Democratic messenger., 1909-02-13
AN inlet WILL
make OUR BAY
OYSTER RICH /!
The Baltimore Sunday Sun Pre-.
diets Great Things To be
Accomplished Here.

IUIIlpIiSIl6u nCI6'
The Baltimore Sun published in its
issue of last Sunday the following ar
ticle written by one of its editors, who
shows in detail the good which an inlet
will accomplish. The Sun says:
Down in Worcester county. at the
very ''jumping-of place." so far as
Maryland is concerned. there is work
in progress-in fact. nearing compile
tion-about which the people Of the
State know practically nothing.
1t has attracted but little attention
out of the county, but when completed
it may mean much to the whole of
Maryland. II is the belief of the men
back of the plan that when the strong
salt waters of the Atlantic Ocean
are turned into the placid freshness of
the inland bay that skirts the Worces-
ter County shore. drenching it from end
to end with the salinity of the sea,
There will come into existence go, 900
acres of the finest oyster and breeding
bottoms in the whole world.
The Sinepuxent Salt Water Inlet
Company, acting under authority of
the State, is now engaged in cutting
through the sandy barrier in thorough
ly scientific manner, an inlet through
which will flow the salt water of the
ocean and "drench" the bay.
| Under law enacted in 1905. in con-
sideration of its work in conceiving the
inlet idea and execution of the plan, the
company is to become the owner of
20, 600 acres under the bay on the east
side.
In consideration of an appropriation
of 50, 500 to help build the inlet. the
State is to have the balance of the bay
some 40, 600 acres.
DIR. Caswell Grave and Swepson
Earle, of the Shellfish Commission, as well
as the United States authorities, have
indorsed the project as thoroughly
feasible and practical one and are eager
to see it put through.
Regardless of the private concession
to the Sinepuxent company, the she'll
| fish commission believes the plan, when
completed, will be of great benefit to
the State and that the 10000 acres,
now practically barren and worthless,
will be eagerly snapped up under the
oyster culture law.
Even at the fiat rental of 81 an acre
this would create a revenue for the
State of $4,000 annually. Experts
agree that with the salinity of the
ocean added to the waters of the bay
there will be no superior oyster plant
ing farms anywhere in the world.
This, then, is the proposition. The
work has been going ahead for months
and the expectation is that it will be
completed early in the summer.
The story back of the building of the
inlet is an interesting one. Up to 1866
there was q natural inlet between the
ocean and the bay. The waters of the bay
were as salty as those of the ocean and
the older residents of the county tell
wonderful stories of the yearly yield of
oysters and clans.
These luscious products of the water,
| it is said, have never been known in
such abundance as in the days before
the inlet closed. 1t did close in 1866,
there being that year great storm.
inlet and stuck there. The angry sea
has been no inlet since. The bay has
became a lake and the, oysters and
clans have dwindled as the years went
by, until now anything like oyster cul-
ture in the bay is not to be thought of.
Many unsuccessful efforts have been
made since 1866 to cut through that
sandy strip of beachso as to let the salt
water in and restore the conditions that
made the bay so prolific in oysters and
clans, but the fury of the surf that
beats upon that slim bar has frustrat-
ed the puny attempts of the citizens of
the county and time after time the
half cut through the inlet has been
choked up and submerged by sand.
Appeals were made to the United
States authorities to come to the rescue
of the situation, but in vain. Equally
futile have been the efforts of the
Worcester County people interested in
the cutting through Of the inlet to get
the State of Maryland to take the job.
Legislature after Legislature was asked
to take the scheme up, but consistently
declined.
A good many years ago a charter
drawn by B. Howard Haman, the
pioneer in oyster culture in the State,
who early recognized the value of the
''drenching Off" of the bay, was got
through the Legislature. Incorporating
the Sinepuxent Salt Water Inlet Com
pany, for the very purpose which is
now on the threshold of fruition.
For one reason or another, this char
ter, which had on it time limit, was
allowed to lapse. Nothing was done.
Year after year the Worcester County
people saw their bay separated from
the ocean by strip Of land over which
they could throw stone, yielding none
of the wealth they know is there, be-
cause they were unable to get the salt
of the ocean into the bay.
In 1906 William Lee Carey, the pres
ent Mayor of Ocean City. whose home
is in Berlin, Worcester County, but
who is known all over the State and has
friends in every one of the % counties,
was member of the Legislature.
Mr.. Carey had been interested in the
project for good many years. He
conceived the idea of reviving the Sine
puxent Salt Water Inlet Company. The
bill was drawn up naming as incorpora-
tors a hundred and more Worcester
County citizens, among whom was John
Walter Smith, the present United States
Senator.