OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



153 



Bourne. 



Bourne has long supported a promising oyster industry. In some 

 respects it has greater advantages for the extension of this business 

 than Wareham, but the invested capital, the annual product and the 

 resulting revenue are all overshadowed by those of its neighboring rival. 

 The great natural resources which Bourne possesses, its extensive avail- 

 able area, its multiplicity of bays, inlets, islands and rivers, — these and 

 a variety of other causes combine to make it a most favorable locality 

 for the growth of oysters; and it is indeed an unfortunate circumstance 

 both for the shellfish interests of the community and the broader inter- 

 ests of the State that so great a source of economic wealth should be so 

 little improved. The vexing questions which harass the oyster planters 

 of Wareham and hamper their efforts are present here in even greater 

 force. In many places where a flourishing business was once carried on 

 the industry is at a standstill, while nowhere does it evince that life 

 and activity which its decided advantages warrant. 



The town books contain records of 135 grants in force to-day. No 

 accurate system of charting is in vogue except in the Monument River, 

 and no absolutely reliable data concerning the total area is available, 

 but the combined territory comprised in these grants aggregates nearly 

 600 acres. Of this territory, however, only a portion, and a relatively 

 small portion, is really improved; the remainder is either allowed to lie 

 dormant or is worked merely for the quahaugs which it produces. The 

 oyster territory of Bourne is divided into five distinct sections : the 

 Monument River section, the region about Mashnee Island, Toby Island 

 and vicinity, Basset's Island and the neighborhood of Wing's Neck, and 

 Pocasset and the Red Brook harbor or Cataumet . district. Of these 

 five regions, the Monument River ranks first, both in the total area and 

 also in importance, and it is here that most of the business is carried on. 



The statistical returns of the Bourne oystermen show that only 42 

 grants comprising 100 acres are worked. Of this 83 acres is hard 

 bottom suitable for oyster raising while the remaining 17 acres is mostly 

 soft mud. 



