THE SUDBURY MEADOWS. 407 



the Concord River with the Middlesex Canal. In 1798 author- 

 ity was granted to buy and hold mill seats on the waters 

 connected with the canal, and to erect mills on them. This 

 opened the way to systematic encroachments by raising the 

 dam without the consent or even the knowledge of the land 

 owners along the river, till it reached over three feet above 

 the old dam, at the time of their purchase. The meadows 

 then began to degenerate, and this degeneration was directly 

 due to the unjustifiable encroachments of the old Middlesex 

 Canal Company, and greatly accelerated by an increase in the 

 height of the dam in 1828. Suit after suit was brought in 

 the courts ; but the sufferers were confronted by able and 

 skilful counsel, and they failed to obtain redress. The Mill 

 Acts and the power of the corporation were too strong. 

 Justice is slow when the farming interest sues as against the 

 power of corporate bodies or the manufacturing interests of 

 the State. 



Another serious calamity awaited the meadow owners when, 

 about twenty-five years ago, the people of Boston asked for, 

 and obtained of the legislature, authority to use the water 

 of Long Pond, now called Lake Cochituate, for the supply of 

 the city. The natural outlet of this pond was an affluent 

 of the Sudbury, and it was estimated that about one-third of 

 that whole lazy stream came from this source. The people 

 of Wayland, who held the property and the jurisdiction of a 

 large portion of the land and water thus sought for, even 

 aided the city in its efforts. But, unfortunately, the Boston 

 Water Board, as some compensation to the proprietors of 

 the Middlesex Canal for the water to be taken, was compelled 

 to build two enormous reservoirs, one on a branch of the 

 Sudbury River in Hopkinton, covering five or six hundred 

 acres, and the other in Marlborough, on a branch of the 

 Assabet. These reservoirs threw down, in the driest part of 

 the summer, a monstrous quantity of water, often more than 

 twice or three times as much as the city diverted, or seven- 

 teen millions of gallons a day, the natural flow of the pond 

 being only five millions a day. That was like the last straw 

 that broke the camel's back. The Water Board actually con- 

 gratulated itself over its success in flooding the valley, but 

 the owners of the meadows had little reason to rejoice. 



