1359. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



77 



young men, he said, had run into the idea that 

 these meadow lands were never valuable, but he 

 knew better. He found in an old Assessors' book 

 of the town of Wayland that that town assessed 

 taxes on 1200 acres of meadow. Some of these 

 lands had come into Ids posi5ession at the rate of 

 $75 an acre. These lands, he said, had been 

 stolen inch by inch, under the law, if it could be 

 called law, which had kept them out of their just 

 dues. He said he had been entrusted with much 

 responsibility in the law suits that had been car- 

 ried on, and he had no doubt but he might have 

 raised a company at any time to have torn down 

 the dam, and allowed the owner to sue for dam- 

 ages. But the people had forborne continually 

 through their defeat. He said he was determined 

 to continue the suit as long as he had the means. 

 Besides this, the Cochituate reservoirs were let 

 loose in haj'ing time, when the water was low, 

 and this did serious damage. In fact, he said, 

 they had a dam at both ends, and a curse between 

 them. 



Mr. Brown, the chairman, added a few remarks, 

 in regard to the damage done to lands owned by 

 him. Rich and fertile bottom lands were ren- 

 dered nearly valueless. 



The committee, appointed at a previous meet- 

 ing, reported the following series of resolutions, 

 upon which remarks v^ere invited : 



Whereas, it is believed by many owners of land upon the 

 Concord River and its tributaries, tliat their lands have been 

 of late much more injured than formerly by inundations caused 

 by obstructions, by dams or otherwise, and by retaining the 

 waters ih resc/coiVs and suddenly releasing them in the warm 

 season ; 



And, whereas, in various other parts of the Commonwealth, 

 as well as in this county, great destruction of crops, and great 

 injury to health, is produced by interference with the natural 

 flow of our streams and rivers, whereby the drainage and culti- 1 

 vation of vast tracks of most valuable lands are prevented ; 



And, whereas, the maintenance of dams and other obstruc- 

 tions is a fruitful source of litigation, and so an occasion of 

 great expense, both to land-owners and mill-owners ; 



And, whereas, it is believed that the peace of the community, ! 

 and the security of land and mill owners, and the interests of 

 agriculture, would !je promoted by carefully ascertaining and 

 defiDing, and by publishing by record or otherwise, the legal 

 height of all dams, or other obstructions, on all our streams and 

 rivers, and of all privileges, limitations and restrictions incident 

 thereto ; therefore. 



Resolved, That a Committee be raised to investigate and re- 

 port at a future meeting wliat dams or other obstructions are 

 maintained on tie Concord River or its tributaries, and wheth- 

 er any of said obstructions are illegal, giving such information 

 as may be obtained of the claims, legal and illegal, of mill own- 

 ers and others who maintain them. 



2. That it is expeditnt that an act of the Legislature be 

 passed, to provide for defining and recording the height of all 

 dams and other obstructions on all streams and rivers in the 

 Commonwealth, and of all privileges, limitations and restric- 

 tions incident thereto. 



3. That the interests of agriculture require that provision he 

 made by law, so that in proper cases dams and other obstruc- 

 tions to the natural flow of the water may be removed or low- 

 ered, or restricted in their use as to the season of the year or 

 otherwise, upon justcompensation to be paid by the parties ben- 

 efited to those injured by such proceedings. 



4. That this meeting are determined fully to investigate the 

 complaints of land-owners on the Concord River and its tribu 

 taries, and to perseveie by all lawful mear s to protect the rights 

 of land owners, the health of the community, and the interests 

 of agriculture, against all illegal encroachmetts of those who 

 control the dams and other obstructions thereon ; and further, 

 to procure such legislation as may be necessary to relieve our 

 most valuable lands of the curse of a second deluge, whether 

 caused by legal or illegal obstructions. 



The following resolution was afterwards added, 

 on motion of Mr. R. F. Fuller, of Wayland : 



Whereas, The special remedy prescribed by the statute for 

 the fiowage of lands on the Concord River by the proprietors of 

 the Middlesex Canal has been in such a form and so limited in 

 point of lime, under the construction which has been given to 

 it by the Supreme Judicial Court, as practically to furnish no 

 remedy whatever ; therefore, 



Ucsolred, That adeqiute remedies should be provided by the 



Legislature for injuries to land-owner on the Concord River and 

 its tributaries for the damage annually done by the flowage of 

 their lands, and furnishing, as the general mill acts do, compen 

 sation year by year for the annual injury to the land and the 

 crops. 



]Mr. R. F. Fuller, of Wajland, said he was one 

 of the meadow proprietors, and he sympathized 

 entirely in the spirit of the resolutions, as he pre- 

 sumed every man who owned any of the meadow 

 land would. He believed that the only redress 

 to be had was from the General Court. The 

 courts could not award justice unless the law al- 

 lowed it, and in this case the law-makers had 

 been at fault. The act giving leave to build the 

 canal provided that any one receiving damage 

 thereby should sue within one year and in the 

 Court of Sessions. That court was abolished 

 about the time the act was passed, and the Su- 

 preme Court had held that in the above provision 

 the damage referred to the "source of the dam- 

 age," which in this case was the building of the 

 dam. Under the present laws no redress could 

 be had. 



Dr. Joseph Reynolds, of Concord, read from a 

 work descriptive of Middlesex county, as it was 

 when first settled, and for years afterwards, show- 

 ing the wealth of meadow land then existing. 

 He presumed that the meadows on the river now 

 were not worth more than half as much as they 

 were forty years ago, or possibly twenty-five 

 years ago. He said thousands M'ere suffering 

 from this evil, which was continually increasing, 

 and it was only to favor a very few. 



Coi. Heard said there was one consideration 

 not yet touched upon. The stagnant waters had 

 already shown their pernicious effects upon the 

 atmosphere ; and farms finely situated in Way- 

 land had been sold at one-third their former 

 price, on this account. These, he declared, were 

 by no means rare cases. 



Mr. Barker, of Weston, corroborated the re- 

 marks of preceding speakers. He owned a mead- 

 ow which was uncommonly high, and he had 

 thought that it could never be damaged by water. 

 But for the last few years his meadow had been 

 worse than worthless. He had paid taxes and 

 received no income. 



Mr. Heard, of Wayland, said he did not own 

 an acre of meadow land, but he was interested, 

 and so was every person who lived on the banks 

 of the Concord river. If the evil should be al- 

 lowed to continue, the inhabitants would be driv- 

 en back from the river banks. The stench from 

 the river was sometimes very bad. He looked 

 upon it as a nuisance ; and he hoped it would 

 be removed one way or another. He would ad- 

 vocate the manner sanctioned by Judge Shaw of 

 removing a nuisance. (Applause.) 



The Chairman said if this was anything but a 

 meeting of farmers, there would be fifty present 

 charged full to bursting with speeches. Here 

 were men who had suffered damages for half a 

 century, and they would not be heard from. He 

 would introduce a gentleman and a lawyer, from 

 another State, who, he said, had probably tried 

 more cases of flowage than any other man in 

 New England. He introduced Judge French, 

 of New Hampshire. 



Judge French said he was not present to take 

 any part in this local question, but he stated 

 some valualile facts from his experience. He 

 said he believed, and he had said so manv times 



