Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 57 



producing part of its branch south of Wye Island, and the lower 

 part of its branch west and north of Wye Island. Almost the entire 

 area of bottoms on either side of the main channels, however, was 

 found to be occupied or to have been occupied until recently, with 

 oyster bars. Two small areas only were conceded by the local 

 assistant to be entirely barren : one on the hard sandy bottom be- 

 tween Stone Wharf and Hess bars, the other between Hess and 

 Wye River Middle Ground bars. 



Bottoms composed of hard sand nearly everywhere skirt the 

 shores of the rivers and the oyster bars do not therefore 

 extend nearer to the shore line than the six-foot depth curve. In 

 one locality only were oysters found to grow quite to the low-water 

 mark, that along the southern end of Wye Island. A border of soft 

 and sticky bottoms of varying width is present on either side of 

 the mid-river channels, and bottoms of similar character prevail also 

 in the coves and in the upper parts of both branches of the Wye. 

 The observed depths of water over the off-shore limits of the oyster 

 bars in the Wye river proper and its two branches, vary from 48 

 feet to 15 feet. 



Barren and exhausted bottoms suitable for oyster culture aggre- 

 gating about 65 acres, are available for lease in the branch of the 

 Wye river south of Wye Island, and about 75 acres in the branch 

 west and north of Wye Island. In Wye river proper and the part 

 of Miles river situated within the territorial limits of Queen Anne 

 County, there are probably no bottoms suitable for growing oysters 

 which are not occupied by natural oyster bars. 



EASTERN BAY 



(Shown on charts of natural oyster bars Nos. 31 and 32.) 



The part of Eastern bay which lies within the territorial limits of 

 Queen Anne's County, i. e., the part situated above or north of a line 

 established by statute in or near the deep water channel to form the 

 boundary between Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties, is all desig- 

 nated for the exclusive use of the tongmen who reside in Queen 

 Anne's County. The line along which the waters of this part of 

 Eastern bay enter those of the Chesapeake is considered by the Com- 

 mission to be that connecting Kent point, on the Queen Anne's 

 County shore, with Wade point, on the Talbot County shore. The 

 lines laid down by the Commission for its own use in distinguish- 



