122 We Go A-Fishing 



great storms of winter filled up the inlet, and 

 in the spring the work had to be done all over 

 again. About twenty-five years ago it became 

 evident that the ocean was a far better work- 

 man than the people of Patchogue, and was 

 making it more and more difficult to keep up 

 communication with the bay. As no vessels 

 of any size could sail through this artificial 

 ditch, the only use for it was to give salt water 

 to the bay, and this benefited only the fisher- 

 men. So the farmers objected to working for 

 this purpose, and the inlet was allowed to be- 

 come so choked up that to-day it would cost 

 thousands of dollars and months of labor to cut 

 an opening at the place where half a century 

 ago vessels sailed through. 



In Shinnecock Bay, twenty-five miles farther 

 along, exactly the same experience has been 

 gone through within the last ten years; but 

 the people of that neighborhood still keep up 

 courage, and work at the inlet every spring, 

 with the hope that nature will some day come 

 to their assistance and restore the old chan- 

 nels. The canal, which the government is now 

 cutting through the neck of land separating 



