50 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 



there is a substratum of shells, indicating the location of old engulfed 

 oyster beds. This soft mud is of sedimentary origin, the accumula- 

 tion of deposits of silt brought down by the fresh-water streams. 



Though varying somewhat in consistency, it is believed that 

 practically all of this bottom, especially below Tiger Island, can 

 be utilized, with little or no preparation, for purposes of oyster 

 culture. Shells spread upon it will sink to some extent, but most 

 of them will remain sufficiently exposed to furnish bases for the 

 attachment of spat, and each year that the bottom is used will 

 witness an improvement in its hardness through the added accumu- 

 lations of shells. That this is not a wholly untried experiment in 

 Matagorda Bay is evidenced by the formation of the scattering beds 

 of oysters about and above Dressing Point, which, as has been 

 shown in preceding pages, have been produced by a species of unin- 

 tentional oyster culture— the deposit on the soft mud of culls and 

 shells thrown overboard from boats en route to market from beds 

 lying farther up. Local witnesses state that the great scattering 

 growth shown on the chart north of East Point signal lies upon 

 what was nothing but barren mud ten years ago. What has thus 

 . been done with foul material and without intention can undoubtedly 

 be duplicated and improved upon by well-considered and systematic 

 planting with clean shells, of which an abundant supply lies about 

 every oyster house. 



Probably the best bottom in the bay so far as natural texture is 

 concerned lies along the edge of the sand strip between Snapper 

 Bank and Crane signal, in a depth of from 3 to 6 or 7 feet of water 

 at winter low tide. Here there is a thin surface of sand resting 

 upon the mud, each material imparting some stability to the other. 

 This condition can be readily produced artificially in a great many 

 parts of the bay bv spreading a thin layer of sand over the muddy 

 bottom, where it will rest and serve as a good support for shells 

 and oysters deposited on it. Many bayous on the south shore below 

 Tiger Island run well up to the foot of the dunes along the gulf 

 shore, where at high water sand could be loaded upon scows and 

 transported to adjacent bottom at comparatively small expense. 

 Some of the bayous themselves could be used incidentally for fatten- 

 ing grounds. 



The hard mud bottom on the north shore is too narrow to be ot 

 much value to the Oyster culturist, and moreover the water here !s 

 so shallow that a large part of the bottom is much exposed during the 

 winter. The sand strip in the upper bay is wider, but it, too, in con- 

 siderable part, lies in shallow water, and moreover there are other 

 objections to planting there, as will be seen in succeeding sections of 

 this report The soft mud bottom is all found in a depth which 

 would keep planted oysters covered at all times. Above Dog Island 



