The community was busily engaged in the twenty years cover¬ ing the incumbencies of William Meek , J. A. Richey and J. C. Cox . The beauty of the harbour was again the subject of remark in Lawson's Letters on P.E.I. : The , or, as it is usually termed, the 'Sou-West', meets the Gulph of St. Lawrence a little below the narrows, where the ferry is situate. The whole place is remarkable, and is, in my opinion, well worthy of a short pause. Seaward, high hills of drifted sand form a barrier against the waves of the Gulph, which, when agitated by storms from the north sends its billows with a rapidity and a grandeur little inferior to those of the ocean with which it is so closely connected. The pene¬ trates, in a serpentine manner, far into the interior, and is curtained at intervals between high lands on either side, offering a more picturesque appearance than any other of these noble arms of the sea. By 1870 many of the large estates had been sold, including the vast holdings of Sir Samuel Cunard , and the Land Question was well on its way to a final settlement. Government bought the land from the proprietors, and the tenants in turn bought their farms from the government over a series of years. The Bassett-Cundall estate, which had been in the hands of the family for over a cen¬ tury, and administered with moderation, not to say laxity, as far as rentals were concerned, was not acquired by government until 1875. The Cundalls were their own agents and collected the rents. William Cundall , his son Henry Jones Cundall , and his daughter Mrs. Gall ,—afterwards the wife of Senator Donald Montgomery ,— were familiar figures to their tenants. Lot 19 was bought out in 1871. Fyfe's Ferry continued to operate until about 1854, when Stanley Bridge was built. By 1861 both Margate and Long River wharves were in use. But even then most produce of the Margate area was drawn to Summerside , a small village which had grown rapidly since 1852. Long River wharf was a great convenience for farmers in the vicinity, and one or two schooners usually loaded there in the spring and fall. Although long since but a memory, this little wharf still gives its name to the short and peaceful road leading down to the shore. A large amount of produce was also shipped from Graham's Wharf, where Clifton Bridge was built in the 1870's. A good deal of shipping was carried on with Miramichi, St. John's, and American ports such as Boston and New York . The large mussel mud beds of the South West River added greatly to the fertility of the lands along its shores. With the de¬ velopment of the digger the mud was brought up in the winter and hauled to the river bank where it was piled and later spread on the fields. Occasional items of local interest appear in the files of news¬ papers which have been preserved. On July 5, 1861, Mr. Meek married Edward Langley Lydiard of Stanley Bridge to Willena, daughter of Donald McKay . This was Lydiard's second marriage, 34