85 



Weir River. 



Weir River, which passes for 7 miles through the town of 

 Hingham into an arm of Hingham Bay, rises in Beechwood 

 River, into which flow tributary streams from Accord Pond, 

 Gushing Pond and Fulling Mill Pond. The principal obstruc- 

 tions are the 8-foot dam at the ice pond above the outlet of 

 Weir River, the ruins of a factory with two closed flumes at 

 Xantasket Junction, and two dams at Triphammer Pond. Ac- 

 cord Pond and Fulling Mill Pond now form a part of the Hing- 

 ham and Hull water supply, with the result that their natural 

 outlets are dry most of the year, while Gushing Pond has an 

 impassable dam. 



The public fishery, established in 1805, no longer exists; an 

 occasional alewife being taken in the lower part of the river 

 with the smelt, which run up the stream to spawn below the 

 dam at the railroad station. The early obstruction by dams, 

 rather than the utilization of the spawning grounds as a water 

 supply, was the primary cause of its decline. Owing to the 

 fact that the headwaters of the W T eir River and former spawn- 

 ing grounds are used as water supplies, any attempt to re-es- 

 tablish this fishery at present would be futile. 



Gulf River and Bound Brook. 



Bound Brook rises in Lily Pond and pursues a winding course 

 of 3^ miles to Cohasset Harbor via Gulf River. Lily Pond 

 supplies the best spawning ground, although there are also 

 three mill ponds of 4 to 5 acres. 



Near the mouth of the river is a dam with an automatic 

 tide gate through which alewives can pass. At the head of 

 tidewater at North Scituate is Lincoln's Grist Mill Dam, 

 equipped with a poorly designed concrete fishway, constructed 

 in 1913 by the town of Cohasset, up which it is impossible for 

 any fish to ascend. 



The two other dams are without fishways, but there has 

 been a general understanding that the mill owners would open 

 their respective dams whenever it should be necessary to allow 

 the alewives to pass. However, the failure of alewives to sur- 

 mount the lowest dam rendered this agreement futile. 



