The Heart of Salisbury

Dan Landsman

Salisbury, Heart of the Eastern Shore

“Salisbury, the head of navigation, is a town of increasing importance, having a present commerce of considerable value, with excellent prospect of continued commercial expansion in the future.”

D.W. Lockwood, Lieut. Col. Corps of Engineers [1]

Over the years Salisbury has evolved from a small town into the heart of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Today Salisbury is home to an airport, a railroad, a zoo, a regional hospital, two malls, a minor league baseball franchise, and also the crossing point of the two major highways of the Eastern Shore, Routes 50 and 13. Following

City Harbor at Main Street Bridge, 2002 [2]

the pattern of cities nationwide, the creation and development of Salisbury’s amenities has coincided with the settlement of the city and the changing needs of its citizens through the years. Similarly, the Wicomico River has become the heart of Eastern Shore waterborne transportation by adapting to the changing needs of its users.

From scowls to steamboats to diesel freighters to barges, transportation on the Wicomico River has been in a state of flux practically since it began. Throughout the years as methods of transportation have changed, so have their cargo. Cargo, once consisting of produce and fish, has become grain, fuel oil, fertilizers, and construction aggregates. The progression of commerce on the Wicomico has also affected the river itself and the landscape on the river. Shallow depths, which once

A tugboat pushing a barge down the Wicomico [3]

limited travel on the Wicomico, have given way to a dredged channel as mills and steamboat wharves have become docks for barges. It has been this ability of the Wicomico River to adapt to and accept the needs of a changing society that has allowed Salisbury to become the second largest port in the state, with a yearly cargo of roughly 1.6 million tons. [4]

Commerce on the Wicomico Commences

“There is a very convenient place for a town at the head of the Wicomico River”.

-Somerset County citizens in petition to Maryland General Assembly [5]

Winding northeast from the Monie Bay past Whitehaven and taking a sharp eastern turn at Upper Ferry, the Wicomico River continues east to Shad Point. At Shad Point the river again points northeast, this time until it reaches its headwaters in Salisbury. These headwaters, the residents of Somerset County believed, would be a perfect place for a town. And in 1732 the residents of Somerset County petitioned the Maryland General Assembly for the founding of this new town, a town that would become Salisbury. [6]

When Salisbury was founded, the Wicomico River was already the area’s chief mode of transportation. While shallow depths at times limited travel into what is now Salisbury, commerce on the river to Handy’s Landing, south of town, had been around since the 17^th century. The primitive methods first employed to transport goods on the river continued carrying lumber, grain, leather, bricks, and livestock between Salisbury and Baltimore until 1830. [7]

In 1830 a man named George Weems introduced steamboats to the Wicomico River. Weems saw the necessity of steamboat travel to what had become the “thriving community” of Salisbury. [8] Later that year Weems’ steamboat the Patuxent became the first steamboat to reach Salisbury. The Patuxent began sailing for Salisbury on a regular basis, but the river’s shallow depth and sharp turns at times limited its voyage to Whitehaven, a small fishing community several miles southwest of Salisbury. [9] In addition to the shipping of bulk cargo, the Patuxent served as a general store when it came to town. When the Patuxent set out from the Maryland wharf in Baltimore business-minded Weems made sure it was stocked full of merchandise from Baltimore and beyond, which he dealt to consumers on an individual basis. [10] The Patuxent continued to make the trip from Baltimore up the Wicomico on and off over the next few decades, depending on the river’s depth and recent success of crops. [11]

Although the Patuxent was successful dealing in Salisbury, the difficult travel on the Wicomico’s upper reaches limited other ships to destinations south of Salisbury. In the 1840’s and 50’s steamships such as the Franklin, the Thomas Jefferson, and the Hugh Jenkins found success dealing on the Wicomico at Whitehaven and Shad Point. [12] Two years later, the Wilson Small made its way up the Wicomico to Cotton Patch, a wharf and warehouse located two miles below Salisbury. [13]

Salisbury Develops as a Trading Center

“Her journey up the river to Salisbury followed a winding channel through ever-encroaching marshes and twisting bends … [until] the little town with its church spires, wharehouses and wharf emerged, nestled by the river”

-David Holly, Tidewater by Steamboat [14]

Salisbury was not visited again by steamboat until the Kent began service there in 1855. [15] By 1861 The Kent, under Captain William Veasley, provided regular service to Salisbury, making the round trip to Baltimore three times a week. [16] With the route from the mouth to the head of the Wicomico again in use, the 1860’s would be the beginning of increased commerce on the Wicomico and in Salisbury.

Although the Wilson Small stopped service to the Wicomico River in the mid 1860’s due to declining profits, local Salisbury business was thriving. [17] Salisbury was becoming big enough to support specialty businesses such as headstone shops and jewelry stores. [18] Steamboats continued travel to Salisbury; when the Kent was taken off the Wicomico River route it was replaced by the Massachusetts. [19]

With the steamboat line from Baltimore to Salisbury open and Salisbury’s central location on the Eastern Shore, Salisbury now had the potential to become the hub of Eastern Shore trade. The addition of rail transport to Salisbury would further cement Salisbury’s role in the Eastern Shore and, like the advent of steamboat travel, open merchants up to new markets. On the fourth of July, 1860, Salisbury was introduced to railroad transportation by the Eastern Shore Railroad Line. [20] The railroad ran north to Delaware and its trains were capable of traveling 12 miles per hour. [21]   Now, with transportation opened north in addition to west, Salisbury became the middleman between Baltimore and Wilmington and Philadelphia, and Salisbury’s merchants reaped the benefits.

The Forming of a County and the Riverbed

“Some of the vessels using the Wicomico River are handicapped by inadequate channel depth. Commerce is subjected to restriction and increased cost of movement by reason of vessel delays due to waiting for high water and to groundings.”

-Edgar Jadwin, Major General, Chief of Engineers [22]

As Salisbury began to grow in size and importance, it also began to outgrow its boundaries. This realized, Salisbury’s citizens petitioned for, and in 1867 were granted, “a New County, to be called Wicomico County” of which “Salisbury shall be the County Seat.” [23] The formation of Wicomico County put all citizens of Salisbury in one county for the first time, allying Salisburians in voting, taxing, and other political business. Public officials for Wicomico County were first elected in November of 1867 and they established the county courthouse and jail in Salisbury. [24] Salisbury was becoming a major city.

One year after the formation of Wicomico County, the Maryland Steamboat Company was formed from the remnants of the Individual Enterprise Line, the previous steamboat company to operate on the Wicomico. Operating from Pier Three on Light Street in Baltimore, the steamboats of the Maryland Steamboat Company made stops at ten different landings on the Wicomico River en-route to Salisbury. [25]

By this time, Salisburians had also learned to maximize the capacity of the Wicomico River to serve them. In addition to cutting ice from the river in the winter to store until summer, the river was utilized by local businesses to operate their machines. [26] The Humphreys Saw Mill at the Wicomico Falls and the Wicomico Flour Mill near Mill Street were two such businesses. [27] The riverfront, while still exclusively commercial, was beginning to reflect the increased commerce that had been brought to Salisbury through the addition of its first railroad.

The Wicomico River, however, could not handle this increased commerce. Dirt from the banks had clogged the river, decreasing its depth. With the depth of the river decreasing, steamboats traveling up the river could not carry a full load or were forced to travel at high tide. Citizens of Salisbury realized that the inefficiencies of the river were costing them business, and in 1872 plans were adopted for a seven-foot deep channel down the Wicomico. [28] Since the “mean range of tide at Salisbury is three feet,” dredging the Wicomico to seven feet in effect created a 10-foot channel. [29]

A Second Railroad Increases Commerce in Salisbury and on the Wicomico

“The commerce is domestic, but some of the products may indirectly find their way to foreign ports through Baltimore, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and New York.”

R.L. Hoxie. Lieut. Col, Corps of

Engineers [30]

In 1869 an eastern bound railroad made its debut in Salisbury. [31] The Wicomico and Pocomoke Railroad both crossed and connected to the Eastern Shore Rail Road, which by 1877 had extended well past its original stop three miles north of Salisbury. [32] The Wicomico and Pocomoke line split four ways on the northern branch of the Wicomico River, including two stops directly on the riverbank. [33] The waterfront Williams Lumber Yard and Jackson Bros Mill both shared a stop. [34] The remaining and northernmost spot was at Humphrey’s Planning Mill, across the

Wicomico Falls from Humphrey’s Saw Mill. It is not surprising that the Wicomico and Pocomoke Line found it in their benefit to give the Humphrey’s Sawmill its own

Downtown Salisbury, 1877 [35]

stop; the Humphreys were seemingly Salisbury’s most influential industrial family of this time. In addition to the planning and sawmills, Humphreys owned lumber and flourmills and large plots of waterfront land.

The Wicomico and Pocomoke originally extended east only to Berlin but by 1877 reached to the Atlantic Ocean through Ocean City. [36] With the transportation line from Salisbury to the ocean open, steamboats began ferrying passengers from Maryland’s western shore to Salisbury, where they could meet a train to the ocean. The trip from Baltimore to Ocean City, first by steamboat from Baltimore to Salisbury on a ship such as the Thomas Collger, and then by rail to Ocean City, was a long trip compared to the two and a half hour drive that Route 50 makes possible for beachgoers today. However, this route was much shorter than the previous route which was a steamboat from Baltimore to Crisfield and then a train to the ocean. [37] The W&P, as it was referred to, also eased travel on the shore by connecting with the Worcester Rail Road in Berlin; this linked travel north towards Delaware and south to Snow Hill and Virginia. [38]

It was about this time that the Eastern Shore Steamboat Company began regular steamboat service to ten landings on the Wicomico River on its trip from Baltimore to Salisbury. One steamboat servicing the Wicomico River was the large, but cumbersome, Enoch Pratt, named for the principal stockholder of the Eastern Shore Steamboat Co. [39]

By 1885, Salisbury’s downtown was thriving. Small businesses such as grocery, liquor, jewelry, and drug stores now dotted the streets surrounding the river. Dominating the riverfront was, on the northwest end of town, E.E. Jackson and Company’s Lumber Yard and Wharf, and at the point where the Wicomico forked off to Humphrey’s Branch, the Coal and Lumber Warf. [40] As transporters of bulk products, the proximity to the river of businesses such as these was paramount. With the river front property dominated by bulk transporters, the businesses that used the river for transportation of smaller and more easily moved goods were located in the streets spider-webbing from the river.

In 1890, the increased commerce on the Wicomico forced another dredging. This time, the

project was an improvement of the existing channel

The north end of downtown, 1885. Notice the

Jackson Lumber Warf, bottom left; and

Coal and Lumber Wharf, bottom right.

to a depth of nine feet (therefore twelve feet at tide) and, between Fruitland and Salisbury, a nine-feet channel between 100 and 150 feet across. [41]

With the Wicomico River nearly deep enough to handle ocean-going vessels, and the downtown thriving, fast and reliable steamboat service to Salisbury was needed. However, the Enoch Pratt, Salisbury’s principal steamboat, was neither fast nor reliable. In 1894 at the urging of Salisbury citizens, the Tivoli, named for Pratt’s Baltimore estate, began service to the Wicomico River route. [42]

The Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic and the End of the Steamboat Era

“The main portion of the growth is attributed to the commerce of the river and the indications are the promise of increased commerce in the future is good.”

R.L. Hoxie, Lieut Col., Corps of Engineers [43]

The newly formed Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railroad Company purchased the Eastern Shore Steamboat

BCA Logo, 1908 [44]

Company in the late 1890’s, as well as the Eastern Shore Railroad and the Maryland Steamboat Company. [45] The BC&A Company, nicknamed the Before Christ and After for its monopolistic power on Salisbury area transportation, dominated both the water and rail industries in Salisbury.

In addition to the steamboats of the BC&A there were roughly 100 vessels serving the Wicomico at this point in time. Schooners of varied sizes and small sloops and powerboats helped the steamboats in the distribution of “agricultural products, oysters, canned goods, lumber flour,

BC&A  Eastern Shore Rail Lines,  1908 [46]

fertilizers, machinery, bricks, horses, and general merchandise”. [47]

 

In 1903 the BC&A introduced a new steamboat, the Virginia, to the Wicomico River Route. Departing Baltimore from Pratt Street at 5:00pm Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, the Virginia arrived at its steamboat wharf next to the Salisbury Roller Flour Mill at 9:00am the next morning. [48] “Weather and tide permitting”, the Virginia left Salisbury for Baltimore at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. [49] The Virginia, which served Salisbury continuously until

The Virginia [50]

1924, became a love of the Salisbury townspeople. Slowly meandering downriver on a steamboat was a relaxing, romantic, and for many, new, experience. Although other steamboats on the Wicomico capitalized on this mystique, the elaborate décor and longevity of the Virginia’s service allowed it to be the most loved and memorable local steamboat. The Virginia was a place where “many courted their best girls . . . [and] honeymooned to Baltimore.” [51] Below deck was a hull full of cargo, but the deck of the Virginia was an elaborate floating hotel, complete with fine cuisine, staterooms, and entertainment. In addition to passengers, the Virginia carried every kind of freight imaginable; produce, live chickens, fish, and ice, were some of the more common cargo. The changing seasons found an even larger variety of goods delivered to Salisbury by the Virginia. [52]

            The Virginia left the Wicomico River in 1924 and was replaced by the Joppa, which had served Salisbury sporadically in the late 19^th century. [53] Buyouts and financial problems brought on by the country’s depression caused the Wicomico steamboat route to be abandoned several years later. Salisbury was last visited by steamboat in 1929.

Diesel Freighters on the Wicomico River

“[Salisbury] has developed into a distributing center for a large part of southeast Maryland, southern Delaware, and a part of the eastern shore of Virginia.”

Edgar Jadwin, Major General, Chief of Engineers [54]

The departure of steamboats, however, did not end the transportation of goods on the Wicomico River. Salisbury’s economy, while becoming increasingly dependent on road transportation, was still dependant on waterborne transportation for bulk goods. The diesel freighter the Victor Lynn began service from Salisbury to Baltimore in 1921 and within several years, the Victor Lynn Company was serving Salisbury with several ships launching from their freight depot on the southern bank of the river at the eastern fork. [55]

Service, although sporadic throughout the war years, was otherwise daily due to the use of several freighters. These diesel freighters were similar to steamboats in many ways except for their method of propulsion. They were so similar, in fact, that the old Wicomico River steamboat, the Joppa was converted to diesel power and returned to operation on the Wicomico River in 1935, as the City of Salisbury. [56]

In 1927 the Victor Lynn Transportation Company expanded their horizons by merging with a local trucking company. [57] This merger not only increased the business of the Victor Lynn Transportation Company, but it insured the company’s future in the event that “the freight that had been moved by water to and from the Eastern Shore … [be] diverted to highway transport.” [58]

By the early 1950’s it was clear that the days of the Victor Lynn Transportation Company operating on the Wicomico River were limited. The diesel freighters were expensive to operate and improved land transportation, epitomized by the opening of the Bay Bridge in 1952, had diminished profits in diesel freighter transportation. [59] What was a 12-hour ride by diesel freighter was now less than a three hour drive by tractor-trailer. On December 17, 1954 the second Victor Lynn sailed its last voyage on the Wicomico as the Victor Lynn Transportation Company shifted its focus towards trucking operations. [60]

Present Day Commerce on the Wicomico

“No other means of transportation can as economically and efficiently move bulk commodities as waterborne shipping.”

-1998 Comprehensive Plan, Wicomico County, Maryland [61]

The end of the Victor Lynn Transportation Company sailing the Wicomico spawned the beginning of another era, the era of the larger tugboats, barges, and tankers. Due to the speed of land transportation it was no longer economical to ship produce and household items via the Wicomico, but by dredging every three years, the Wicomico has remained the most economical way to ship large quantities of heavy product. One heavily laden barge, while limited to a speed of roughly 11 miles per hour, can carry the same amount of cargo as 50 to 150 tractor-trailers,

The tugboat Roanoke brings a barge up the Wicomico twice weekly [62]

depending on the product. [63] In fact, in one year, barges sail to Salisbury with the equivalent of 30,000 tractor-trailer loads of products. [64] Recently, the Wicomico River has served businesses requiring massive quantities of product, such as commodity shippers and receivers, construction firms, marine carriers, and petroleum distributors. Petroleum usually makes up over half of the tonnage of product shipped on the Wicomico. [65]

The Delmarva Water Transport Committee, formed in 1974, serves to facilitate the “continuation and further development of waterborne commerce” on the Wicomico River and other Delmarva waterways. [66] The river maintenance and inspections provided by this non-profit organization ensure that the Wicomico River is kept open

Tons of Commerce on the Wicomico Yearly [67]

to serve the shipping needs of companies such as Perdue Inc., Southern States Coop., and Delmarva Oil Inc., among others.

Changing Times on the Wicomico River

“Another way to spell Salisbury is P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S.”

-Salisbury Mayor Rollie W. Hasting [68]

While the Wicomico River was once used primarily to ship lumber, produce, and transport people it is now principally used to ship grain, fuel oil, fertilizers, and construction aggregate. [69] Today economical and efficient transport of large quantities is required of the

Wicomico River, and that is exactly what shipping on the river has become. As the city of Salisbury evolved over the years, so has the waterborne transportation

evolved in order to meet the needs of its users.

City Harbor at Main Street Bridge, early 20^th Century [70]

What once was a small town conveniently located next to a river has become a thriving city centered upon a river. Two major highways have developed from the once rudimentary roads and an efficient freight railroad has replaced the unpredictable rails of the past. The history of the waterborne transportation on the Wicomico reflects these changes. The port, once only accessible by flat-bottomed scows, then eventually opened up to shallow drafting steamboats, is now dredged to accommodate oil tankers and barges. The heart of Salisbury, its winding Wicomico River and its adapting waterborne transportation, has made Salisbury the heart of the Eastern Shore.