EFFECTS OF PULP MILL POLLUTION ON OYSTERS 
177 
There is no way of determining the volume of liquor discharged at the mill or pumped 
to the discharge tanks. The following quotations are taken from the unpublished 
daily reports of State Fishery Inspectors C. C. Rice and E. Hart: 
On March 14, 1929, we visited the discharge tanks at the end of the pipe line and found them 
empty, and no evidence of them having been used recently. On March 15, 1929, we visited the 
discharge tanks at the end of the pipe line and found them about three-fourths full of red liquor 
(175,000 gals.), which had been pumped into the discharge tanks during the night before, and which 
was released into Hammersley Inlet at high tide (8.34 a. m.) . We visited the discharge tanks again 
at 7.00 p. m., and found them empty, nothing having been pumped into the tanks during the day. 
On the morning of March 16 the same inspectors found the tanks one-third full 
of red liquor (70,000 gallons), and the same amount at 6.40 p. m. the same day. 
No liquor was pumped on March 17, and only a little (not over 20,000 gallons) on 
March 18. Thus we see that, according to the reports of State inspectors, in a period 
of 5 days, during which the plant was under constant observation and produced 
about 1,400,000 gallons of waste liquor, less than 20 per cent of the total was pumped 
out of Oakland Bay; and during 2 days out of the 5 very little, if any, was disposed of 
through the pipe line. 
Conditions on the oyster beds changed rapidly after the mill started operations. 
Heretofore, the water was clear, and the oystermen were able to spread shells without 
the aid of marking stakes. Soon it was impossible to see bottom except in very 
shallow water, and the normal green color of the water was replaced by the coffee- 
brown shade characteristic of dilute sulphite waste liquor. During the summer and 
autumn of 1929 a large proportion of the liquor was disposed of through the pipe line, 
and the oysters resumed growth, and a very few seed were obtained. During these 
observations (December 9, 1929) a sudden appearance of deeply discolored water at 
the oyster beds led to inquiry at the pulp mill concerning discharges of concentrated 
liquor into the bay at the plant. The foreman stated that about 6,000 to 7,000 
gallons of concentrated liquor had been released through the sewer about 36 hours 
before the appearance of the brown coloration on the oyster beds. 
Since the pulp mill was located at one end of Oakland Bay and the oyster beds at 
the other, with the outlet on one side of the bay between the two, a study of the tidal 
currents was necessary to determine whether the liquor discharged at the mill might 
reach the oyster beds. (Fig. 48.) The currents in the bay were traced by means of 
an Eckman current meter which registers the direction and velocity of the current 
at any depth to which it is lowered. 
It was learned that the flood tide causes a rapid flow of water into Oakland Bay 
from Hammersley Inlet, and that the reverse movement takes place at nearly the 
same velocity, that is about 2.2 feet per second on the surface. The main stream of 
the current passes across the southern end of Oakland Bay, and along the northwest 
shore toward and through the “Narrows” where the oyster beds are located. The 
out-going tide is at the first a general surface movement toward the head of Hammers- 
ley Inlet, but gradually the flow of water from the head of the bay causes a strong 
current down the center of the bay past the mouth of Hammersley Inlet, and then 
back along the south shore before it leaves Oakland Bay. (Fig. 47.) These currents 
are easily observed by the movement of drift and are well known to the boatmen of 
the vicinity. 
The bottom currents differ in direction and velocity from the surface currents. 
At the entrance to Oakland Bay the water is about 50 feet deep at low water. A 
deep channel crosses the lower end of the bay, follows the northeast shore, and runs 
