Cooling breezes came off the tributary.......
and the last baskets of the late fall harvest were being loaded into the wagon.  
What we know today as Saint Martin's River, glowed a fiery orange from a
fall's brilliant sun.
    Reaching into his back pocket, Tank Pardoe pulled a polished brass flask,
nearly the same color as the bronzed horizon that shown above the tributary.   
Water of life, the tributary,  held the remaining essences of a summer's warmth. 
 The sparkle of a sun's ray danced off the flask and caught Julius's eye.
     "I'd know'ed you  had that thing on {you}," said Julius Belly.
      "You think you know a-lot-a things,"
                       snapped Tank, as he passed the flask to Julius.

     "Nearrrly full.... you must of left it on the wagon, see'in how's you take
to lightin' the load  te'hv-ry  time you could."

       "Awww shut the heck up yhou old fool, you likes it just as much as me,"
smiling and displaying his prided gold tooth, Tank took back the flask, and
hoisted another quick swig.

Julius finished hitching up the three ponies that shared the work of the wagon,
just as Julius and Tank shared their efforts to survive along the eastern shores. 
They both jumped up into the wagon...
 "I don't know why yous got-to have three ponies when twos will do," said  Julius.
 "They're god's creatures and deserve a better
                             life than us humanly sinners," Tank would always say.
 "But I only got two hitched - the others like'enn here just to gossip."
 "Gossip all she may, she takes her turn, and you t'aint never heard her
         complain......you make more noise than 
         this here wagon on a frozen road...."     said Tank.
 "Yeahhh, if'in there were any roads to be froze.   Good thing Im'a
             sturdy man, lessen my innards be fallen 
             out over demm rocks,"  retorted Julius, and the men were off.
 
 Thus ending one of the many tasks for the year necessary to
survive in the bountiful but sometimes difficult environment.
Their conversation had become rehearsed from many years of bonding,
drudgery, and toil.   But even stronger was their shared love of the open skies.  
Hands tougher thank oak bark, souls stronger than heartwood, these two men
slowly made their way home around the point.   It was a little longer this way,
and Julius swears it was up hill, "cept'in there weren't no hills on the shore,
least not like Shenandoah Mountains," where he was born.   On the point the men
stopped for the sun to find its rest.   They liked this spot, and had fished here
often.   They could see nearly all the way down the Saint Martin's, and the
tree line was low enough not to block the full effect of the setting sun. .
 
"Someday we got to go up to Hawksbill and swim down at White Water's Canyon."
"Not for me,Just as soon as you go down, yus' got to go  back up."  said Tank.
"Yeah... but there ain't no hurricanes......!"
"Shoot...yer' fraid of a little wind, just part of nature," said Tank.
"Crazy'iest thing I ever seen.... 
                what about that time we found all them  fish up in a tree!"
"Easier than shoot'em in a barrel, alls we had to do was bang the wagon
                  up against, and they fell right in," with that,
                  Tank handed the last of the flask  to Julius, and the sun was gone.
The sky was illuminated with various hues of violet and purple.
"This is my favorite part."
"Me too.......," said Tank.

Back then, there were no vacations. There was only work that you liked better than other work. Even fishing was work, except you never came home empty handed. Fishing was Tank's favorite work. He would always say the hardest, "part, is keepin' dem crab from bite'tin  at your toes gettin the nets in....    Nothin' better than crabs and some rockiees.."

One thing Tank was good at was Muskrat hunting and trapping. Julius would tell people that Tank was the "Pied-piper of Muskrats," he had never seen anything like it. Julius didn't particularly like to eat muskrat, but Tank knew 'nine-ways-to-Sunday' to put them on a plate.
So when Tank traded muskrats to Julius, they had to be cooked, smoked, or stewwed.... "just something....." Julius would say," them's things are Varmits."
Julius liked his duck. With his big gun, which was essentially illegal, but not really a full blown big gun, Julius was as bountiful as Tank's muskrat'in.

When the winter set in, and it was nearly frozen down to the soul of the earth, the men would make a trip to the railway lines and send off all their excesses. Each year the railways between Washington and Baltimore, and hence east and west and further south, were becoming more efficient. As the efficiency of the railways increased, so did the availability of products from competitors. Julius Belley was the politician of the two men and did most of the bartering for their goods.
Tank Pardoe just didn't like to haggle... "De price, is de price," he would say.
Julius would wink at Tank and take the customers over to Stinky Pete's, get them a little drunk, and finagle the best deal. Later, Julius and Tank would meet at Dellphwago's for oysters and companionship.
It was on one of these cold winter nights after many oysters and charcoalled spirits that Julius met the love of his life Helen. The next year Julius moved inland and was married to Helen, and Tank began receiving regular visits from Marigold, who he had met on the trip.   And then, at least once a year thereafter... the two families gathered at the shore.

Many years passed.... and generations fell in love with the open skies and natural wealth of the Eastern Shore..... and as time went on, two of the children from their respected families became the best of friends, just as their fathers had been.

Barry Belley  (grandson of Julius) and Rank Pardoe (grandson of Tank) had  also fallen in love with the open skies and the eastern shore. Rank Pardoe eventually became a wealthy Muskrat Magnate, and Barry Belley a well known politician.........and in their later years, were known to sail their reconditioned Skipjack along Sinepuxtent and Assawoman Bays.

One fall evening - A cooling breeze blew.......
Rank and Barry were initiating one last tack on the Skipjack so as to position themselves for the sunset along the Bay. They loosened the sails, and casually sat back against the gunwales. Rank brought out a shiny but very old brass flask from the cabin. A sparkle from the sun's rays danced off the flask...and Barry smiled.

Thus continued the great debate......
"You know Barry.... we can't keep pushing sand around and throwing millions into the ocean, along with disturbing the environment and its treasures.... "

"Oh come on now...... not this again....you know without a beach we're nothing here..."

"Are you kidding, the beach isn't going anywhere. If speculators hadn't pushed the house and condominium line so far into the ocean, the natural ebb flow wouldn't be a problem....Just push a stick in the sand and you will see, meanwhile fishing is going downhill and hucksters from Florida are the ones getting rich out of the deal. The least we could do is own the equipment and do it ourselves." Rank hoped he was winning the argument for once and for all.

Rank Pardoe knew Barry Belley was one to take a bet, so before the sun set, he wagered Belley that he could toss a quarter across Saint Martin's River......
"You're on," said Barry, "What are we bettin'."
"That you put a restraint on sand dredging," said Rank, "and I'll shut up about that other thing."
"You'll never shut up about that stupid thing.....what do you think this is... Disneyland?!"

The next week at the town council meeting Mayor Barry Belley placed a moratorium on sand dredging and ordered a reanalysis of the entire process. At about the same time, news headlines flashed across the world that Muskrat Magnate Rank Pardoe had died in his sleep, thus revealing acorrdances of his will. These accordance’s stipulated a 100 million dollar investment and bond issuance for the now World Famous Muskrat Monorail heralded as moving into the next century and putting Ocean City once again on the world map, and setting the trend for the nation.

In the beginning.......
               On a Spring trip along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Bank Pardoe, son of Rank Pardoe,  discovered the Paw Paw Tunnel.  The Paw
Paw Tunnel had been built in 1800's.   The tunnel was constructed through
solid rock along a mountain side with almost slave labor conditions  of
English, Dutch, and Irish ethnicity.    Disease and violence plagued the labor
force, and was probably responsible for the two year project taking fourteen.   
From that  Spring day along the canal, concepts of transportation had
intrigued Bank Pardoe.    In accordance to his fathers will and with the 100
million dollar funds,   Bank Pardoe constructed the famous Muskrat Monorails
of Ocean City, Maryland.    During the winter months of 1996 and
employing the shanghaied  labor force of Irish students, unemployed Food
Lion workers,  and transients,  the project was
completed.   Several technologies from Switzerland, Norway, and Japan
permitted the almost miraculous feat, all previously engineered by the late
Rank Pardoe.

A night view of the subcompact monorail running from downtown to 112th Street

Bayside suspension type	Community unit in CaineWoods	Teal Bay in Ocean Pines
Rt 54 w/ Rt 90 background	Inlet Bridges under construction	Artist rend along Rt 50 sod farms
Rt50 and 113 overpass	Route 50 monorail showing removable sections	Downtown Baltimore that will connect with Rt 50
Uptown Monorail	Fast inter-state leaving town	Full speed ahead Scotty!