Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1924-12-27

as $4,000, 900, placing the state prob
ably at the head Of all Atlantic coast
states.
Among the water products, ranking
in value in order named, are: oysters,
fish, (shad, herring and menhaden
predominating), crabs, clans and seal
Tops. The menhaden fish (fertilizer)
industry of Virginia is the largest in
the world.
The Commission of Fisheries Give
men) have supervision Of these entire
industries, covering a sphere Of 2,7OO
square miles Of tidal waters, in which
are engaged, directly and indirectly,
10000 people. The force employed
for supervision amounts to more than
100 men and several police boats. The
Chairman Tor COMMISSIONER is also
the head and sole director of the De-
partment Of Game and Inland Fisher
les, under which department there are
nearly 400 wardens and other en-
ployees. @
Parksley is one Eastern Shore town
that is less than so years old, altho'
il is located on the site of an Indian
settlement known as Matomkin. The
white mans town was built after the
railroad came to the Eastern Shore in
1884, from which year modern life on
the peninsula may be said to date.
Previous to that time there was only
one mail week.. ~
The enormous quantity Of potatoes
and other farm products shipped from
the Shore creates demand for bar
rels and boxes, and the great groves
of pine trees growing on the Shore
furnish ideal material for these con-
tainers. What il more natural, then,
than that barrel factories should
spring up? There are three Of them
at Parksley and they turn out 200,-
900 barrels year. There is also a
barrel factory at Onancock and lum-
Der factory at Nassawadox.
All along the coasts are islands,
small, low and sandy, like chain
parralleling the mainland, and at a
distance Of from two to eight miles
from it. They form an almost con-
tinuous line, broken only by inlets
leading to the bays, marshes and
channels between them and the main
land. OF these Islands, Chincoteague
is the largest and most important.
Among the others may be mentioned
Parramore, Hog, Cedar, Metomkin,
"A.
In the lower Chesapeake may also
be found many islands which that one
time were probably part of the main
land. The writer has purposely re-
Trained from describing these at this
time, as it is his intention to include
a description Of them in later article
on the Chesapeake Bay.
From telephone standpoint, O.
hancock is probably the most import.
ant Of the towns mentioned. Altho'
it has a population Of only 1900 peo-
pie, they evidently use the telephone
freely, for a seven-position switch
board-four local, three TOLLS re-
quired. It connects 500 stations. Of
course, many of the stations are on
rural lines. And Accomack is also
served from the Onancock board.
There are three seasons when the
long distance business is heavy--the
season, the fish season and
the potato season. III
In the height Of the potato season,
the l.. D. calls will run to 200 or more
daily, and these calls 60 to all parts
of the Atlantic Coast and a few of
them to the Middle West.
Onancock is a toll center for Belle
Haven and Parksley, and the south
bound business from Temperanceville
and Chincoteague.
During the fish season most Of the
l.. D. calls handled at Onancock origi-
nate at Belle Haven, and the dealers
there call the same people in Balti-
more, Washington, New York, North
and South Carolina so often, the OPP
orators have a supply of tickets made
up in advance, except for the record
of the time the conversation started
and finished. This speeds up the work
Of filing calls. Many of the calls are
filed on "collect" basis, the person
called paying for the message.
In addition to this, each of the fire.
quently called firms at distant points
is given a code number, which is also
known to the Belle Haven firm plac-
ing the call. In this way a dozen
calls may be filed simultaneously and
almost instantaneously.
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