Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-07-02
TIE AssAwoMAN CANAL.
A Statement From the Engineer in
Charge of its Construction--A Great
Benefit to the Peninsula.

Benefit to the Peninsula.
Snow Hill, Mn, June PA letter has
been received by Hon. George W. Coving-
ton from the engineer in charge of con-
structing the Chincotcague inlet. which
reads in part as follows: Having COM
petei the connections of the waters of
AssawoInan bav and Indian river, feel it
my duty to write you in regard to the
same. a full construction was accom-
plished about noon on Friday, June 9TH.
A steady southwest current continued
until Friday, 18th. During the afternoon
the south wind changed the flow to
north current, since which time 1t has in
creased The strongest current has been
about 66 feet per minute. The fall be-
tween the two ends at such times is nearly
q inches. The dredge is now cutting in
Whites creek about 1000 feet above the
mouth of the cut Only 400 more feet are
to be cut before the contract will be fin
ished. The flow through is much more
favorable than | waa inclined to think il
would be- Quite n good circulation is kept
up. General Smith was here last week,
and left an order to go down and survey
Masscy's shoals. There are two Shouts in
the Little Assawoman bay that are about
ms bad as Massey's. Were these taken ont
and some arrangements made to get under
the bridges, small steam launches could
pass entirely through from Indian river
inlet to Chincoteague."
lThe people of this section particularly
are to be congratulated upon the nearness
to completion of public work which has
been for several years in progress. The
work was begun in 1886, when Congress
granted an appropriation of S25, 600 for the
Improvement. by dredging and other
wise, of the inland waterway from Chinco-
league bay, Va, to Delaware bay, near
I.ewes Del. to be used from Chincotcague
bay to Indian River bay" The work was
projected by Hon George w. Covington,
who was then in Congress, and who has
always been an earnest advocate of it.
Little Assawoman bay and Big Assawoman
bay were before continuous bodies of
water. BY the canal just completed, 70
feet wide and running through a miles of
low, marshy land, they become, together
with Isle of Wight bay, Synepuxent bay
and Chincotengue bay, one body of water.
This makes bay about 80 miles long.
The next step is to improve by dredging
| from Indian River bay through Rehoboth
bay and Lewes creek, distance of II
miles, to the Delaware bay above the
Breakwater, which would make 4 continu-
Gus waterway of 73 miles from ChiGco
teague to the Delaware bay. This work
has received the endorsement of Colonel
Craghill, and has been approved by the
secretary of war, but was afterward re
l
were much higher for that portion of the
work than the preceding part So fal
| Sll7,500 have been secured altogether fol
this work, and 5000 remain in hand fol
| its completion.
| The benefits to commerce of such al
inland waterway are manifest. The
smaller crafts plying between Philadel
plia New York and Baltimore or Other
| southern ports can avoid the perils of the
sea by taking this inland waterway, ant
almost without going ont of straight line
In case of storm they will have harbol
| of refuge with the entrances 73 miles apart
| Its importance as shelter from til,
enemy's ships in case of war also suggests
itself. But its local Importance to the
people Of Worcester far exceeds any WORK
of improvement ever inaugurated in tn,
county, while its advantages extend equally
} to the adjacent counties of Sussex, Del.
1 and Accomac. Va The advantages ex
pected to accrue in the growing of oyster
can hardly be estimated. Synepuxent ba,
has been styled the American Bay o.
Naples, but its utility is not secont
to its beauty. 1t furnishes, from
Chincoteague to Parker's bay, oys
ters unexcelled in flavor or delicacy
The new inlet will extend the area of th'
oyster grounds above this point and by
letting in salt water from above according
to the engineers report, add SO squar
miles or $4,000 acres of oyster grounds
capable of accommodating at present rat
ot planting an annual oyster crop of 40,
100000 bushels, worth at present prices a
the landings about S20,000,000." From
the same source we learn that tn
estimate of PROBABLE amount of freigh
that would be annually Transporter
by water carriage is over one million dol
lars of exports such as piling, railroad ties
ship timber. lumber, cordwood, oyster
and grain, and imports about three-quar
tors Of million Of dollars; that the tota
amount of navigabe waters thus to b.
brought into safe communication with tn
markets by way of the Delaware bay viii
be $50 to 100 miles to the various landing
along the creeks and bays, giving All out
let of 400 square miles of territory.