# What is this rectangular island in Galveston Bay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131 "2013-03-27T20:33:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/1 "2013-03-27T20:33:23Z")
I was playing on Google Maps and I saw this rectangular island in Galveston Bay (near Houston, Texas). https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Galveston%2BBay,%2BGalveston,%2BTX&hl=en&ll=29.588983,-94.922562&spn=0.337958,0.441513&sll=32.319299,-64.7664&sspn=0.164217,0.220757&oq=galveston%2Bbay&hnear=Galveston%2BBay&t=m&z=11 Here’s a closeup of it in satellite view: [Google Maps](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Galveston+Bay,+Galveston,+TX&hl=en&ll=29.57704,-94.920502&spn=0.021125,0.027595&sll=32.319299,-64.7664&sspn=0.164217,0.220757&oq=galveston+bay&hnear=Galveston+Bay&t=h&z=15) It’s obviously artificial. Anyone know why they put it there and was it was/is used for? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/2 "2013-03-27T20:39:15Z")
I believe it is a spoils bank that is used to stockpile the material recovered from dredging the bay. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/3 "2013-03-27T20:44:37Z")
So it’s essentially just a pile of dirt? I’d have thought as long as they had to pile up all that dirt anyway they would have built an island with some purpose to it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/4 "2013-03-27T20:49:03Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So it’s essentially just a pile of dirt? I’d have thought as long as they had to pile up all that dirt anyway they would have built an island with some purpose to it. If you go to the “Map” icon in the upper right of your link and click on “Earth”, you can zoom in pretty close and see it is not a pile of dirt, it is quite flat, with tire tracks indicating regular vehicle traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/5 "2013-03-27T20:53:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So it’s essentially just a pile of dirt? I’d have thought as long as they had to pile up all that dirt anyway they would have built an island with some purpose to it. Those types of islands aren’t permanent. They are used to stockpile dredging material to be used for another purpose. The purpose is often to rebuild a real island that has suffered erosion from storms or other causes but they don’t typically just use fresh dredge for that. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/6 "2013-03-27T20:54:38Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > If you go to the “Map” icon in the upper right of your link and click on “Earth”, you can zoom in pretty close and see it is not a pile of dirt, it is quite flat, with tire tracks indicating regular vehicle traffic. Of course it does. Heavy equipment drives on it to move the dirt around. It isn’t like people are tooling around in their amphibious Porsche on it. I am not just making this up. I know Galveston well and they build spoils banks off of it sometimes. Here are reference to one. > **[Galveston Spoil Banks](https://www.2coolfishing.com/threads/galveston-spoil-banks.346839/)** > > Anyone have any good insight on how to fish the spoil banks out of Eagle Point. In the past I have only done mediocre. I know a lot of people go out there and get a meat haul. Is there a certain trick to finding the fish? Thanks for any advice! > ... [http://www.texassaltwaterfishingmagazine.com/fishing/galveston-march-2012/subpage172.html](http://www.texassaltwaterfishingmagazine.com/fishing/galveston-march-2012/subpage172.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/7 "2013-03-27T21:08:06Z")
Here is an article about the dredging operations in the bay and why they are being done. [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1080169/index.htm](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1080169/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/8 "2013-03-27T21:10:11Z")
They have to periodically dredge out the Houston Ship Channel, which runs just to the west of there, and the bay’s only something like 12 feet deep at most, so my guess is that it’s a spoil bank from that dredging, and that’s the consensus on most fishing forums I looked at as well. [It’s listed as “being filled” on this chart I found.](http://xpda.com/nauticalcharts/11326%20Galveston%20Bay%20Side%20A.png) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/9 "2013-03-27T21:23:10Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Those types of islands aren’t permanent. They are used to stockpile dredging material to be used for another purpose. The purpose is often to rebuild a real island that has suffered erosion from storms or other causes but they don’t typically just use fresh dredge for that. Okay, I misunderstood your previous post. I thought you were saying the island was the end location for the dredging dirt rather than just a temporary holding location until the dirt could be put to some better use. ---
**Author:** ![Jfitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jfitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jfitz)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/10 "2013-03-28T03:08:21Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It isn’t like people are tooling around in their amphibious Porsche on it. If only… If you have the time and a boat, I would imagine you could go visit it yourself. Probably get kicked off eventually. Or sink into the unstable sand and die…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/11 "2013-03-28T03:27:16Z")
Certain times of the year birds use those little islands to roost on and the environmentalists don’t want people disturbing them. Don’t know if that particular one is one of them or not. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/12 "2013-03-28T04:08:18Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Of course it does. Heavy equipment drives on it to move the dirt around. Not far from the barges there’s actually a bulldozer on the road in the google link, and you can even tell it’s pushing dirt in front of it’s blade. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/13 "2013-03-28T14:58:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay, I misunderstood your previous post. I thought you were saying the island was the end location for the dredging dirt rather than just a temporary holding location until the dirt could be put to some better use. I doubt if anyone has a better use for dredge spoil than dump it out of the way. If you could come up with an economic use for the stuff I imagine you would be a billionaire. The island is temporary in that sooner or later a hurricane is going to shift it, probably right back into the shipping lane. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/14 "2013-03-30T13:51:18Z")
Dredging may be allowed there encourage the flow of the rivers to keep the channel clear. The north south islands seem on purpose to stop the sand/silt from the east coming into the channel… The spoils only use , apart from making tempory banks, appears to be for collection of shell, for use in cement. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-rectangular-island-in-galveston-bay/654131/15 "2013-03-30T15:28:09Z")
If you zoom out a couple clicks, it disappears. Toggling between the two views, there’s a lot of other additional land to the North a bit, adjacent to the Atkinson Island Wildlife Management Area.