DELAWARE. 



239 



The wheat crop was harvested before June 

 30th, and the yield was so much better than in 

 previous years that it was estimated to amount 

 to 1,000,000 bushels. 



The education of the colored children of the 

 State is attempted by the colored people un- 

 der the guidance of a " State Association for 

 the Education of Colored People," formed in 

 1867. The number of schools for the school 

 year 1876-'77 was 33 ; for 1877-'78, 46. Nine 

 of these were in localities where schools had 

 never been opened before. The largest enroll- 

 ment for any one month during the last school 

 year was 2,150, in January last; for the cor- 

 responding month of 1877 but 1,109 were en- 

 rolled, showing a gain of 1,041 scholars. The 

 increase both in the number of schools and in 

 the enrollment of scholars is decidedly encour- 

 aging, and shows the work to be in a healthy 

 and prosperous condition. These schools are 

 outside of the city of Wilmington ; 14 were in 

 New Castle County, 18 in Kent, and 14 in 

 Sussex. In the winter of 1875 the Legislature 

 passed an act taxing colored persons for the 

 support of their own schools, but the funds 

 derived from this source are but a small pro- 

 portion of the amount necessary to support 

 the schools; consequently the Association has 

 only been able to allow the schools from $6 to 

 $10 a month each during the time they have 

 been open. About half of the teachers are 

 females, and all are colored. The total amount 

 raised from this tax in the State is about 

 $1,900 a year. The cost of maintaining the 

 schools is $4,500, and the balance is made up 

 by the individual efforts of the colored people 

 in the vicinity of the different schools. 



The project of opening a canal for ships 

 across the peninsula has been talked of for a 

 good many years, and several attempts have 

 been made to organize an effort which would 

 result in its construction. Baltimore would 

 be 500 miles nearer the track of ocean vessels 

 to Europe, and the advantage to her commerce 

 would be very material. At present all the 

 water transportation must go down the Chesa- 

 peake and up again to the Delaware Bay capes, 

 thence to New York and Europe. There is a 

 large coasting trade between Baltimore and 

 New York and the North and East, which 

 would, by means of a sufficiently large canal 

 across the peninsula, save nearly half the dis- 

 tance. Some three years ago a company, hav- 

 ing a charter from the States of Maryland and 

 Delaware, made a survey for a ship canal, 

 which was located but a short distance below 

 the canal which now connects the two bays ; 

 and they are now asking the Government to 

 endorse their bonds to the amount of $4,000,- 

 000, and the city of Baltimore to endorse for 

 another large amount. The route which was 

 then surveyed begins with the Sassafras River 

 at Georgetown, and runs across to a point 

 above Bombay Hook Landing, running chiefly 

 through Delaware. No estimate of the cost 

 of this route has been published, but it is the 



shortest of all the routes proposed, yet not 

 necessarily the cheapest. At the session of 

 Congress for 1877-'78 an appropriation of 

 $15,000 was made for the survey of the pen- 

 insula, in order to find out the most direct, 

 cheapest, and best route for the canal. A 

 survey will be made of all the routes available, 

 beginning at the lowest and working to the 

 Sassafras River, which is the highest. The 

 first is known as the Choptank route. The 

 Choptank enters the Chesapeake Bay below 

 Cambridge, about fifty miles from Baltimore, 

 and is made a part of the proposed canal as 

 far as Indian Creek, or some other of the 

 creeks in the neighborhood of East New Mar- 

 ket, thence directly across to the northwest 

 fork of the Nanticoke, and then in a direct 

 line to Broadkill Creek, about three miles 

 above the Breakwater. This route, either 

 from Indian or Secretary Creek, is about forty 

 miles across. The next route is known as the 

 St. Michael route, and is from seven to ten 

 miles above the Choptank. It is proposed by 

 this route to strike the St. Michael River 

 which is about forty miles from Baltimore at 

 Royal Oak, and thence go to the Choptank, 

 at a point above Lord's Landing, thence to 

 Caben Creek, from which the line will be run 

 directly across to Broadkill Creek on the Del- 

 aware Bay. There is also a route which will 

 be surveyed, from the Sassafras River across 

 to Deep-Water Point, making use of the Black- 

 bird Creek, the distance across being about 

 thirty miles, the Sassafras River being about 

 thirty-five miles from Baltimore. But the 

 most direct and the most favorably considered 

 route is known as the Chester River route. 

 From Baltimore to Queenstown is twenty- 

 eight miles. It is then proposed to run the 

 line direct to Broadkill Creek or the Break- 

 water, a distance of fifty-five miles. This is 

 the longest land route, but makes the most 

 direct line and therefore the shortest cut to 

 the capes of the Delaware, which are the ob- 

 jective point. 



A State Temperance Convention was held 

 at Smyrna on December 26th, and organized 

 by the appointment of George G. Lobdell as 

 President. A series of resolutions were adopt- 

 ed, the most important of which were the fol- 

 lowing : 



Resolved, That we reaffirm our abhorrence of the 

 sin of intemperance, and of the crime of legalized 

 liquor traffic, and we all assert our reliance on the 

 Almighty God for aid in all future efforts to banish 

 intemperance from the State. 



Resolved, That local option is in harmony with 

 the highest principles of political rights, and a most 

 reasonable request, and we therefore urge the mem 

 bers of our State Legislature to grant, on the peti- 

 tion of the citizens of the different counties or hun- 

 dreds, the privilege of voting on the question of 

 license or no license ; and further, that in counties 

 or hundreds voting no license there shall be none 

 granted 5 and when license is voted, that a law he 

 enacted imposing sufficient punishment and guaran- 

 tees that the common welfare of the community may 

 be promoted hy the same. 



