 the symbols adopted, but they may be dense in one place, scattering 

 in another, and totally absent in a third. Three symbols are em- 

 ployed, showing (1) very scattering growth, averaging less than 25 

 barrels per acre; (2) scattering growth, averaging between 25 and 

 100 barrels per acre, and (3) dense growth, indicating anything of 

 an average productiveness of over 100 barrels per acre. These sym- 

 bols apply solely to oysters 3 inches or more in length, this arbitrary 

 standard having beeen selected as a minimum size of marketable 

 oyster. Practically, however, many of these small oysters, owing to 

 their inferior shape, are economically worthless until they have 

 attained further growth. 



