44 THE FISHERIES OF TPIE UNITED S'lATES. 



Special laws relating to Cape Cod were passed in 1S70, and remain in force, to the following effect : 



Section I. No person not an iubabitant of tlie town of Wellfleet shall take any clams, quahatigs, oysters, or other shellfish within the 

 waters of said town, without first getting a permit from the selectmen, nor shall any person being an inhabitant of said town take any 

 of said fish for bait, at any time, exceeding three bushels, including their shells, or for the purpose of selling the same, without a permit 

 from the selectmen of said Wellfleet, who nuiy grant the same for such sum to be paid to the use of the town as they shall deem proper; 

 but the inhabitauts of said town may take said fish for family use without such permit. 



Sec. II. Whoever takes any shellfish from within the waters of said WellJieet in violation of the provisions of this act, shall, foi 

 every offense, pay a fine of not less than five or more than ten dollars and costs of prosecution, and one dollar for every bushel of shell- 

 fish so taken; said fine and forfeiture imposed under this act to be recovered by indictment or information before a trial justice in the 

 county of Barnstable. 



D. TAUNTON RIVER AND COLE'S RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS. 



17. OYSTER-CULTUEE AND TEADE O^ MASSACHUSETTS AFFLUENTS OF NAEEAGANSET BAY. 



Peculiarities of the Somerset native stock.— A discussion of this small district forms a natural division 

 of the subject, since the Taunton river beds are isolated, and lying between Narraganset bay and the Cape Cod 

 district, furnish seed for both. The river itself flows into Narraganset bay, and the region immediately about its 

 mouth is included. 



There lies in the Taunton river, at Dightou, a large rock, well known to archaeologists, on account of some 

 inscriptions which it bears ; these, though untranslated, are supposed to be the work of Norse voyagers who early 

 visited these waters. The foundation for this supposition is very fully and attractively stated in Thoreau's Cajte 

 Cod, to which the reader is referred. These earliest comers were pleased to find shellfish abundant in the region, 

 and the English settlers, three or four centuries later, record their thankfulness on similar grounds. From time 

 immemorial, then, oysters have been natives of this district, and no such mistake as has been made north of Caiie 

 Cod could ever be put forward to deny that they are here indigenous. 



Legislation and license. — It was long ago recognized that the Taunton river was a valuable oyster- 

 property, and legal measures were early adopted looking toward its preservation. The present plan of operations 

 came into effect about thirty years ago, and though differing slightly in the various towns bordering the river, 

 consists, in general, of the leasing of the ground for raking and planting purposes, during a term of years, at a fixed 

 rental. Most of the towns do this under the general law of the state, already explained in the chapter on the south 

 coast of Massachusetts bay district (C); but Somerset had a special act in her favor, passed by the legislature in 

 1847, which reads as follows : 



Section 1. The town of Somerset shall have the exclusive control of the oyster-fishery in that part of Taunton river within the limits 

 of said town, and may sell at public or private s.ale * * * the right or privilege of taking oysters * " * for a term of not less than three 

 nor more than ten years at any one term ; and all money arising from such sale or sales shall be i>aid unto the treasurer of said town, for 

 its use, etc. (Chapter 44.) 



Beyond this, every householder has the right to take three bushels each month for family use. 



The privilege of this town now rents for $800 a year, and is owned for five years by the Somerset Oyster 

 Company, composed of citizens of the town. 



In Fall Eiver, the lease is held by a firm from Wellfleet, Massachusetts, at .fGOO a year. 



In Freetown, the holder of the lease is a Providence man, who pays about $1,000 annually for the privilege. 



The lessee of the privileges of Dighton, also, is a citizen of Providence, at a cost of $475 a year. 



Berkeley rents its oyster-banks to a Somerset company at $1,300 a year, for a long term. 



Assonet is leased for ten years, with Providence capital, at $1,225 a year. 



The total income, therefore, derived by the towns along the bank of this small river, only a dozen miles long, 

 is $5,400. This is wholly for the privilege of raking the bottom for seed, besides which the towns reserve the right 

 of each citizen to take such oysters from the river as he needs "for family use''. I know no other district in the 

 United States which is made to serve the public treasury so well. 



In respect to this matter of leases, however, it may be said, that it was evidently the intention of the makers of 

 the law to parcel out the privilege among many persons; but the shape of the business has changed, capital has 

 overcome weak opposition, where it existed, and where there was a score of owners of the waterfront twenty-five 

 years ago, there is now only one. It is probably to the general advantage, however, in this case, that the business 

 should be thus centralized. 



Somerset oysters: The history of their deterioration. — The oysters from all parts of Taunton river 

 (the producing extent is about 12 miles lopg) are known as "Somersets". Formerly they were considered extremely 

 good eating, and grew to a large size. Within the last twenty-five years, however, they have assumed a green 

 api)earance and lost quality. It is popularly asserted, locally, that this is owing to the influence of the iini)urities 

 ■discharged by the copper works, by the rolling-mills, and by the printworks, which are situated some mUes above 

 the oyster beds. But this has been denied, on the ground that not enough of the mineral matter thus thrown into 



