The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-11
OYSTER GATHERING
Opening of the 1906.07 Season
For Bi-valves Is Now At
Hand.
Assselatea Fre.s Ye nc Eve.ine rine.

Associated, Press t. The Evening Tines.
Baltimore. Sept. 11.-Uncertainty
befogs the opening Of the great Chesa-
peake bay oyster season Of 1906 o.,
which has been proclaimed Officially.
The big oyster fleet was gathering all
last week over the specially favored
beds. and when the law releases the
bivalves as the prey OF the longing
navy. there will be concerted at
tack upon the product of the bays bot
tom by thousands of eager workers.
The all-absorbing question, from
North Point to the Cape Is: What
Will the harvest be?" 1t is the old, old
question that ever agitates the oyster
industry at the opening of each sea-
son. and, as in years past, there are
pessiptsts who are persuaded that the
outlook is decidedly discouraging,
This year, however, they are more
numerous than ever. and they fortify
their contentious with various argu-
ments which appear to be more weigh
ty than the evil prophecies of years
gone by.
The time-worn cry of depleted beds.
is admittedly more potent now than
few years ago. and the fact has
dawned upon those interested In the
oyster business that the Hannah law.
passed by the last legislature, whose
object Is to protect the scantily pro-
ductfve beds and perpetuate the bival-
We, Will not be able to exert any IN
huences in this direction for several
years on account of the immense
amount of work that must be done by
the commission entrusted with the
tack of mapping of the Clustering dis
tricts, locating and properly desie-
mating the natural beds and assigning
territory to the dredgers and tongers
VINO desire to secure the best Claims"
Until this work shall have been accom-
pl1shed the day of the "swatter" will
continue and the field is open to prac-
ideally all Corners, most of whom are
more desperately concerned about I'M
mediate returns than about the future
OF the industry and the preservation of
the oyster for pOsterity.
1t has been a matter of note in the
last decade to all men, and a matter
OF alarm to those who have been in
terested at heart in the oyster as a
staple product for all time, that there
mas been constant diminution in the
supply from the Chesapeake. With the
most populous section of Maryland at
Its head and the most populous sec
ton of Virginia at its mouth: and
thanked on either side by thickly in
habited' coantry, the Chesapeake has
been the operating ground for tens of
thousands of men who have found the
oyster industry the most profitable
field to which they could turn their
hand. With few restrictions provided
by the laws of the two states, the
oyster beds have had little protection.
and 1t is not strange that, with con-
slant drainage by the hosts of money!
making oystermen, these beds should
have declined.
One consequence of the falling off
IN the annual oyster crop has been the
slow dwindling of the number of men
engaged in the industry. On the east
ern shore of Maryland, the logical
home of the Chesapeake oysterman.
hundreds have abandoned the busi.
ness and turned their attention to
other pursuits. Cunning establish
ments in that section, which fiourished
as green bay tree few years ago,
have been dedicated to new purposes
and there are other signs indicative of
spouse of the oyster fields.
Still, there Is no evidence that the
bay will not furnish large crop of
oysters eo of good quality this season.
me oyster prophet has not proven in
faiiible, and the best informed men in
tne business generally admit that only
win the first returns from the field
OF action can anything like a correct
demonstration be formed 1t is for
this reason that so much interest is
taken In the first receipts. Predictions
based upon the quality of these and
the circumstances under which they
were taken will have more weight
than all the estimates and all the
opinions that have preceded.
One big handler of oysters in Balti-
more has undertaken to set up an adj
yanced summary of the situation
through series of 100 letters to the
best informed oystermen in the state
the men who do the actual work of
hauling the bivalve from the deep
and whose experience in this work for
long years should make them, of all
men, the best qualified to speak on
this subject The letters propounded
a series of questions pertaining to
Gohuitlons IN the various oyster Sec
lions. This man said:
Il have received answers from about
ninety of these men and must con-
Tess l am more In the dark than ever"
There Is conflict of opinion concern
ing every point of inquiry. For in
stance, one FISHERMAN sent a most
gratifying report. He asserted that
the outlook was fine, both as to quality
and the fairness and growth of stock
on the bars. The nearest neighbor of
this man reported that the situation
could not be worse. He said that the
oysters are not grown, are poor and
few In number. This conflict of opin-
Ion appears to exist in every section
of the day.
The season now opened is for ton
gers only. Dredging for oysters is not
permitted by law until a month later.
So far there are no reports from the
dredging grounds, which are in the
deepest waters of the bay, but the
case of the longing beds.
O'CONNOR'S PARENTS.