VIRGINIA: FISHERIES BY COUNTIES. 455 



tongers. From the Elizabeth Kiver and its branches, as well as from Nansemond, are taken during 

 the fall and winter season very considerable quantities of rock and perch, which go to supply the 

 local demand in Norfolk. To a much greater extent than in Princess Anne County the male 

 population of Norfolk County (including the city of Norfolk) are engaged in fishing. Three thou- 

 sand two hundred and seventy persons are engaged either in the hook-and-line fisheries, the seine 

 fisheries, or the oyster fisheries, including those who find occupation in the carrying trade incident 

 to the fish and trucking industries. The capital invested in boats, vessels, apparatus, &c., is 

 270,000. In Tanner's Creek and the Eastern Branch of Elizabeth Eiver there are natural oyster 

 beds, though excessive tonging has greatly reduced their yield. In both cases, however, planting 

 is largely resorted to, and as a consequence the yield of cultivated oysters is beginning to amount 

 to a very respectable figure. The city of Norfolk is the principal seaboard town of Virginia. Its 

 population, including its suburbs, is 33,422. "We quote from the work "A Hand-book of Virginia, 

 by the State commissioner of agriculture," published in 1881 : 



" Norfolk, a port of entry, and the principal shipping and seaport town in Virginia, is 220 miles 

 from the base of the Blue Eidge Mountains, and almost within hearing of the deep-toned roar of 

 the Atlantic Ocean. Its unsurpassed harbor, which admits vessels of the largest size, and its close 

 proximity to the ocean and Chesapeake Bay, make it the best shipping port for Virginia, North 

 Carolina, and for a large portion of the great West and Southwest. It is the eastern terminus of 

 the Norfolk and Western Eailroad, which has connections with lines extending to the Mississippi, 

 and will be in union with the Texas Pacific when that great thoroughfare is completed. The Sea- 

 board and Eoauoke Railroad, the Norfolk, Elizabeth City and Edenton Railroad, now building; 

 and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, the Dismal Swamp Canal, all terminate at Norfolk. 

 Numerous steamboat lines connect Norfolk with New York, Baltimore, Eichmond, &c., and the 

 cities of Europe. The export trade of Norfolk in 1805 was only $11,538. It has gone on to increase 

 until, in 187G, it was $7,825,112. In 18G5 Norfolk exported no cotton ; in 1866 there were exported 

 733 bales, and in 1876 106,421 bales were exported. The exports of cotton in 1876 and 1877 and 

 since prove that Norfolk ranks as the second cotton port on the Atlantic coast. The coastwise 

 trade for Norfolk and Portsmouth (the trade of these cities is usually considered as one) aggre- 

 gated in 1876, entered and cleared, 2,178,781 tons, and in the bitter month of December, when all 

 the ports of the North were obstructed with ice, we had 160,959 tonnage in coastwise trade. 

 These interesting facts are collected from the Norfolk Landmark. We have before us an interest- 

 ing resume of the trade of Norfolk, published in a special edition of the Norfolk Virginian, and 

 courteously furnished us by Mr. Glennan, the editor. The export trade of Norfolk for 1880 is an 

 increase of $4,300,000 over that of 1878. The general wholesale trade is about $12,000,000, making 

 a total trade of $38,000,000. The export of cotton alone was $13,787,209 ; that of cattle and sheep, 

 $104,750. The lumber business is large and is estimated at $1,698,000. The number of foreign 

 vessels entering the port in 1880 was forty-five, with a tonnage of 45,159 ; the number cleared for 

 foreign ports was one hundred and eleven, with a tonnage of 114,579." 



Ever since colonial times Norfolk has been the center of a large coasting trade. The close 

 connection that it now has with Baltimore and other more northern cities gives a powerful impulse 

 to the trucking business in the surrounding counties as far down the coast as New Berne, N. 

 C., all the products of which gravitate to Norfolk, whence they are sent by railroad and steamer 

 to the northern cities. The establishment of through railroad connections with the South has 

 of late years made it a principal point also for shipping cotton. As to the fishing trade, it is 

 the natural center of the fishing industries of all the lower Chesapeake, and the entrepot for tho 



