Excerpt from Survey of Oyster Bottoms in Matagorda Bay, Texas: Bureau of Fisheries Document No; 610 On February 13, 1904, Hon. A. S. Burleson, Representative in Congress from Texas, addressed to the Bureau of Fisheries a request that a survey of the oyster regions of that state be made for the pur pose of determining their extent, condition, and the possibilities of their development and improvement. It being impossible with the Bureau' s limited equipment and personnel to'undertake a comprehensive exami nation of the extensive oyster-producing waters of the entire Texas coast, a work which would require several years, suggestion was made on February 15 that a specific locality be indicated and that the proper state authorities make a formal request for this survey in order that the Bureau may know officially that the proposed work is agreeable to and desired by the state. Pursuant to this suggestion Hon. S. W. T. Lanham, governor of Texas, on March 14 made formal application for the survey, and in a letter dated May 14, in reply to a request of the Bureau, submitted correspondence defi nitely indicating Matagorda Bay as the most desirable region for the investigation. The steamer Fish H amic was detailed to the work, with the requisite civilian assistants in addition to her naval personnel, and the direction of the survey was assigned to Dr. H. F. Moore, scientific assistant in the Bureau of Fisheries. It was the original intention to dispatch the F ish Hawk in season totake up the work early in September, 1904, but delays incident to the making of meces sary repairs caused unexpected detention and the vessel did not reach the scene of her labors until December 14. The work continued until May 14, 1905, according to the plans and with the results detailed in the following pages. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.