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Bath States had made attempts to locate all of the line
except that part running between the mouth of flee
Potomac and Watkins Paint on the Pocomoke River. Up
to this time the dispute had concerned rival landed inter-
ests, but from the Civil War to the settlement of the dis-
pute riparian rights and especially oyster fisheries were
the subject of controversy. The line dividing the great
bay between the states was to decide ownership of many
square miles of oyster beds and natural rock,ee worth
millions of dollars, and far mare productive of wealth
than their area doubled or trebled in the best farm lands.
In i$5$, Virginia appointed- Col. A. W. McDonald to
act with one commissioner from Maryland, and to "begin
at Smith's Point at the mouth of the Potomac, and run
thence to the Atlantic Ocean, to form the eastern line, and
from Fairfax Stone north to farm the western." ez
Maryland responded by appointing Mr. Thomas J.
Lee. The commissioners secured the services of Lieut. N.
iVIichler of the corps of United States topographical engi-
neers, who surveyed, retraced and marked the line.
Michler found many traces of the work of Culvert and
Scarburgh between the Pacorreoke River and the ocean,
and certain large oaks, known for miles around as "mar-
riage trees," were pointed out as marking the dividing
line.
of Virginia, was found dredging oysters at Tilliby's Rock, north of
the Great Rock in Tangier Sound, far north of the southern end of
Smith's Island and Cedar Straits. He was seized and his schooner
-Fashion" forfeited for violating the oyster laws of Maryland.
Tyler was tried and acquitted. T ler subsequently brought suit
against a civil officer of Maryland, John Cullen, for his arrest and
seizure. In this action Tyler recovered y,ooooo damages against
Callers. This was a legal decision sustaining Virginia's claims to a
large part of Tangier Sound. •' Final Report of Virginia Boundary
Commissioners, x8yq." pp. 2o-at•
°s The term `• natural rocks " is used by oystermen to denote a
pile of oyster shells, formed by nature in the water. On these shells
young oysters fasten themselves and the oyster supply is at present
thus furnished. "The Oyster," W. K. Brooks.
117" Virginia Acts of Assembly," ch. 3, i85?-W58.
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