408 



MARYLAND. 



and it is expected that the grading will be com- 

 pleted by August, 1870. 



The Kent County Railroad, from Massey's 

 Cross-roads, in Kent County, toward Deep 

 Landing on the Chesapeake Bay, was finished 

 to within nine miles of Massey's in December, 

 and it is proposed, if aid can be secured in Bal- 

 timore, to extend it to the Chesapeake. ^ The 

 proposed road would cross or connect with all 

 the branch roads which are now tributary to 

 the Delaware Railroad from the Eastern Shore 

 counties, by diverting the trade and travel of 

 the Eastern Shore (which is going to Philadel- 

 phia) to the city of Baltimore. 



The people of Middletown Valley are agitat- 

 ing the building of a railroad from the Point 

 of Rocks on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 

 to Middletown, and thence by way of Smiths- 

 burg to Waynesboro' and Chambersburg, Pa. 

 This road would traverse a rich and populous 

 country, and it is said could be easily and 

 cheaply constructed. 



The annual report of the Superintendent 

 of Public Schools shows that there are 1,347 

 schools in the State, and 75,402 pupils en- 

 rolled. The total expenditure for school pur- 

 poses during tlie year was $751,310, or $239,- 

 504 more than in 1867. The school system is 

 growing in favor with the people. The schools 

 have been open for a longer time ; a greater 

 number of scholars have been in attendance ; 

 a larger sum has been raised by local taxation ; 

 higher salaries have been paid to teachers, 

 and more money has been spent in building, 

 repairing, and furnishing school-houses. 



There are 123 colored schools in the State, 

 numbering 5,448 scholars, of which 65 of the 

 schools, numbering 2,489 scholars, are under 

 the care of the Baltimore Association. There 

 is also a flourishing Normal School in Balti- 

 more, for colored people, with an average at- 

 tendance of 210 scholars. 



The oyster-trade of Maryland is one of its 

 great sources of wealth. The extent of the 

 oyster-beds is about 373 square miles, 92 of 

 which are closely covered and the remainder 

 scattering. This field could be made to give 

 profitable employment to 20,000 laborors in a 

 few years from this, under the administration 

 of proper laws. Last season there were 563 

 vessels licensed to dredge for oysters, averaging 

 23 tons each, carrying about 800 bushels at a 

 load, and making two loads a month to market 

 for say seven months of the year, summing up 

 6,305,600 bushels taken by the dredgers. Dur- 

 ing the same period there were 1,907 canoes 

 licensed, each taking about five bushels per day 

 for twenty-six days of the month, and seven 

 months of the year, making 1,735,370 bushels 

 taken by the tongmen, for sale, which, with 

 say 2,000,000 bushels taking during the season 

 for " private use," will give an aggregate of 

 about 10,000,000 bushels taken from the beds of 

 Maryland annually. These oysters will average 

 not less than thirty-five cents per bushel, which 

 gives, in round numbers, $3,500,000 as the 



annual value of the oyster product, from which 

 the State derives an income of $40,000 above 

 expenses. The 563 dredging-vessels employed 

 2,107 white men, and 1,453 negroes. The canoes 

 employed about 3,325 in all, with the same pro- 

 portion of white and negro labor ; making a 

 total of 6,885 men, independently of the labor 

 employed in the carrying-trade, which would 

 probably swell the number to between 9,000 

 and 10,000 hands employed afloat in the oyster 

 business. 



The great coal-fields of Maryland are almost 

 inexhaustible. "What is known as the "Big 

 Yein" has, it is calculated, 200,000,000 of tons 

 still untouched. During the year, 2,000,000 

 tons were mined, at which rate, the vein will 

 last one hundred years. The four and six feet 

 veins are estimated to contain about twice as 

 as much as the "Big Vein." 



The coal produced during the year 1868 was 

 1,330,000 tons, while the amount actually re- 

 moved from the mining district was as follows : 



Tons. 



By Cumberland and Pennsylvania Sail- 

 road 1,575,000 



By Cumberland Coal and Iron Company's 



Eailroad 200,000 



By Hampshire (Tram) Kailroad 125,000 



Total 1,900,000 



The harbor of Baltimore has been greatly 

 improved by the opening of a new channel, 

 which has been named the Craighill Chan- 

 nel. By this channel, which is at the mouth 

 of the Patapsco River, vessels drawing nine- 

 teen or twenty feet at average low water will 

 save from three and a half to five miles of dis- 

 tance, and avoid much if not all of the danger 

 usually experienced from the accumulation of 

 ice in the lower part of the Brewerton Channel 

 during the winter. This new channel deflects 

 from the Brewerton Channel at a point three- 

 fourths of a mile to the eastward of the Seven- 

 foot Knoll Light (this light bearing southwest 

 three-quarters west), and runs from said point 

 in the Brewerton Channel south, one-quarter 

 west, directly toward the end of Sandy Point, 

 a distance of about five miles, to the deep water 

 of the bay. The channel has been opened at 

 the present time to a least depth of 21 feet at 

 mean low water, and a least width of 200 feet, 

 though it is in contemplation to widen it to a 

 width of between 300 and 400 feet. 



On the 1st of June, a State Convention of 

 Colored Republicans, representing nearly every 

 county in the State, was held in the city of 

 Baltimore, in view of the anticipated extension 

 of the right of suffrage to them. The .conven- 

 tion was marked by great confusion, and much 

 dissatisfaction was expressed by large numbers 

 of the persons supposed to be represented. 



The following were some of the resolutions 

 adopted as the platform of the party : 



Whereas, There do exist throughout these United 

 States certain monopolies known as trades-unions 

 and other organizations of mechanics, whose known 

 opposition to the introduction of colored apprentices 



