The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-05-18
AN ELK NECK TRIP.

FFshery-FIshing-I Sunken Mountain
| Alum Banks-IHe Farms, Sc.
On Monday morning last we found our
self seated in a dagger wagon " with an
agreeable company behind pair of ''spank-
ing bays" well not exactly that, one of
the animals being gray, which in poetry
would rhyme to bay, and in the wagon
matched equally we'll in the matter of speed
and spirit. We drove out of town with
the dust flying, and turning into the Elk
Neck Road headed for Mauldin's Mountain,
the scene of that reported wonder, the
Gland sink" AS there wasn't much to
describe after reaching this "fall in real
estate" we may as well enjoy the ride by
| noting the objects of interest on the way,
going and returning.
We proceeded by the Old Elk Neck road
which runs along the backbone Of the
Check" through broken woody country
the entire length of the Neck, " till the
road butts on the Chesapeake bay at Bulls
Mountains place long famous for its
shad and herring fisheries. At Mr.. VIM.
Merrey's, six or eight miles from Elkton,
we struck the burned district, over which
| the forest fires ragged with such fearful vio-
| lence but a fortnight previous. The fire
broke out on the land of Mr.. John A. Will
| son, and soon got beyond all control,
sweeping through the woods, driven by
| strong wind, in many places faster than
man could run. The extreme dryness of
| which mounted to the tree tops in their
mad career, leaving the forest, where it
| passed through, leafless and apparently
dead with the ground licked clean of every
| thing that would burn. The fires swept
over an area of nearly ten miles in length
by four in width, running in an irregular
line, influenced by the shifting winds and
the men who fought the flames by g back
firing" as it is termed-which is setting
| fire to the woods in front of the main body,
along the margins of roads and other favor
able locations, and consuming the combus-
tible material by a fire which is kept under
control before the great irresistible sea of
flame reaches the spot which has been
"back fired" A great quantity of timber
was injured and destroyed by the fire with
cordwood and fences, but fortunately no
houses or other buildings. The fire ex-
tended to near North East, and round in
an irregular line to the farm Of Jas. T.
Mccullough, Esq, occasionally skipping
patch of few acres which remains
unseathed in the midst of the wide, black
ened track of the tiend.
A pleasant drive brought us to Wilson's
"Gridiron Fishery where we found Mr..
| William Wilson and Mr.. Alexander Rutter
engaged in hauling for shad and herrings
| with seine that swept circuit of three
miles, reaching across the channel through
which the waters of North East river find
their way to the bay, touching the edge of
the flats, the great feeding grounds Of the
canvasback duck, and the famous gun
ming grounds of the Havre de Grace duck
brought to shore seven or eight hundred
shad and as many thousand behring's. The
catch has not been at all large this season,
| and the business but moderately remunera-
tive. The Messrs. Wilson and Rutter
informed us that they expected to "eut
out " next week.
The Wilson family are the Oldest fisher
| men in Elk Neck, the business descending
from father to son. 1t has formerly been
very remunerative, and is yet, some sea-
SONS, quite profitable. A short distance
above Wilson's shore, Bulls Mountain
Fishery, we think it is called, is fished by
Crothers and Whitaker.
Sprinkled along the shore further down
were OILERS boats riding at anchor, while
the fishermen were resting in the shade, or
overhauling and repairing their nets that
were hung up to dry. The OILERS do their
fishing at night by laying their nets out in
the bay, which drift up and down with the
tide, and are examined at intervals and the
fish taken out. Later in the season the
| eels are very annoying to the OILERS, and
swarm so thick that the moment shad is
fastened in the net they attack it and if
| net removed devsur it in few minutes
The loss to the OILERS from the depreda-
ton Of cells is very great, From one to
two hundred shad are good nights fish
ing for gill net.
Our grand objective point was the
Gland sink" on the side of moderate
hill, which rises from the bay shore about
one-half or three-fourths of a mile below
the "Gridiron Fishery" sporting the
ambitious name of ''Mauldin's Mountain"
We footed it down the sandy beach where
the restless tide dashed and retreated on
the pebbles with an ever-ceaseless motion
and never-ending murmur.
Tke sunken hillside embraces an area of
from two to four acres reaching back from
the bay shore some four hundred yards we
judged at the farthest point, and running in
an irregular broken line for several hum
dred yards parallel, or nearly SO, with the
bay shore. At some points on the upper
| side the perpendicular bank measured twen-
| ty feet where the earth had sunk. At the
lower end, the crevice terminated in the
bluff which reached the water. We walked
over the sunken part, and examined the
ground which was broken up into holes
, and assures running deep into the earth,
, and the trees-the sunken land is covered
| with trees of moderate size-were leaning
i'll every direction, more or less Inclined
The greatest point of depression is farthest
back from the water on the hill side which
grows less and less as you approach the bay
shore where there is no sign Of surface dis
! turbanee. A short distance below the sink
we came upon the cabin of an old coored
| man near the bay shore on the property of
Mr.. David Harper, who informed us that the
, first signs of subterranean disturbance was
discovered last Summer, which was mere
| hole or crack in the earth. This remained
: without any perceptible change till some
| time during the past Winter when the
mountain side began to sink and crack
onen This was acco,ppl;sbed bv , or,5