Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1886-07-17
Letters From the People.

LetrcrA from the People.
MIR. Observation-Disclosures for trails
portation give birth to thousand new
ways of making money. Not the least
uf the industries growing up It's the :
suit of Steamboat and RAILROAD commu-
nicalion with the great markets ii the
North, East and West, is the crab bust
ness. Catching and burclnlg hard
crabs for market us Il buSine is yet n
its Infancy. MANY of your reader posi-
bly, may not he aware of its present
growth. A weli-known and enterpriS-
Ing merchant near Taylor's Wharf has
kept several men employed all the sprl; 6
catching crabs r0ying at tho water.
edge 40 to so cents per hundred. |
don know whether the crabs inform ed
on him or not, but lie had too good Il
thing of it, and soon a small fleet nj
small boats were helping hun out. he
crabs presume didn't like 10 see HIM
get rich so fast.
The Inc c ant refer to hires man
at y good salary to buy and pack cl;tos
for him. Ii requires hut little capital
to 60 into the hard crab business,a boat.
several fathoms of rope to make crab
line, and stingery for bait-it don't re-
quire much brains either. You have to
Keep as good run Of the tides as the
crabs do-tley know When il is food
tile and when it is ebo and when it is
slack-water. The sot.. crab business is
dormant yet brit for the amount of
money invested | know Of no business
that pays So well. | once wrote an ar
ticle for your payer OH this subject and
it was copied By all the leading indus
trial papers IF the country and gave Use
loa question in Maryland of whether
the crab NEIL had right TO take them
with dredges. TWAS finally decided III
favor Of the crab men.
At the present time there is shipped
from CristieId daily from 6OO to ! ,0OO
dozen soft crabs and they bring FROM 10
cellts to 81 per dozen, i'll Northern mar
KITS. Allowing the soft crab season to
run. say one hundred and twenty days,
We will take geo dozen per day lis Il basis
OF calculations; soft crabs sell i'll the BAL
timore market for 81 per dozen average
Size. at Crisield--niedium size bring 6O
to IS cents per dozen. Six hundred
dozen multiplied by 81 per dOZen-S600;
this AGAIN multiplied by 80 days gives
$4,000 coming To that town for sort
crabs alOne per month. / don t Thick L
AIN claiming VI saying too much When
say every creek OH the Eastern Shore OF
Virginia oughLtO Produce 1T the least
calculation SIS, ZOO per season flom SOFT
crabs ;lone-ttliS | consider q very low
estimate. AS q general thing hard crabs
shed once q moon. You have TO 90 Ill
to the hard crab business before you can
the soft. The hard crabs are caught how
and put in flats to SIZED and as soon as
they Shed they are taken out and ship
ped to market. The tlo.its are MADE
different sizes, and generally of latiis.-
They have to lie watched so that those
which shed out first may not be eaten
by the hard crabs. There is no good rea-
SON why from every wharf OIL route OF
the steamers Eastern Shore and Maggie
should not be shipped soft crabs just the
same as they are shipping fish. But u
few years ago, and there WAS only one
WHAT that shipped fish, HOW fish pounds
line the bay shore from Cape Charles up.
Not meaning 10 antag0nize the oracle
which gave utterance To that worst OF
lallacies, Young man go Vest should
not fear the judgment Of the future IN
saying with reference TO our peninsula,
lying between The ocean and The Chesa.
pvake Bay. young man Stay at home"
and concentrate your physical and Intel
lectu;L energies upon the development ut
Of tie multiplied resources OF wealth 1T
your doors. Our suil and the waters
which flow around about our haGllaLlolis
only await the touch Of intelligent minds
and expert hands To unlock Tile streams
of wealth and cause them to flow Will
their Magnitled blessings among the
people.
An ex-commodore, of U. S. Navy
once said to me. What il the use OF our
young men going West to hunt silver
and gold mines when the Chesapeake
D4, and its tributaries are COLA lhlnes,
liciier than any i'll Californian lie
MIS- ulan Of extensive travel and l be-
.ry i,lele is much truth Ill his ouser-
iAtluiI.