CRAB INDUSTRY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 9 
crabbing industry in the county, as immature crabs are not found in 
sufficient quantities. Most of them go farther north to shed. 
ACCOMAC COUNTY, VA. 
This county has 409 crabbers and 13 crab houses, the latter being 
located at points along the western side, at Deep Creek, Chesconnessex 
and Saxis, and on Tangier Island. No meat is picked out, but some 
hard crabs are shipped alive. The bulk of the effort is directed to the 
soft-crabbing industry. : 
SOMERSET COUNTY, MD. 
This county has 1,301 crabbers, 829 of whom use the scrape, and 97 
crab houses, 52 of which are located at Crisfield, the remainder send- 
ing their product either to Crisfield or to Deal Island, in this county. 
Part of the houses located in this county handle only hard crabs; 
5 at Crisfield remain open all winter, using crabs which have been 
dredged in Virginia waters. Some handle only soft crabs; many 
handle both hard and soft. While immense numbers of hard crabs 
are shipped from this county, it is the home of the soft-crab industry. . 
The best crabbing bottoms of the bay include those underlying the 
waters extending from the vicinity of Onancock, Va., situated at the 
southern extremity of Pocomoke Sound, northwest to Tar Bay, which 
is about midway of the western side of Dorchester County, Md. This 
expanse includes Pocomoke Sound, Tangier Sound, the mouths of the 
Wicomico and the Nanticoke Rivers, Fishing Bay, Honga River, and 
Tar Bay. The waters of these bodies include scores of the mouths of 
rivers, small bays, coves, and inlets of Accomac County, Va., Somer- 
set County, Md., a small portion of Wicomico County, Md., and the 
southern part of Dorchester County, Md., on the east and north; and 
of Tangier Island, Va., Smiths, South Marsh, Hollands, Billy, and 
Hoopers Islands, Md., on the west. On the grassy bottoms under- 
lying these waters young crabs congregate in vast numbers to shed, 
and a remarkably fertile crabbing field is afforded. The bottoms of 
this locality are those on which the scrape may be used to best advan- 
tage, because of their comparative smoothness. Hight hundred and 
ie ae of the 1,063 crabbers using scrapes are located in Somerset 
ounty. 
Crisfield, located in the southern part of this county, on the little 
Annemessex River, is the center of the soft-crab industry of the world. 
It receives most of the soft-crab catch from Pocomoke and Tangier 
Sounds, and practically all the soft-crab catch from the western shore 
of Virginia. It also receives the hard-crab catch from a large part of 
Pocomoke and Tangier Sounds, in addition to quantities shipped in 
from a distance. Its shipping facilities consist of a daily baat to 
Baltimore and good train service. 
Deal Island, at the northern end of Tangier Sound, is the second 
shipping point in importance in Somerset County. It has only 9 crab 
houses, however, 4 of which pick out the meat. Its only outlet to 
market is a daily boat to Baltimore. It receives a large part of the 
pn from the southern part of Dorchester County, which lies to the 
north. 
