THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 37 



from the eastward. Both of these streams are inflitenced by the title for a considerable distance above the village, 

 are shallow, and are partiallj' bordered by flats. From the bridge upward for half a mile, there anciently was one 

 continuous oyster-bed, and, besides this, various other coves and rivers in the neighborhood were inhabited by these 

 and other bivalves. In colonial days the present townships of Eochcster, Matapoiset, Marion, and Wareham, which 

 are range<l around the head of the bay, were known as Eochester, and tradition says tliat it was named after the 

 city of Eochester, in England (which city was famous for shellfish), because of the abundance of oysters, quahaugs, 

 clams, scallops, etc., along the shores. 



Legislation and license in Wareham. — That the earliest inhabitants valued oysters, is a matter of 

 history; and even in colonial times they were made the subject of legislative protection by the town, for fear of 

 their disappearance, as witness the following : 



In town-meeting at Warebam, voted — • 



March 20, 1775, that there shouUl be no shclHi.sh nor shell sold nor carried ont of town. 



March 12, 1781, that no oyster-shells shall be catched to carry out of the town without the leave of .John Fearing, Joshua Briggs, 

 & Joshua Crocker, on the penalty of paying six shillings per bushel. 



September 24, 1781, that no person shall catch any oysters or oyster-shells for to carry out of the town or carry themselves out of 

 the town on y^ penalty of forfeiting two shillings and^ pence per bushel. 



About 1S40 was argued here the famous case of Dill vs. Town of Wareham, involving rights to oyster-fisheries 

 and planting privileges, which the cm-ious in such lore will find both intricate and entertaining. 



As an attempt at regulation of the oyster-fishery, a few years ago, the town divided off into grants all the 

 shores of the numerous salt rivers and inlets embraced in the extensive and sinuous sea-coast, and offered these 

 grants, under a twenty-years' lease, as ground for the cultivation of oysters. The expense of procuring a grant 

 was $2 50, and it was subject to taxation at a valuation of $50. These grants were about 125 in number, and were 

 situated in Wareham and Agawam rivers, above the "Narrows bridge", along the shores of the Waukinco river, as 

 the broad inlet from the Narrows down to Buzzard's bay is called, and in Broad Marsh river, Crooked river, Mark's 

 cove, and the Weeweantit river, all of which are tributary to the Waukinco. On the shore other localities are: 

 Brown's cove, Onset bay. Shell Point bay. East river, Long Neck shore, and Cohasset river. The average size of 

 the grants is about two acres, giving from 250 to 300 acres of shore suitable to oyster-cidtiire in this town, nearly 

 all of which is already granted. 



The seed which has been placed upon these grants, and is to be placed there, is entirely obtained from the 

 natural beds, which are abundant in the Agawam, Wareham, and Weeweantit rivers. The incessant raking to 

 which the beds were subjected to obtain it, added to the demand for market, threatened extermination so seriously 

 that, in 1874, the selectmen decreed that no one should be allowed to fish for ojsters at all, without paying to the 

 town a duty of 10 cents a bushel, the proceeds to go to pay an ofiflcer for measuring, etc. Under this rule the town 

 issued licenses and received pay, in 1875, from 36 licenses, $303 60, giving 3,036 bushels ; and in 1876, from 47 

 licenses, 8425 50, giving 4,255 bushels. 



Since then few licenses have been issued, owing to the opposition and quarreling excited. The oyster-matter 

 became a political issue. It is probable that multiplication by three of the results for 1875 and 1876, would give 

 the approximate yield for those years, and there is said by all persons to have been a decrease since. 



Markets and prices. — About five years ago no oyster was better received in the Boston market than that 

 from Wareham ; it held the first place. Though it has lost this distinction by "opening" poorly of late, it is still 

 of fine quality and in demand by the neighborhood markets. Wagon-loads are sent off to Plymouth, Middleboro, 

 and elsewhere, frequently through the winter ; and during the season of 1877-'78 the Old Colony railway carried 

 780 bushels in shell from the Wareham station, and about 150 gallons of opened stock. From East Wareham 

 (Agawam station) there were shipped, during the winter of 1877-'78, 924 bushels in shell, while partial accounts of 

 the next season (1879-'80) indicate a large increase. By far the larger part of the yield, however, is sold small, as 

 "seed oysters" to be planted upon the beds along the eastern shore of Buzzard's bay and the "heel" of Cape Cod. 

 This seed is never carried away to be sold, but the purchasers come after it in spring and faU in sloops of about 

 25 feet keel, locally known as "yacht-boats". This seed sells for 30 to 35 cents a bushel in spring, or 60 to 80 

 cents in fall, and is one and two years old, mixed. Some experiments have been made in bedding Virginia oysters 

 through the summer, but although they lived well enough it was not found profitable. They brought only $4, 

 while the native oysters would fetch $0, a barrel. 



Oyster-aflairs in Wareham can hardly be called a business. The title to the grants is very uncertain, the 

 impression being that the right to operate upon them exists only through courtesy of the owners of the adjacent 

 uplands, and a vast amount of litigation would probably arise if any one chose to object to the present status. This 

 feeling, and the jealousy of anything smacking of monopoly, has deterred capital from being invested in any 

 considerable degree, although efforts have been made to bring money from New York and Boston to bear upon this 

 industry. At present the poor, ignorant, and shiftless portion of the community, for the most part, have to do with 

 the oysters, and have found it necessary, in order to protect each other from a common thieving propensity, to 

 decree among themselves that no man shall fish after sunset, even upon his own grant. It would be an outside 

 estimate to say that 200 persons live upon the oyster in Wareham, at an investment of $3,000. 



