91 



the passage of alewives, — the first at Kurd's Tack Factory 

 and the second a mile above this point. 



On Furnace Brook is McLaughlin's Pond, a spawning ground 

 where an old tack factory was formerly located. Part of the 

 land in this vicinity is used for cranberry bogs. Grossman's 

 Brook has no obstructions, while both Howard and Pine brooks, 

 two tributaries of Jones River Brook, are crossed by a road and 

 dam. 



Stony Brook. — Stony Brook has its source in Blackwater 

 Pond, in Kingston, and flows for Ij miles southeasterly into 

 Jones River. The brook, which is from 8 to 10 feet wide, is 

 used principally for power, is obstructed by dams, and receives 

 trade wastes in the form of vitriol. The public fishery on Stony 

 Brook was established in 1802. A certain number of alewives 

 are transported by the purchaser of the fishing rights over the 

 dams at the tack factory of H. C. Cole, and the foundry of 

 C. Drew, where there are no fishways. 



Smelt Brook. — Smelt Brook, a 2^ mile stream connecting 

 Smelt Pond and Jones River, is from 4 to 8 feet wide, and is 

 used chiefly for power. One-half mile above its outlet it forms 

 Russell's Pond, where is located an impassable dam at the nail 

 factory of Cobb & Drew. 



The alewives are taken in a trap situated below the nail 

 factory by a catcher appointed by the Kingston Fish Commit- 

 tee. Ten thousand are annually required to be placed above 

 the dam, and the remainder are sold at 25 cents per hundred 

 to the inhabitants of Kingston, — a practice which has been 

 carried on for sixty years. Owing to the poor results of fishing 

 in recent years it has been impossible to place regularly the 

 required number on spawning grounds. Possible reasons for 

 the present scarcity are the difficulty the young experience in 

 leaving the millpond, and the trade-waste pollution from the 

 nail factory. , 



Fishery. — In the early days considerable interest was shown 

 by the town of Kingston in the welfare of its several herring 

 streams. Records show that in 1872 and 1873 the town of 

 Kingston deposited 3,000 alewives in Silver Lake, but for years 

 this body of water has bepn usled for a water supply. In 1894 

 there was a temporary awakening after a long period of leth- 



