VIRGINIA: FISHERIES BY COUNTIES. 461 



market by tbc tri-wcekly line from Baltimore, which touches at several places in the couuty. This 

 county contains more menhaden factories (and of larger size) than any other county on the 

 Chesapeake. The creeks and coves along the bay shore were formerly filled with natural beds of 

 oysters, but excessive tonging has everywhere diminished, and in many places exterminated, the 

 supply. Where, however, the conditions of the bottom render it practicable artificial planting has 

 been resorted to, and the product is now on the increase. The main fishing industry of the people, 

 and that which yields the largest returns, is the menhaden fishery. The catch is converted into 

 oil and guano by some of the numerous factories in the county, and the guano is shipped to places 

 where it is manufactured into artificial fertilizers. 



The number of people engaged in the river and shore fisheries is 70, the number engaged in 

 the menhaden fisheries 243, and in the oyster fisheries 528. Of those given as being engaged in 

 the oyster industries, very few pursue their work in the waters adjacent to the county. On the 

 contrary, many of them go with their canoes and outfit to the Rappahannock and Potomac, and 

 spend the winter there in oystering, returning in the spring to plant their small farms; for almost 

 all of them combine the two occupations of farmer and fisherman. 



IGu. NORTHAMPTON AND ACCOMAC COUNTIES. 



The Eastern Shore of Virginia, comprising the counties of Northampton and Accomac, is a very 

 low and fertile peninsula, about 55 miles long by 8 to 15 miles wide. It lies to the south of Mary- 

 land, with the ocean on the east and the Chesapeake on the west. Its population in 1880 was 

 33,197. Fully nine-tenths of the inhabitants are native-born on the peninsula. Onancock, a place 

 of a few hundred inhabitants, is the largest town on the peninsula. The region is largely an agri- 

 cultural one, and the people own small patches of land, and devote their attention largely to raising 

 produce for the Northern markets, the principal crops being early potatoes, seed potatoes, and corn. 



In addition to its agricultural interests, the region bears a peculiar relation to the salt water, 

 and many of the inhabitants, having no interest in the land, are largely dependent upon the fish- 

 eries for a livelihood, while a considerable percentage of the farmers give more or less attention to 

 fishing, oystering, and clamming at periods of the year when their crops do not require their atten- 

 tion. The peninsula, owing to its peculiar shape, has an extensive coast line, and its surface is so 

 low and flat, that the tides and currents of the ocean have cut into it on either side, until we find 

 no less than twelve creeks on the Eastern and seventeen on the Western Shore, each breaking up 

 into a number of secondary ones, which communicate freely with each other, forming a complete 

 net- work of tide channels, many of which are navigable for several miles by the small flat-bottomed 

 vessels of the region. The tide channels extending through the northern and central portion com- 

 municate with a large bay on the south, thus forming a continuous inside passage for small boats 

 from Cape Charles northward through Maryland to within a few miles of Cape Henry. The back- 

 bone of the peninsula is, therefore, a narrow ridge, only 3 to 5 miles wide, lying about midway 

 between the ocean and the bay, and extending northward to the upper boundary of the State. 

 Between this ridge and the ocean are a number of sandy or swampy islands, separated from the 

 mainland at high tide by sheets of water of considerable extent. As the tide recedes large flats 

 are exposed, and at low ebb the waters' are reduced to mere creeks, bordered by immense grassy 

 swamps. The Western Shore is somewhat different, for the higher lands occasionally extend to the 

 Chesapeake, while the shores of some of the larger creeks are sufficiently elevated to admit of a 

 scattered population. Such of the inhabitants as are engaged in farming occupy the arable lands 

 formed by the central strip already mentioned, while others extensively engaged in fishing are 

 usually scattered along the banks of the larger creeks or live in the vicinity of the bay shore. All, 



