RHODE ISLAND: NEWPORT COUNTY, INCLUDING BLOCK ISLAND. 303 



1872 another of $50,000. The total expenditure, therefore, was $155,000. This pier has been of 

 great service, yet it is incomplete, and large appropriations are still necessary. 



Block Island has two light-houses, one on the northwestern end, known as Sandy Point, 

 on which spot four have been built, the first one having been erected in 1829, and the other on the 

 southeastern end, built in 1874. This is a two-story brick dwelling, with octagonal tower, and cost 

 $75,000. It is on a bluff, 152 feet above low water, the light being 52 feet from the ground. It 

 was first used on February 1, 1875, and is visible 35 miles out at sea. One hundred feet to the 

 southeast of this light is a fog-horn, blown by steam. Two life-saving stations, Nos. 2 and 3, of 

 district 3, have been established, the one in 1872, the other in 1874. The fishermen constitute the 

 crews. A signal station was established on July 28, 1880, and connects with, the main, land by 

 cable. 



A most remarkable feature of the administration of law on Block Island is that it boasts of 

 not a single lawyer, policeman, or jail. The total population is 1,208, nearly all of whom are natives. 

 The same names are found now which were common in the early history of the settlement. The 

 inhabitants are industrious, frugal, and contented. The children are well provided with schools, 

 there being five common schools and one high school. The two churches on the island belong 

 to the Baptist denomination. The island has lodges of Free Masons, Odd Fellows, and Good 

 Templars, two ministers and a doctor. There are quite a number of summer hotels, some of them 

 quite large, fine buildings, and all of them owned and managed, by the islanders. The first hotel 

 was opened in 1842, and the first pleasure party entertained there numbered seven persons, one of 

 whom was Martin Van Buren. Of late years the island has become well-known, nud is annually 

 visited by hundreds for health and pleasure. 



D. GENERAL FISHERIES OF BRISTOL, PROVIDENCE, AND 



KENT COUNTIES. 



99. FISHING TOWNS FROM BRISTOL TO WARWICK NECK. 



BRISTOL AND WARREN. Bristol is situated nearly at the bead of Bristol Harbor, an arm of 

 Narragansett Bay. The fishing grounds are off Walker's Island, in the bay opposite Bristol City, 

 at the head of Bristol Harbor, and in Mount Hope Bay. Five heart-pounds are used from the last 

 of April until September. In the spring, alewives, scup, and shad are taken ; and later, squeteague, 

 tautog, bluefish, flounders, and eels. In winter a small amount of fishing is carried on by fyke- 

 nets, the catch of which consists mainly of flounders. At the northern end of Narragansett Bay 

 fish become less abundant, possibly owing to the pollution of the water by tlie refuse from the 

 numerous factories. A few lobster pots are set about the ledges and islands. The boats used at 

 Bristol are all cat-rigged, with the exception of one sloop, one yacht, and small skiffs for the traps. 

 Each of the heart-pounds requires the attention of two men. A good week's produce is estimated 

 at 1,000 pounds. There is a small amount of hook-and-line cod fishing, also sword fishing, from a 

 sloop at the lower end and outside of the bay. One seine and one gill-net are also in use at Bristol. 

 About twenty-five eel-pots are set in the bays. 



Fishing at this place has deteriorated to such an extent that many of the men have left the 

 business and have found employment in the Bristol rubber works. Large numbers of destructive 

 fish are caught in the traps, and for that reason one would suppose that the smaller species would 



