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by the average yearly income to the towns of $825.67 between 

 1860 and 1912. 



The failure of this alewife stream, one of the best in the 

 Commonwealth, from 1900 to 1917, is explained by ill-advised 

 and expensive methods of handling, which resulted in an in- 

 sufficient number of alewives reaching the spawning grounds, 

 due either to overfishing or to temporary obstructions. Al- 

 ready, under a five-year lease, the fishery has shown evidence 

 of recuperation, and by careful regulation should soon approach 

 its maximum production. 



ACUSHNET RIVER. 



The Acushnet River has its source in Roaring and Squinn 

 brooks, at the upper part of the Acushnet Reservoir, a water 

 supply for New Bedford. From this artificial reservoir, created 

 in 1869, the stream flows southerly through wooded and swamp 

 land, forming millponds at the site of the old White Cotton 

 Factory and at the Acushnet Sawmill, where fishways no 

 longer exist. 



Below Acushnet Village the channel of the river is enclosed 

 w r ithin stone walls, soon becomes tidal, and is lined with an 

 almost unbroken chain of sources of trade-waste pollution 

 from New Bedford, and, to a lesser extent, from Fairhaven. 



The alewife fishery was established in 1863, subject to the 

 rights of the city of New Bedford, which controls the head- 

 waters as a water supply, but few alewives run up Acushnet 

 River. 



Unless the Acushnet Reservoir is given up as a water supply 

 the fishery can never attain any proportions, ow r ing to a lack 

 of adequate spawning grounds. Under existing conditions, 

 with several dams unprovided with fishways, and the stream 

 largely polluted with factory wastes, the fishery is hardly 

 worth reclaiming. 



PASKAMANSETT RIVER. 



This stream forms at the Plainville Road, Turney's Sawmill 

 Pond, and at North Dartmouth, Smith's Mill Pond, and 

 then flows through swamp and w r ooded land to the concrete 

 dam at Russell's Mills. The lower part, known as Slocum's 



