a Sheriff's sale for taxes owed. There were . He paid 25 cents an acre($ in dollars). Todd broke the Fleming Grant up and sold tracts to his New Rochelle business acquaintances who then formed the Roseland Inlet Association. They saw the Inlet as an essential fixture for the drainage of their swampland and a convenient access to the Atlantic for their sailboats. Although the Roseland Inlet Corporation dug a partial cut across the island it was never completed. The fourth attempt at opening Gibson's Cut began in 1899. Called "The Sebastian Inlet Association," it was organized at Eau Gallie, April 20, of that year "for the purpose of raising funds to cut a canal from Indian River to the ocean at Gibson's cut, opposite the Sebastian River," Although several thousand dollars were spent and work went on at the inlet well into 1900 this group's efforts to open the Sebastian Inlet met with failure. The fifth effort to open the inlet took place in 1901. A newspaper article read: "Another attempt is to be made to open the inlet at Gibson's cut." By Early October there had been enough rainfall to cause high water levels in the lagoon. High water in the lagoon was considered essential for opening the Inlet. Some locals went to work on the cut with shovels an explosive charge in an effort to try and open it. By the start of the 20th century water quality in the entire Lagoon north of the narrows was diminishing. Algae blooms were killing the fish and the oysters population was disappearing. History hasn't recorded exactly who was behind the sixth effort to open an inlet to the sea at Sebastian. A newspaper report mentions a dredge and a completion date prior to October 13, 1905. In the same issue another article declared "The people in the vicinity of Sebastian succeeded yesterday in opening an inlet to the ocean, through the narrow peninsular opposite the mouth of the Sebastian river. Between 40 and 100 men have been engaged in the work all the week. The value of this inlet to the ocean to the people from the Narrows to Eau Gallie cannot be estimated in dollars and cents." The following week's paper stated that "Water continues to run from the river to the ocean through the new inlet. There was apprehension that it would "cave" faster than the sand