202 THE MOLLUSK FISHERIES 



Summary of Industry. 



Number of men, - 



Capital invested, .......... - 



Production, 1907 : — 



Bushels, 200 



Value, $200 



Total area (acres) : — 



Sand, 40 



Mud, 50 



Gravel, 10 



Mussels and eel grass, 



Total, 100 



Productive area (acres) : — 



Good clamming, .......... - 



Scattering clams, ......... 30 



Barren area possibly productive (acres), ...... 30 



Waste barren area (acres), 40 



Possible normal production, ........ $9,000 



Duxbury. 



The clam industry at Duxbury has a peculiar interest, owing to the 

 many perplexing- problems which it presents. A vast extent of tidal 

 flats, far exceeding in area those of any other town in the State, and 

 in a measure suitable for the production of clams, lie almost wholly 

 barren. The enormous territory comprised in these flats exceeds 3,500 

 acres, or, roughly, 5V2 square miles. This is greater than the combined 

 clam area of Salisbury, Newburyport, Ipswich, Essex and Gloucester, 

 which is the finest territory in the State, and produces most of the 

 Massachusetts clams. Duxbury, with a greater area than all these towns, 

 dug in 1907 about 700 bushels of clams, — an amount which could well 

 have been produced from 2 acres of ground. An investigation into the 

 history of the town shows us that this state of barrenness has not always 

 existed. There was a time when Duxbury was justly celebrated for 

 her shellfish, as is still shown by the allusions to Duxbury clams on 

 the menus of many hotels and restaurants. The dealers at Taunton, 

 Fall River and other Massachusetts cities formerly sent to Duxbury 

 large orders for clams, which were always forthcoming. Now, as far 

 as can be ascertained, not a single barrel is shipped out of the town 

 from year to year. 



This transition from a state of prosperity to one of almost total 

 barrenness is replete with interest, and is difficult of solution. Doubt- 

 less several causes may have contributed to this general decline. In the 

 first place, it is evident that the Duxbury flats were never in so flourish- 

 ing a state of production as those of the Cape Ann district. This 

 assumption is amply supported by historical records, and it is also 

 supplemented, at least, by the fact that a great per cent, of the 

 present territory is largely unfit for the production of clams in any 



